Economics and recycling

The author asserts that the cause of the current environmental and natural resource use problems is the attempt to run a technologically more sophisticated and significantly larger economy at higher average standards of living using outdated sets of implicit prices, relative to the real social value of environmental or natural resource services. Where these prices are implicitly set at zero, no policy, including a recycling policy, can be expected to succeed. Unless western society realises that these prices are significantly above zero, and are rising in some cases at an accelerating rate, much of the research reported will ultimately be of little or no value.     

Measuring forest ecosystem sustainability: A resource accounting approach

A new environmental paradigm has emerged, reflecting a change in the public's understanding of resource sustainability. Forest policy makers need to be better informed about such changes to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives in a manner that balances human needs and aspirations with ecosystem constraints. As an aid to this task, a forest resource accounting system based on the key concept of natural capital could help reshape forest policies to provide an even wider spectrum of benefits for both present and future generations by maintaining and enhancing the productive capacity of forest capital. Such a resource accounting system would provide a tool for integrating multidimensional information requirements in measuring the health of both forest ecosystems and economic systems. This paper outlines some of the features of this accounting system and proposes and framework that would integrate economic and ecological characteristics of natural resources. Forest resource accounting is urgently needed to achieve the sustainability goals of ecosystem management.     

Environmental accounting and statistics

The views expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily reflect an expression of opinion on the part of the United Nations. The objective of sustainable development is to integrate environmental concerns with mainstream socio-economic policies. Integrated policies need to be supported by integrated data. Environmental accounting achieves this integration by incorporating environmental costs and benefits into conventional national accounts. Modified accounting aggregates can thus be used in defining and measuring environmentally sound and sustainable economic growth. Further development objectives need to be assessed by more comprehensive, though necessarily less integrative, systems of environment statistics and indicators. Integrative frameworks for the different statistical systems in the fields of economy, environment and population would facilitate the provision of comparable data for the analysis of integrated development.     

Social capital as a facilitator of pro-environmental actions in the USA: a preliminary examination of mechanisms

In this article, the mechanisms through which social networks impact individuals' environmentally significant actions are examined through a pilot study. A conceptual model was developed and in-depth interviews were performed with individuals in a North Carolina town in order to understand the mechanisms through which social capital facilitates pro-environmental actions. Individuals with higher social capital were found to act pro-environmentally because they value the collective interest rather than out of self-interest. Social capital was found to play a role in the formation of this valuation mainly through micro-level socialisation processes, particularly by instilling decision-making processes based on values in individuals, which informed individuals then applied to environmentally significant decisions. The results also suggest that the prevalence of the norm of engagement with environmental issues in an individual's social network can be an especially important promoter of pro-environmental actions. The study suggests that the culture of social networks is particularly important in the formation of ecological citizens.     

Making sense of environmental accounting

Much as Total Quality Management (TQM) has helped companies decrease waste and enhance value, environmental accounting offers an approach and a suite of tools that can help organizations improve both environmental quality and bottom-line business performance. Its focus is to bridge the world of finance and economics with the world of environmental management. Companies in all sectors have discovered that they can increase profits by meeting and even surpassing environmental regulations. Through environmental accounting, companies can discover more of these opportunities and, ideally, bring environmental concerns earlier into planning, decision making, and operations. This article introduces environmental accounting and some basic principles that should guide organizations' thinking on environmental accounting and environmental accounting systems. It also describes several different objectives for environmental accounting that imply different requirements and orientations. Although the focus of this article is on environmental accounting as an aspect of forward-looking management and decision making in companies, much of the discussion applies to nonprofits and government units as well.     

GEP核算：理论内涵与现实挑战

当前学术界对于GEP的概念内涵和核算方法仍在探索之中,而地方实践已然走在理论研究之前。GEP核算是生态服务价值的货币化评价,主要是为了科学认识生态系统服务的潜在价值,不等同于生态服务价值的市场显现;核算的出发点是为了更好保护自然资本,而非生态产品价值转化。GEP核算通过货币化评价生态服务价值,将自然资本保护更好地纳入经济社会发展决策,为完善生态补偿机制、进行生态文明绩效考核、引导人造资本和人力资本进入生态产业化提供重要参考依据。GEP和GDP都是流量,将GEP直接转化为GDP在逻辑上不成立。如何使GEP核算更好地服务于生态产品价值实现,需要在理论上厘清逻辑关联,在实践中明晰政策边界。     

生态文旅类企业会计核算的创新研究——基于生态产品价值实现视角

生态产品价值实现,是体现“绿水青山就是金山银山”理念的重要路径。近年来,我国开展了各类生态产品价值的核算实践,提供了自然生态估值的新视角。通过核算生态产品价值,能够客观体现生态系统提供生态产品的潜力以及生态产品的社会价值。本文以经营自然资源的生态文旅类企业作为生态产品会计核算的主体,结合会计学基础理论和生态价值常用的评估方法,针对生态文旅类企业构建了企业生态产品会计核算的基本框架,为企业的生态产品运营提供了全新的管理工具。     

基于 SEEA 的自然资源资产核算指标的国际比较

本文从实物型、价值型自然资源资产账户及自然资源资产流量账户三方面对参照环境经济综合核算体系(SEEA)开展自然资源和环境经济核算的海外典型国家的核算指标进行比较分析,为编制我国自然资源资产核算框架提供参考借鉴。从五个典型国家的实践上看,各国的自然资源资产核算体系趋向与国民经济核算相对接;核算资源类别注重资源对社会经济的贡献度、资源数据可获得性以及资源核算的难易程度;核算账户及指标设置突出统计的实现,缺乏核算分析。基于此,本文提出,我国在开展自然资源资产核算时可借鉴国民经济核算的做法及已出台的各类资源分类标准,编制分类与综合资源核算账户、全国与地区专项资源核算账户;突出设置资源变化类指标,注重核算资源的流;探索编制自然资源资产生态账户,考虑实现资源核算指标与负债表指标的衔接,为自然资源资产负债表编制提供信息。     

Public policy and the value of the environment: an alternative approach

There is a growing concern regarding the ‘true’ GNP. The claim is that the cost of environmental degradation should be taken into account when calculating welfare measures for society which can be derived from the system of national accounts (SNA). However, the reason that it has not been done is the difficulty of calculating the true ‘price of the environment’. The literature recognizes two types of measurements. One is based on indirect measures (e.g. hedonic methods) while the second is based on direct methods (e.g. contingent valuation methods). There is an alternative approach which is suggested in this paper. The new method relies on the assumption that what we see in reality is the outcome of a maximization process of some social welfare function which includes not only GNP but other elements of which environmental quality is one. By observing the reality, we can get some information on the implicit governmental weights and hence on the trade‐off between the GNP and the environment. This is a positive approach rather than a normative one, so future decisions can rely on this measurement as a guide for controversial decisions regarding development versus preservation. The theoretical model is then applied to the Israeli economy as an example in order to have some estimate on the price derived by this method.     

Environmental cost accounting: The bottom line for environmental quality management

Recent years have seen the environment emerge as one of the most pressing issues facing American business. Eventually, environmental costs will affect the bottom line of every American company. A recent study in the National Law Journal estimates that cleanup of the nation's known hazardous wastes sites will cost $752 billion over thirty years under current environmental policies. Environmental legislation and regulations impose annual compliance costs estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency at more than $30 billion. In the near future, environmental expenses for cleanup, regulatory compliance, and management are anticipated to grow to between 2.5 and 3 percent of GNP. Corporations that wish to be competitive must successfully manage these costs while maintaining or improving their role as responsible corporate citizens. Implementing a comprehensive system for identifying and managing environmental costs requires a multidisciplinary team effort. Environmental costs impact product selection, design and pricing, capital budgeting, and future strategic direction. In order to make informed and meaningful managerial decisions on environmental programs, real cost data are vital. An environmental management systems (EMS) requires information to set goals and then monitor progress towards those goals over time. This article will discuss the current cost accounting systems (CASs) available to support the myriad goals of environmental management systems. In addition, the article will outline a framework for plotting the location of your current EMS on a matrix of regulatory and information requirements and evaluating whether your corporation's CAS is adequate to support the goals and objectives set by your environmental management program. By anticipating future regulatory and information requirements, flexible systems can be developed to adapt to new and more stringent regulations and more complex information requirements.     

On measuring wealth: a case study on the state of Queensland

In order for policy makers to plan effectively for sustainable development, there is a need for measures of welfare that consider changes in the natural capital stock. Current measures based on conventional national accounting are flawed because they are based solely on flow measures and do not account for environmental effects. In this paper, we use an expanded measure of wealth to estimate the value of natural capital for Queensland. The state's stock of natural capital is valued at A dollar 355.6 billion, of which non-timber forest resources account for 45.3%, ecosystem services 20.0%, and mineral resources 17.6%. This figure is a conservative estimate of the true value since some significant components such as the ecological and life-support functions of the environment are excluded. The estimates highlight the relative importance of different forms of natural capital and can be used to draw the attention of policymakers to the need to give adequate weight to the value of such services in decision-making processes.     

Emergy accounting of the Province of Siena: towards a thermodynamic geography for regional studies

This research is part of the SPIn-Eco project for the Province of Siena, Italy, and applies an environmental accounting method to a region with reference to its population, human activities, natural cycles, infrastructures and other settings. This study asserts that the consumption of resources due to the human economy is a source of great concern because of the load it places on the biosphere. Environmental resources locally used, whether directly or indirectly, from both renewable energy fluxes and storage of materials and energies, are investigated. In this paper emergy analysis is presented and applied to the Province of Siena and to each of its municipalities, in order to evaluate the main flows of energy and materials that supply the territorial system, including human subsystems, with reference to their actual environmental cost. Therefore, the behaviour of the whole system and the interactions between natural and human agents were studied; in other words, the attitudes of the territorial systems toward resource use as revealed by their patterns of emergy consumption were observed. Once expressed in units of the same form of energy through the emergy evaluation, categories of resource consumption and systems of varying scales and organization are compared. Furthermore, indexes of environmental performance based on emergy are calculated. Flows of energy and materials are assessed, and their intensities, which vary throughout the area of the Province, are then visualized on maps.     

Economic sustainability and the preservation of environmental assets

The core requirement of sustainability is that current economic activities should not result in an excessive burden on future generations. This criterion is general enough to imply different decision rules for the preservation of environmental assets. Neoclassical economics does not have a sustainability criterion for environmental assets independent of the intertemporal efficiency criterion, which allocates environmental and man-made capital based on projected monetary benefits and costs. This criterion is examined in terms of the feasibility of valuing the benefits of environmental assets, the substitution possibilities between natural and man-made capital, and the ethical grounds for using efficiency as the sole determinant of the allocation of environmental assets. An alternative ecological sustainability criterion is the preservation of safe minimum levels of environmental assets in physical terms rather than the dollar value of a composite of natural and man-made capital. Safe minimum standards for environmental assets constrain the efficiency criterion in order to ensure the sustainability of economic systems. It is argued that the ecological approach to sustainability should limit the economic approach for decisions involving the allocation of environmental assets.     

Effects of spatial and temporal scales on cultural services valuation

The monetary valuation of ecosystem services has proved to be a powerful tool for influencing management decisions, as it can be used to quantify the relative importance of various ecosystem functions. However, these valuation methods are rarely implemented with adequate care; in particular, they do not consider spatial and temporal variations in the services offered and demanded. This paper examines the effect of heterogeneity on the valuation of cultural services offered by the Doñana natural protected area in Spain. We apply the zonal travel cost method at various spatial scales, and the individual travel cost method at various temporal scales. We conclude that economic valuation techniques must account for spatial and temporal heterogeneity if they are to provide accurate and realistic information.     

我国低碳转型进程中碳强度与电气化环境库兹涅茨倒U形关联的检验与政策启示

中国正在积极地谋求低碳化转型,政府承诺落实2030年前碳达峰的目标并努力争取2060年实现碳中和。碳强度控制是实现CO_2减排的关键制度,而电气化又与碳排放和经济增长都具有紧密的联系。因此,研究电气化与碳强度的关系对政策设计和制定碳强度控制政策具有重要意义。基于电气化与碳强度关系的现有研究,本文提出了碳排放强度随着电气化水平提高先上升后下降的环境库兹涅茨曲线(EKC)关系假设。本文以中国1997—2016年30个省份的面板数据为对象进行假设检验,并使用空间杜宾模型验证空间效应对结果的影响。结果显示,我国电气化与碳强度之间确实存在显著的倒U形的EKC关系,并且这一结论在考虑空间因素后仍然稳健。EKC曲线的拐点在不考虑空间因素的情况下位于电气化水平为10.52%的位置,在考虑了空间因素后略微后移到10.81%。截至2016年,所有省份的电气化水平均处于EKC拐点的右侧,即电气化水平的提高将对碳强度下降起到显著的促进作用。最后,针对电气化与碳强度关系的一般与空间特征,本文对电气化发展提出了政策建议。     

基于全产业链视角实施生态资产管理

生态资产是人类赖以生存的基本条件,当前研究尚未充分关注人类活动对生态资产的影响。本文从社会经济系统的全产业链视角出发,探讨产业链不同环节的生产消费活动对生态资产的影响以及所对应的不同政策内涵。分析结果表明,产业链的不同环节对应不同政策内涵,识别不同环节上的关键区域/行业能够为不同类型的政策决策指出着力点。初始投入环节的核算服务于人力资本投入行为的调控;初始生产环节的核算服务于末端控制手段,包括资源节约与污染物减排;中间生产环节和末端生产环节的核算服务于提升生产效率的政策手段;最终消费环节的核算服务于消费行为优化。最终得出应该从全产业链视角实施多环节生态资产管理的结论,并提出,为了从全产业链视角实施生态资产管理,应考虑建立一套标准化、全产业链视角的生态资产需求核算框架,建设支持全产业链视角核算生态资产需求的基础数据库,将全产业链视角管理生态资产的思维融入政策决策等建议。     

Getting started with environmental cost accounting

Proactive corporations have been looking at methods to determine the real costs of doing business, including environmental costs using environmental cost accounting (ECA) methodology. Many companies do not track or measure environmental costs and therefore do not know their true environmental costs. Unfortunately, conventional accounting practices rarely tease out environmental costs, and the costs associated with environmental compliance remain hidden in general overhead accounts. ECA can bring the world of business and the environment closer. When we have a better handle on environmental costs, we can use this information to better prioritize environmental projects, identify cost improvement projects, and allocate environmental costs to products. In this article we explore how some companies approach ECA and show how to initiate an ECA program.     

Valuation of externalities of selected waste management alternatives: A comparative review and analysis

Accessible and transparent data on the social costs of externalities is crucial to waste management researchers, decision-makers, and managers, if waste management strategies are to be successfully analyzed and implemented. The primary objective of this study, which is based on a thorough review of existing literature and research, was to assist the abovementioned in their decision-making with reliable recent data, by mapping, gathering, analyzing, and comparing different valuation results of external costs associated with various types of pollution and disamenities related to landfilling and incineration of solid waste.The second objective was to assess the suitability and reliability of various valuation methods and techniques that were implemented in the reviewed valuation studies, as well as the transferability of valuations across sites.The paper focuses on studies conducted since 1990, because in dynamic fields such as the waste sector, externalities, and valuation, it is essential to stay current with the most recent information and valuations.We discuss the issues and the limits of the valuation techniques and analyze the estimates of all the studies, presenting the results in the form of intervals and averages of damage costs. In spite of the inconsistencies evident in the variability in the results we reviewed, the outcome of this first comprehensive critical analysis is significant and the valuations obtained in this study provide estimates of orders of magnitude of external costs that can be used by decision makers in the waste sector to address important policy questions associated with social welfare.     

Environmental accounting as a management tool in the Mediterranean context: the Spanish economy during the last 20 years

Although human presence is one of the main characteristics of the Mediterranean identity since ancient times, a false dialectic between conservation and social-economic development has emerged in recent decades. On the one hand, an economic growth policy is taken as the paradigm of social-economic development; on the other hand, there is a multi-scale conservation policy, in which natural protected areas, as patches of preserved nature, are used as one of the main tools to deal with the challenge of sustainability. The Mediterranean Basin is the habitat of many unique species and one of the 25 main biodiversity hotspots in the world, and as a consequence a strong conservation policy has been used to protect environmental values. At the same time, Mediterranean countries are deeply involved in promoting strong economic growth policies, which are not always compatible with environmental ones. In this paper, Spain has been studied as one model of this situation. Due to political reasons, Spanish economic growth and conservationist policies were pursued together during the last 20 years. As a result, Spain owns one of the largest networks of natural protected areas in Western Europe, and at the same time it has experienced one of the strongest periods of economic growths in the European and Mediterranean context during the 1980s and 1990s. An historical series of resource use in five annual periods in the last 20 years of conservation policy, and the effects on the preservation of natural capital have been investigated by means of the eMergy (spelled with an 'm') synthesis approach, which was used to characterize the flow of environmental services supplied by ecosystems, but not in monetary terms. This study shows that Spain is becoming less self-sufficient and more inefficient in resource use, comprehensively measured in eMergy terms. A large part of Spain's economy depends on imported goods and services, and most economic activities are based on tourist services and associated construction, which promotes intensification in the urban use of the territory and more intense environmental impacts and resource use intensification of those countries supplying the raw materials. The consequence is a decoupling of the Spanish economy from local environmental services and the increase of Ecological footprint of Spain, measured by means of eMergy-based indicators. In spite of the increase in number, area and associated budget of the natural protected areas and other conservation measures, the general sustainability of the nation is decreasing.