The Environmental Impacts of Consumption at a Subnational Level

This article analyzes the environmental effects of resource consumption at a subnational level (by Cardiff, the capital city of Wales), using the Ecological Footprint as a measure of impact assessment. The article begins by providing a short critique of the Footprint methodology and the limitations of methods traditionally used to calculate national Footprint accounts. We then describe the Footprint methodology developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute to overcome some of these problems and used as the basis of the Reducing Wales' Ecological Footprint project, of which the Cardiff study has been a part. The main portion of this article focuses on presenting and discussing the Footprint results for Cardiff. The Ecological Footprint of household consumption in Cardiff will be presented using the international Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP). Based on the results, we found that the areas of consumption that are a priority for Cardiff in terms of reducing resource use are food and drink, passenger transport (car and aviation), domestic fuel consumption, waste, and tourism. We also discuss how these findings have been presented to the Cardiff Council. We report on the initial reactions of policy officers to the Footprint results and how the Council plans to use them to influence policy decisions relating to sustainability. Finally, in the Conclusions section, we briefly explain the value of applying the Ecological Footprint at a subnational level and its value as an evidence-based tool for sustainability decision making.     

Methodology for determining the ecological footprint of the construction of residential buildings in Andalusia (Spain)

Construction activity is now a major consumer of natural resources. As a general rule, resource consumption has been evaluated through methodologies related to Life Cycle Analysis. This research is proposed to integrate the Ecological Footprint indicator into the building sector: to observe the difficulties and the benefits it can generate relative to other indicators. To this end, prior knowledge related to the Ecological Footprint indicator must first be adapted to the residential sector, by analyzing the construction of buildings, and secondly a calculation methodology is established in order to quantitatively determine what impacts are generated by industry according to the Ecological Footprint indicator. This methodology applies the indicator to resources used (energy, water, labour, construction materials, etc.) and to waste generated in the construction of residential buildings.The methodology is applied to a case study corresponding to the urbanization and building construction of a representative building type in Andalusia (Spain) when the building is in the planning stage. The final result is 0.384 gha/year/m².     

Estimating the human appropriation of land in Brazil by means of an Input–Output Economic Model and Ecological Footprint analysis

As we confront the current environmental crisis, determining the biophysical base (e.g., materials, energy, land, and water) of nations has become paramount. With advanced economies benefiting from the import of resource-intensive primary goods originating from poorer parts of the world, especially emerging nations, these are dilapidating their natural capital. Brazil is one of such emerging economies, whose mining and farming activities, propping up its export-led economic growth, exert great pressure on the environment. In particular, farming has been shown to have one of the world's greatest environmental impacts, especially as a consequence of land use associated with cattle ranching. Since a nation-wide evaluation of land-use types across the whole sectorial spectrum of the country's economy is still lacking, we used the most recently available Input–Output Economic Model for Brazil and the Ecological Footprint method to identify those economic sectors with the greatest potential for appropriating portions of the natural world.Our results show that: (i) the biggest chunk of Brazil's Ecological Footprint is due to its Carbon Footprint and, in particular, emissions from cattle; (ii) only a few economic sectors exhibit high Ecological Footprint values, chiefly those belonging to livestock farming and energy production based on fossil fuels; (iii) excluding the soybeans and slaughter sectors, export-oriented sectors have below-average Ecological Footprint values; and (iv) the percentage of Brazil's Ecological Footprint due to household consumption (excluding imports) is three times bigger than that attributable to exports, with sectors belonging to livestock farming contributing the most to such disparity.These results underscore that the environmental impact of the Brazilian economy can be drastically reduced by tackling the emission-intensive production processes of a few sectors only and disincentivizing the domestic consumption of a narrow range of products, especially with respect to the livestock segment.     

Ecological Footprint: Refining the carbon Footprint calculation

Within the Ecological Footprint methodology, the carbon Footprint component is defined as the regenerative forest capacity required to sequester the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions that is not absorbed by oceans. A key parameter of the carbon Footprint is the Average Forest Carbon Sequestration (AFCS), which is calculated from the net carbon sequestration capacity of forests ecosystems.The aim of this paper is to increase the clarity and transparency of the Ecological Footprint by reviewing the rationale and methodology behind the carbon Footprint component, and updating a key factor in its calculation, the AFCS. Multiple calculation options have been set to capture different rates of carbon sequestration depending on the degree of human management of three types of forest considered (primary forests, other naturally regenerated forests and planted forests). Carbon emissions related to forest wildfires and soil as well as harvested wood product have been included for the first time in this update of the AFCS calculation. Overall, a AFCS value range of 0.73 ± 0.37 t C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ has been identified. The resulting carbon Footprint and Ecological Footprint values have then been evaluated based on this value range. Results confirm that human demand for ecosystem services is beyond the biosphere's natural capacity to provide them.     

The influence of farming technique on cropland: A new approach for the Ecological Footprint

The relationship between farming management and the overexploitation of natural resources is often a theme of discussion in the environmental sciences. Moreover, farmers’ choices – driven by consumer demand – have a significant effect on the agricultural production system.The Ecological Footprint methodology as it currently implemented assumes that all cropland activities are sustained by the capacity of the ecosystem, basing both demand and capacity calculations on the exact same flow accounting. This causes some confusion in the evaluation of the ecological performance of farming because it appears that this activity has no consequences on the planet.This paper proposes a solution to this duality caused by the current methodological assumption about croplands, and investigates the influence of different farming techniques on Ecological Footprint results. Starting from the concept of an embodied footprint in production, we propose a new approach for the evaluation of farming performance. This approach permits an estimation of the impact of farming activity, linked to the farmers’ technique, and a calculation of the crop Footprint in reference to the production capacity of the natural system.Building on the central methodology of the Ecological Footprint, we provide a different evaluation system and show case study results for comparison.     

Persistence of policy shocks to Ecological Footprint of the USA

This is the first study that aims to investigate policy shocks to Ecological Footprint of the USA. More precisely, we analyze the stochastic behaviors of the Ecological Footprint and its components (carbon Footprint, cropland, grazing land, forest products, built-up-land, and fishing grounds) by using Fourier unit root tests that are more powerful under an unknown number of breaks. The stationarity of a time series gives information about its future behavior based on past behavior. More specifically, stationarity properties give information on whether shocks have transitory or permanent effects on a variable; therefore, the stationarity of a time series has important implications to the formation of appropriate policies by decision makers. Stochastic properties of the Ecological Footprint are important considerations to the implementation of global and local policies targeting global warming, climate change and environmental degradation. Empirical results show that the Ecological Footprint is non-stationary which suggests that policies affecting the Ecological Footprint will have long-term and permanent effects. Findings and policy implications are further discussed.     

Questioning the Ecological Footprint

In this perspective paper a critical discussion about the concept of the Ecological Footprint is documented based on 10 questions which are answered from critical and supporting points-of-view. These key questions are directed toward the underlying research objectives of the approach, a comparison with similar concepts, the quantification methodology and its accuracy, the characteristics of the observed flows, the role of scales and resolutions, the implementation of food security, the utility of the ecological footprint for society, the political relevance of the concept and the differences from other international indicator systems.     

Ecological Footprint: Informative and evolving – A response to van den Bergh and Grazi (2014)

Ecological Footprint accounting is used to track human demand on the Earth's biological resource flows, and compares that demand with the Earth's capacity to generate these flows. It is an evolving tool which has undergone many improvements alongside advancements in science and in response to critical review. Here we respond to van den Bergh and Grazi's recent points of criticism toward Ecological Footprint accounting. While the authors suggest that new criticism is accumulating, the main issues appear to be the same. We suggest that the majority of the criticism is derived from the misconception that the Ecological Footprint measures land “use,” which cannot exceed land availability. In response to these criticisms, we aim here to summarize and further clarify the major points of debate and confusion and allow readers to determine the relevance of these issues. We conclude that much of the prior discussion and many of the points repeated here reflect a divergence in general philosophical or semantic perspectives.     

Sustainability assessment of straw utilization circulation modes based on the emergetic ecological footprint

In order to find a reasonable way to return the straw and reduce waste of resources, sustainability assessment of four types of maize straw circulation modes, straw direct returning to the farmland (control), “straw-biogas-straw” (S-B-S), “straw-dairy-straw” (S-D-S) and “straw-dairy-biogas-straw” (S-D-B-S), are analyzed and compared. Based on the Emergetic Ecological Footprint (EEF) method, which is an integration of Ecological Footprint (EF) analysis and emergy accounting, the Footprint Investment per unit of Footprint Delivered (FIFD) was used as an indicator of the sustainability of an ecological system. The results showed that the FIFDs for these straw circulation modes were 0.81, 1.96 and 0.43, respectively, and a sustainability sequence of S-D-B-S>S-B-S>S-D-S, in which S-D-B-S has the highest sustainability and S-D-S is unsustainable. Therefore, the agriculture-biogas mode is better than the agriculture-livestock mode, and longer circulation chains correspond with stronger sustainability. Based on the results, we suggest that integrated-biogas subsystem should be developed and all wastes in agrosystem should be used more efficiently in order to increase the sustainability.     

Toward the Ecological Footprint of the use and maintenance phase of buildings: Utility consumption and cleaning tasks

Due to poor design of buildings in terms of maintenance, there are a number of buildings today that remain extremely expensive to maintain, both economically and environmentally. In order to mitigate these overheads, the development of a cost database is needed with which the resources required to clean and maintain buildings can be estimated. This paper presents a methodology to estimate these costs and the environmental impact, in terms of Ecological Footprint (EF), associated to the utility consumption and to the cleaning tasks necessary during the service life of buildings. Given the numerous peculiarities identified for this type of activity compared to the construction of buildings, it is necessary to define a new methodology of calculation, with its own assumptions and formulae. This methodology is then applied to the case of a college hall of residence that houses up to 139 residents. The results show that the annual EF of cleaning tasks accounts for 11.42% of the EF of utility consumption. Together they total 67.334 global hectares per year (gha/yr), 88% of which corresponds to the carbon footprint. Within the EF of cleaning, about 71% is due to food consumed by labor, while 26% is due to the manufacture of cleaning products and tools, which are equally divided among the six categories of productive land. The development of this methodology is essential for the detailed quantification of the environmental impact of utility consumption and cleaning tasks that occur during the service life of buildings. The use of discount rates on results is included in terms of the EF of a baseline year, as an equivalent to the discount rate in economic terms.     

Sustainability of port activities within the framework of the fisheries sector: Port of Vigo (NW Spain)

Sustainability of the fisheries sector is nowadays a key issue due to the significant impact that this activity may have on the environment. Besides fishing activity itself, other indirect impacts, like those originated from related activities and services also need to be addressed. For assessing the environmental burden of this sector, the Ecological Footprint (EF) indicator can be used. The application of EF to the fisheries sector is still uncommon and studies of associated activities (such as ports) even more. In this work, classical EF methodology was applied in order to evaluate the environmental impact of the fisheries sector, taking as a representative sample the global activity (fishing and transportation) of the Port of Vigo (Spain), one of the biggest fishing ports in the world. A high value of total EF for both port and fishing activities was obtained. However, relative EF is much higher in the case of fishing, due to the low natural productivity associated to fish resources. Energy-land and sea area were the most affected land-components within the footprint, while among the different categories, resources consumption was the main contributor to the EF value in all the assessed scenarios.     

The ecological footprint of dwelling construction in Spain

The construction industry is well known for its high impact on the environment; an even higher impact has taken place in recent years due to the real-estate bubble which has resulted in a surplus in the construction of dwellings in many countries. In Spain, about 500,000 dwellings were constructed during 2006–2010, which represent a 2% increase in four years. In the present work, a methodology is defined as the first step towards the creation of an effective assessment of the Ecological Footprint of this type of construction. The procedure is based on the project budget and its bill of quantities, organized by means of a systematic construction-work breakdown structure which divides the work into three major categories: materials, manpower, and machinery. Each stream generates partial footprints (i.e. energy, food, mobility, construction materials, and waste).Ninety-two dwelling construction projects, which represent the most commonly built dwellings in Spain per statistical data from the authorities, are evaluated and their ecological footprints are determined. The indicator is sensitive to various building typologies, which range from detached houses to multi-family buildings. Detached houses generate an ecological footprint per square metre constructed of 1.5 times higher than that of 4-floor multi-family buildings and the indicator remains practically constant for taller buildings. This emphasises that not only is the traditional Spanish construction of a compact city with multi-storey buildings environmentally better from the mobility standpoint, but also from the building construction standpoint.     

基于生态足迹模型的城市可持续发展定量评估与预测

生态足迹理论对城市生态系统研究、生态城市建设具有重要的指导意义.以广州市为案例,计算并分析了2001～2005年间广州生态足迹动态变化过程,结果表明2005年人均生态需求为3.95527hm²·人^-1,远大于供给,其中人们对化石燃料土地的生态需求占主要部分(72.67%).五年间人均生态足迹逐渐上升,GDP生态足迹则基本呈逐年下降趋势.用STELLA软件对人均生态足迹需求的变化进行了相关预测.结果显示:2001～2025年广州市人均生态需求呈上升趋势,且上升速度较为迅速,其原因是化石燃料土地的生态足迹需求上升较快而造成的.由此可见,化石燃料生态足迹的人均需求是影响人均生态足迹需求上升的一个关键因素.     

山东省生态空间占用的初步研究

根据生态空间占用理论与方法,判定了山东省目前的生态空间占用和生态容量,进行了生态空间核算并计算了生态赤字.研究表明,山东省2001年的人均生态空间占用为1.37720hm².人均生态容量为0.58755hm²,生态赤字达0.78965hm²,表明该省对生态生产性土地的需求已严重超出其供给能力,其经济发展过程中的生态状况不容乐观.山东人均生态占用虽明显高于本省人均生态容量,但仍低于全球人均生态容量,属于“地方不可持续-全球可持续”的地区.文末指出重化工业在工业结构中的突出地位及以煤炭为主的能源消费结构是导致该省生态占用偏高的主要原因,另外,人口众多使本省人均生态容量偏小,从而导致生态赤字偏大.为使山东社会经济持续健康发展,优化工业结构和能源消费结构,控制人口数量,建立资源节约型的社会生产和消费体系势在必行.     

生态足迹的模型修正与方法改进

生态足迹是测定人类活动的资源消费需求,判明自然资产是否被过度利用的有效工具。介绍了生态足迹的基本概念和模型,简单分析基本模型存在的主要缺陷和争论,重点解析了近年来生态足迹模型在参数调整、项目计算、账户扩展等方面的演变和修正。介绍生态足迹研究的传统方法:综合法和组分法,评述了生命周期评价,基于投入产出分析,三维模型,净初级生产力,能值理论,时序分析等的方法改进。对未来的研究方向提出自己的看法,期望对我国的生态足迹研究有一定的启示作用。     

基于RS和转移矩阵的泾河流域生态承载力时空动态评价

利用泾河流域1986、1995、2000、2008年4期遥感数据和转移矩阵分析方法,在GIS平台上,对该流域近23a的生态承载力时空变化进行了定量评价和空间化表达,结果表明,泾河流域生态承载力空间分布极不均匀,整体呈南高北低,并由东南向西北递减,由上游向下游递增的空间变化趋势,表现出与流域地貌特征,土地利用/覆被和环境禀赋相关联的地理特性和空间异质性;随着时间的推移,全流域生态承载力呈逐年降低趋势,尤其以2000年以后下降趋势明显,但流域内部不同区域的生态承载力及其各类土地生态承载力的变化幅度与趋势各有不同;3个时段内(1986-1995年、1995-2000年、2000-2008年)流域各类土地生态承载力转换频繁,转向趋势明显,且以2000年为拐点,前两时段以林地和草地生态承载力向耕地和建筑用地生态承载力转移为主,后一时段以耕地和建筑用地生态承载力向林地和草地生态承载力转移为主,导致近23a来泾河流域生态承载力及其内部组成变化均较大,说明土地利用/覆被的变化是流域生态承载力变化的主导因素,而1999年以后国家实施的退耕还林还草生态工程则是2000-2008年该流域生态承载力变化的主要驱动力。     

天山北坡区域生态承载力与可持续发展——以阜康市为例

应用生态足迹法剖析位于天山北坡的新疆阜康市近20多年来承载力变化及对可持续发展的影响,结果表明:20世纪90年代以来市场对煤炭等本地优势资源需求和重新配置加速了本区域快速工业化进程,工业化的结果引导了能源消费迅速增加和城市化发展,生物资源消费快速增加,生态消费足迹逐年显著增加.20多年来,林地人均承载力提高而草地和农耕地人均承载力下降,土地总承载力略有下降.在工业迅速发展、城市化的带动和刺激下,能源和草地消费足迹急剧增加,生态由赢余转为赤字并呈现出赤字快速增加的趋势.草地需求旺盛导致了草地掠夺经营的现状愈演愈烈,生态风险逐渐向草地倾斜,已构成该区域可持续发展的最大障碍因素.天山北坡草地承载和可持续发展与牧业落后生产方式紧密联系,也与人们的认识观念有关,实现草地生态的逆转需要全社会的关注和支持.     

基于弹性系数的江苏省能源生态足迹影响因素分析

在核算1985—2006年江苏省能源生态足迹的基础上,采用弹性系数方法,对江苏省能源生态足迹的影响因素进行分析和评价,包括不同影响因素的作用程度高低、不同时期主要及次要影响因素的变动等。这对促进江苏省能源与社会、经济和生态的协调发展,具有重要意义。研究结果显示:不同时期,影响江苏省能源生态足迹的主导因素不同。2003年以前,江苏省分别经历了主导因素变动、耕地因素主导和人口因素主导3个时期;2003年以后,全省第二产业比重反弹,第二产业比重偏大,产业结构不合理,成为目前促进江苏省能源生态足迹提高的主导因素。同时在2003年以后,江苏省城市化水平的迅速提高(2005年已达50%)和全省能源技术效率的下降(单位GDP能耗由0.78反弹至0.89tce/万元),这些次要因素也推动了江苏省能源生态足迹的提高。     

Interregional bio-physical connections—A ‘footprint family’ analysis of Israel’s beef supply system

The need to advance bio-physical accounting as a base for sustainability assessment has been acknowledged and advanced in recent years. One approach highly relevant to the 21st century global reality is the ‘Footprint’—Ecological, Land, Water and Carbon. While each has merits and limitations, the potential to bring all together under the title of the ‘Footprint Family’ is emerging. This paper embraces a footprint family approach to analyze beef consumption in the state of Israel over a decade (1999–2010) and explore some tradeoffs between different biophysical components. The research results reveal that on average a tonne of beef consumed in Israel, reflecting a mixture of sources of supply from all over the world requires 9.5 ha of land and 10,000 m³ of water, mostly for grazing in Latin America (in Brazil and Argentina) but also for growing feed in the U.S and the E.U. Enteric fermentation, manure management, farm operations, shipping and slaughtering generate approximately 19.7 t of CO₂e and the above can be integrated into an ecological footprint figure of approximately 6 global hectares. The paper also demonstrates the utility of inter-regional biophysical accounting at the detailed commodity level. Inter-regional accounting identifies the geographic locations that contribute resources to, and are affected by, the production of specific consumption products. Comprehensive interregional biophysical accounting can be used to generate a better understanding of the complex ecological impacts associated with most consumption products, and the implications of the relationship between these impacts for sustainability.