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The environmental sustainability of nations : Benchmarking the carbon, water and land footprints against allocated planetary boundaries

Fang, Kai ; Heijungs, Reinout ; Duan, Zheng LU and De Snoo, Geert R. (2015) In Sustainability (Switzerland) 7(8). p.11285-11305
Abstract

Growing scientific evidence for the indispensable role of environmental sustainability in sustainable development calls for appropriate frameworks and indicators for environmental sustainability assessment (ESA). In this paper, we operationalize and update the footprint-boundary ESA framework, with a particular focus on its methodological and application extensions to the national level. By using the latest datasets available, the planetary boundaries for carbon emissions, water use and land use are allocated to 28 selected countries in comparison to the corresponding environmental footprints. The environmental sustainability ratio (ESR)-an internationally comparable indicator representing the sustainability gap between contemporary... (More)

Growing scientific evidence for the indispensable role of environmental sustainability in sustainable development calls for appropriate frameworks and indicators for environmental sustainability assessment (ESA). In this paper, we operationalize and update the footprint-boundary ESA framework, with a particular focus on its methodological and application extensions to the national level. By using the latest datasets available, the planetary boundaries for carbon emissions, water use and land use are allocated to 28 selected countries in comparison to the corresponding environmental footprints. The environmental sustainability ratio (ESR)-an internationally comparable indicator representing the sustainability gap between contemporary anthropogenic interference and critical capacity thresholds-allows one to map the reserve or transgression of the nation-specific environmental boundaries. While the geographical distribution of the three ESRs varies across nations, in general, the worldwide unsustainability of carbon emissions is largely driven by economic development, while resource endowments play a more central role in explaining national performance on water and land use. The main value added of this paper is to provide concrete evidence of the usefulness of the proposed framework in allocating overall responsibility for environmental sustainability to sub-global scales and in informing policy makers about the need to prevent the planet's environment from tipping into an undesirable state.

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author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Environmental footprints, Environmental sustainability assessment, Environmental sustainability ratio, Nations, Planetary boundaries, Sustainability gap
in
Sustainability (Switzerland)
volume
7
issue
8
pages
21 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:84940510825
ISSN
2071-1050
DOI
10.3390/su70811285
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
4b38883d-641d-46fd-82a6-54bbc32bbf01
date added to LUP
2019-12-22 20:27:24
date last changed
2022-04-18 19:59:47
@article{4b38883d-641d-46fd-82a6-54bbc32bbf01,
  abstract     = {{<p>Growing scientific evidence for the indispensable role of environmental sustainability in sustainable development calls for appropriate frameworks and indicators for environmental sustainability assessment (ESA). In this paper, we operationalize and update the footprint-boundary ESA framework, with a particular focus on its methodological and application extensions to the national level. By using the latest datasets available, the planetary boundaries for carbon emissions, water use and land use are allocated to 28 selected countries in comparison to the corresponding environmental footprints. The environmental sustainability ratio (ESR)-an internationally comparable indicator representing the sustainability gap between contemporary anthropogenic interference and critical capacity thresholds-allows one to map the reserve or transgression of the nation-specific environmental boundaries. While the geographical distribution of the three ESRs varies across nations, in general, the worldwide unsustainability of carbon emissions is largely driven by economic development, while resource endowments play a more central role in explaining national performance on water and land use. The main value added of this paper is to provide concrete evidence of the usefulness of the proposed framework in allocating overall responsibility for environmental sustainability to sub-global scales and in informing policy makers about the need to prevent the planet's environment from tipping into an undesirable state.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fang, Kai and Heijungs, Reinout and Duan, Zheng and De Snoo, Geert R.}},
  issn         = {{2071-1050}},
  keywords     = {{Environmental footprints; Environmental sustainability assessment; Environmental sustainability ratio; Nations; Planetary boundaries; Sustainability gap}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{11285--11305}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Sustainability (Switzerland)}},
  title        = {{The environmental sustainability of nations : Benchmarking the carbon, water and land footprints against allocated planetary boundaries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su70811285}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/su70811285}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}