Modelling scenarios towards a sustainable use of natural resources in Europe

Issues related to the unsustainable use of natural resources are currently high on the policy agenda both in Europe and in other world regions. A large number of studies assessed past developments of material use and resource productivities. However, little effort has so far been devoted to forecasting future patterns of natural resource use and to provide ex-ante assessments of environmental and economic effects of different resource policies. This paper presents results from the international research project “MOSUS” (Modelling opportunities and limits for restructuring Europe towards sustainability), which was designed to fill some of these research gaps. In this project, a global economy–energy model system was extended by a worldwide database on material inputs, in order to run three scenarios for European development up to the year 2020: a baseline scenario without additional policy intervention and two so-called “sustainability scenarios”, simulating the implementation of six packages of policy measures geared towards decoupling economic activity from material and energy throughput. These measures included, amongst others, taxes on CO₂ emissions and transport, measures to increase metal recycling rates, and a consulting programme to raise material productivity of industrial production. This paper presents the evaluation of the three scenarios with regard to the extraction of natural resources on the European and global level. In the baseline scenario, used domestic extraction within the EU remains roughly constant until 2020, while unused domestic extraction decreases (particularly overburden from mining activities). The stabilisation of domestic extraction, however, is accompanied by growing imports of material intensive products. This indicates that the material requirements of the European economy will increasingly be met through imports from other world regions, causing shifts of environmental pressures related to material extraction and processing away from Europe towards resource-rich countries. The implementation of the six sustainability policy measures applied in the sustainability scenarios results in a slight absolute reduction of domestic extraction in all European countries and significantly increased resource productivities. The results suggest that policy instruments aimed at raising eco-efficiency on the micro level can be conducive to economic growth. To limit rebound effects on the macro level, these instruments must, however, be accompanied by other policies influencing the prices of energy and materials. With regard to global resource use trends, the baseline scenario forecasts a significant growth of resource extraction, particularly in developing countries, reflecting the growing demand for natural resources of emerging economies such as China and India.     

Leveraging assets: a case study of the sustainability initiative at the University of Minnesota,Morris

This article presents an overview of the sustainability initiative at the University of Minnesota, Morris, key components of which include a realistic goal of energy self-sufficiency by 2010, a new environmental studies curriculum, and various research and outreach projects. Many non-obvious institutional assets – such as lobbying networks in the state legislature, and geographic/demographic features that are more commonly thought of as liabilities – turned out to play critical roles in setting the initiative in motion. The initial physical assets have been leveraged into complementary opportunities for research, teaching, and institutional development in this direction.     

区域系统物质代谢研究——以江苏省南通市为例

为定量地描述一个区域对其自然环境的负荷,论文利用区域系统物质代谢的方法研究了南通市全市范围内食物、能量、水、物质和废弃物的输入与输出。在研究期限内(1996～2002年),固体废弃物输出的增长率高于固体物质输入的增长率,而废水输出的增长率低于淡水输入的增长率。南通市区域代谢的速率正在持续上升。2002年非食物性资源的消耗总量是食物需求的15.8倍。化石燃料能量及电能的消耗是人体能量需求的17.9倍,光合作用固定太阳能的48.36倍。南通市区域代谢的趋势是上升的。尽管各种物质与能量的利用效率提高了,部分物质的循环利用率也上升了,但是还不足以降低其对陆地、水体和大气环境的压力。最后提出降低区域代谢脆弱性、提高代谢效率的相关建议。     

Regional sustainability contrasts in Brazil as indicated by the Compass of Sustainability – CompasSus

The current need for assessing sustainable processes and states is a driving assumption for this article, having as objective to present preliminary results of a new assessment approach, the Compass of Sustainability (CompasSus), applied to administrative regions of Brazil. Its methodological approach is based on a combination of existing assessment methodologies, such as the Human Development Index and the Ecological Footprint. CompasSus is elaborated under the perspective of rather complementary operational concepts of sustainable development, namely weak and strong sustainability, which are often seen as competing ones. In spite of the advances on the perspective of sustainable development perceived in international agreements for conservation of nature, as well as in the implementation of national policies aiming at sustainability, there still exists an operational ambiguity of the concept of sustainability. Thus, its fuzzy theoretical consolidation for clear definition of objectives and lines of action still leads to different assumptions for diverse stakeholders and authors. Looking at the Brazilian case, conservation strategies are needed to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest against a predatory business – as-usual frontier expansion. As for addressing trade-offs between environmental conservation and regional development demands the CompasSus introduces a combined hemispheric assessment of sustainability. In 2006, the state in which the sustainability index had the best performance was DF (Distrito Federal). This, the seat of the capital city, presents an economy based on the public and the service sectors, both very little carbon and energy intensive. Furthermore, the high income per capita, and good social indicators associated with the small relevance of the agrarian sector grants it the best sustainability index, which is determined by performances in two components representing strong and weak sustainability. In the other extreme is São Paulo (SP) where a high population density and major impacts on waterways have implied a worse performance in weak sustainability index, whereas the high consumption of energy together with high carbon emissions have also determined a low performance in strong sustainability index.     

Gold mining in Australia: linking historical trends and environmental and resource sustainability

The mining of gold has been and continues to be an important aspect of Australian industry. Gold mining moved quickly from fossicking and alluvial sources in the 1850's to hard rock mining. This paper presents, arguably for the first time, a detailed historical compilation of Australian gold mining production data. This data is then analysed in the context of sustainability, focussing particularly on mineral resource sustainability and the broader aspects of environmental impacts now commonly reported by some mining companies in annual sustainability performance reports. The key trends which are demonstrated by the data include a long-term decline in ore grade, increased open cut mining, substantive increases in tailings and waste rock production, as well as showing the impact of new technologies and economics on available gold resources. The available environmental data on material and energy inputs to and pollutant emissions from gold production is also presented, showing a clear sensitivity to ore grade. In terms of sustainability, these relationships raise significant issues such as increasing greenhouse footprint per unit gold produced, potential impacts on energy and water consumption, as well as overall gold resource sustainability. The paper presents a unique case study of the resource and environmental sustainability of the Australian gold mining sector with major implications for sustainability policy and reporting.     

Using qualitative models to define sustainable management for the commons in data poor conditions

Nearly 50 years after Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons” we have not yet found predictive tools to guide us towards sustainable management of common-pool resources (CPR). We often have a good understanding of the qualitative relationships between the principal actors in socioecological systems (SESs), but classical quantitative approaches require a tremendous amount of data to understand the drivers of SESs sustainability. Here we show that qualitative modelling approaches can provide important governance insights for SESs that are understood but not quantified.We used Loop Analysis to test the outcomes of different management regimes on a simple nature-based tourism SES described by economic, social and environmental variables. We tested the sustainability of different management scenarios on this system and we identified the necessary conditions to achieve it.We found that management regimes where property rights and responsibilities are shared between different stakeholders are more likely to be successful. However, the system is generally highly unstable and it is important to tune each strategy to each particular situation.The conditions for sustainability found across the different systems tested were: a low reinvestment rate of tourist revenues into new infrastructures and a low growth rate of the environment. Management strategies based on maximum sustainable yield, which keep the environment far from its carrying capacity, have less chance to be sustainable.Qualitative models of SESs are powerful diagnostic tools; they can help identifying variables that play an important role in determining socioecological sustainability in data-poor circumstances and guide the design of efficient data collection programmes. Our results highlight the importance of careful planning when designing management strategies for nature-based tourism. The application of one-size-fits-all solutions to every situation is likely to lead to the failure of the commons; however tourism-based SESs can be sustainable if management strategies are tuned to each particular case.     

区域土地利用变化的物质代谢响应初步研究

文章在描述相关研究进展的基础上,认为在物质资源不断减少的情形下,物质代谢效率提高对于人类社会发展具有更为重要的意义。并在此基础上,分析了土地利用方式、土地利用强度、土地利用布局等土地利用变化过程对于物质代谢变化的影响机理。以江苏省为例进行实证分析,构建区域土地利用变化的物质代谢驱动力模型。结果表明,随着1989年以来江苏省土地利用强度的不断提高,物质代谢通量快速增长。土地利用强度越高,物质代谢通量值越大,土地利用强度提高10%,则物质代谢通量将提高5.62%,因此,资源利用量与污染物排放量越多,带来的环境冲击也就越大;但土地利用强度越高,物质代谢效率值就越小,土地利用强度每提高10%,物质代谢效率就提高5.03%,因而单位GD P的资源利用量与污染物排放量也就越少。虽然物质代谢效率在提高,但是物质资源日益稀缺,物质代谢效率需进一步提升。最后提出了区域土地利用变化物质代谢效应响应的研究方向。     

Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI's sustainability reporting

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the best-known framework for voluntary reporting of environmental and social performance by business worldwide. Using extensive empirical data, including interviews and documentary analysis, we examine GRI's organizational field and conclude that since its modest beginnings in 1999 GRI has been by several measures a successful institutionalization project. But the institutional logic of this new entity, as an instrument for corporate sustainability management, leaves out one of the central elements of the initial vision for GRI: as a mobilizing agent for many societal actors. This emergent logic reflects GRI's dominant constituency – large global companies and financial institutions and international business management consultancies – and not the less active civil society organizations and organized labor. We attribute these developments to factors such as building GRI within the existing institutional structures; the highly inclusive multistakeholder process; and the underdeveloped base of information users. From the institutional theory perspective, this case shows how the process of institutionalization is deeply affected by initial strategies of the founders, and how it reproduces existing power relations. From the governance perspective, this case leads us to question the power of commodified information to mobilize civil society and to strengthen governance based on partnerships.     

An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: assessment of the current campus environmental management practices

Universities can nowadays be regarded as ‘small cities’ due to their large size, population, and the various complex activities taking place in campuses, which have some serious direct and indirect impacts on the environment. The environmental pollution and degradation caused by universities in form of energy and material consumption via activities and operations in teaching and research, provision of support services and in residential areas could be considerably reduced by an effective choice of organizational and technical measures. Although many environmental protection measures can be seen at some universities, but a more systematic and sustainable approach to reducing the negative impacts of those activities and making the campuses more sustainable, is generally lacking. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework of a more suitable approach to achieving campus sustainability that could remedy the limitations of the current environmental management practices in universities and ensures more sustainability through the integration of three strategies, namely: university Environmental Management System (EMS); public participation and social responsibility; and promoting sustainability in teaching and research.     

Coping with changing water resources: The case of the Syr Darya river basin in Central Asia

This paper discusses how climatic-hydrological and socio-political developments will affect water allocation in the Syr Darya river basin and which adaptation measures will be needed to cope with changing water resources. In view of the geo-political complexity, climate-driven changes in water availability are of particular importance in this region. Water shortages during summer will become more frequent as precipitation is expected to further decrease and glacial meltwater releases will decrease in the long-term due to reduced glacier volume. Being the main valve to the entire Syr Darya river system, the Toktogul reservoir in Kyrgyzstan could take over, at least partly, the role of glaciers as seasonal water redistributors, thus allowing the generation of energy in winter – benefiting upstream countries – and irrigation for large-scale agriculture in summer – benefiting downstream countries. To date, however, there is no regional consensus on a balanced reservoir management, which currently favours irrigation according to past Soviet priorities. Moreover, the perception of water as a ‘national concern’ in Central Asia discourages efforts towards cooperation between states at the regional level. So far, climate change adaptation has focused on technical rather than institutional solutions. We suggest that policy-relevant adaptation measures should include consistent data collection and dissemination, cross-sectoral collaboration, promotion of national responsibility and initiative, and agreeing on a regional strategy.     

Cleaner production in Danish fish processing – experiences,status and possible future strategies

Danish fish processing industry has been one of the pioneers regarding implementation of cleaner production and environmental management systems. This article describes the experiences with cleaner production (CP) among leading Danish industries producing pickled herring and canned mackerel. The article emphasizes two case studies of ‘first mover’ companies, but data from other ‘proactive’ companies are also included.The article provides an overview of different types of CP solutions, improvement potentials, synergistic effects and possible trade-offs. The development of the applied solutions from the late 1980s until today are analysed and recommendations to future strategies at company level and policy level are provided.It is concluded that significant environmental improvements have been obtained for the analysed companies – especially concerning reductions in water consumption, wastewater emissions, and utilisation of fish ‘waste’ for valuable by-products. Still, more focus could be placed on the reduction of energy consumption, change of packaging types, and environmental impacts in other stages of the products life cycle.Authorities and companies have mainly focused on on-site reductions of wastewater emissions, but life cycle assessments show that more attention should be given to the reductions of environmental impacts in other parts of the product chain, e.g. fishing operations and transport as well.     

Constructing sustainable palm oil: how actors define sustainability

Biofuels as a renewable source of energy have gained considerable importance in recent years. The use of biofuels is expected to rise since national governments of developed nations like the US and European countries see it as one of the ways to fulfill climate targets and increase the security in their energy supply. Production of biofuels is also expected to rise as developing nations see in biofuels the opportunity for connecting to international markets through supplying a new demand in the energy market.Several studies report on the environmental, social and economic gains and detriments that can arise from increased biofuel production and consumption. However, research that provides insight into the way in which such issues are defined by actors within the product chain is scarce. In this article we analyse how the strategies and value definitions of actors involved in the production and consumption of biofuels lead to specific definitions of sustainability. The empirical material concerns the chain of palm oil production in Colombia and electricity generation in the Netherlands. It is analysed using the method of action-in-context, which allows us to uncover the level and source of diversity of sustainability definitions in the product chain.While the current growth in production of palm oil is definitely buyer driven, the analysis of various activities in the chain shows that several aspects of sustainability are defined in more complex actor fields throughout the product chain.     

The theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) as option generation tool within cleaner production projects

Cleaner Production is an organized approach to minimize industrial waste and emissions by increasing the efficiency of the use of materials and energy. It is propagated especially by UNIDO and UNEP as an approach to identify preventive measures to cut on waste and emissions from industrial activities. Case studies conducted by the authors in the last 10 years demonstrate, that in a number of cases water consumption per production unit of industries from the surface treatment sector, from food processing and from the textile industry could be reduced by 30–90%, auxiliary materials consumption could be reduced by 30–50%, and energy consumption of processes could be reduced by 15–25%. All these measures were actually economically beneficial for the companies, most of these measures paid back in less than one year [1].The standard approach to apply Cleaner Production originates from chemical engineering. It follows the steps of: Drawing a process flow sheet – collecting input/output data – doing mass and energy balances – identify sources for waste and emissions – set priorities – identify options. In the process of option generation one generally relies on expert knowledge or on checklists which are available in different manuals or in the best available technology reference (BREF) notes.¹ This approach is strong with teams with an (chemical) engineering background.The authors wanted to develop a generic approach for option identification especially for teams with little formal engineering background or teams which have to go beyond their professional experience by using elements of the so-called TRIZ method (Theory of inventive problem solving, or originally Russian: “

” (Teoria reschenija isobretatjelskich sadatsch)). TRIZ offers very strong tools for developing process improvement options on a generic level without specific technological knowledge about the process which shall be improved. The authors have found from their research that especially the concept of the Ideal Final Result, and the Laws of Evolution form a conceptual framework which can aid effectively in the identification of improvement options in a systematic way.     

Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on livelihoods

The water–energy–food nexus is being promoted as a conceptual tool for achieving sustainable development. Frameworks for implementing nexus thinking, however, have failed to explicitly or adequately incorporate sustainable livelihoods perspectives. This is counterintuitive given that livelihoods are key to achieving sustainable development. In this paper we present a critical review of nexus approaches and identify potential linkages with sustainable livelihoods theory and practice, to deepen our understanding of the interrelated dynamics between human populations and the natural environment. Building upon this review, we explore the concept of ‘environmental livelihood security’ – which encompasses a balance between natural resource supply and human demand on the environment to promote sustainability – and develop an integrated nexus-livelihoods framework for examining the environmental livelihood security of a system. The outcome is an integrated framework with the capacity to measure and monitor environmental livelihood security of whole systems by accounting for the water, energy and food requisites for livelihoods at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels. We anticipate this holistic approach will not only provide a significant contribution to achieving national and regional sustainable development targets, but will also be effective for promoting equity amongst individuals and communities in local and global development agendas.     

Sustainability issues in sheet metal forming processes: an overview

Environmental sustainability in manufacturing is nowadays an urgent and remarkable issue and the main concerns are related to more efficient use of materials and energy.In sheet metal forming processes there is still a lack of knowledge in this field mainly due to the need of a proper modelling of sustainability issues and factors to be taken into account. The aim of this paper is mainly to underline the state of the art from a forming point of view about the sustainability contributions offered in any phase of a product life cycle. Actually, a lack in terms of comprehensive contributions is present in the technical literature, thus, the authors try to give a sort of holistic vision aimed to provide basic guidelines in order to help in identifying the possible solutions with regard to all the phases of a forming product life cycle. The main attention was paid to sheet metal forming technologies. The paper gives an overview of the main topics concerning sheet metal forming problems related to energy and resource efficiency with the aim to stress the principal contributions which may derive from such processes to environmental performances of manufacturing.     

Does environmental information overcome practice compartmentalisation and change consumers' behaviours?

This paper questions the long-held paradigm of consumers' rationality as well as its corresponding policy tool, the supply of information. Theoretical considerations as well as empirical evidence from a research on residential energy consumption in Belgium show that both environmental information – namely on climate change – and customised advice to save energy at home are neither just taken in as such by consumers nor translated into corresponding practices. In consumerist societies, practice compartmentalisation and moods are indeed normalised mechanisms for not adopting ‘green’ lifestyles that would threaten social normality as defined in valued networks.     

Environmental permitting as a driver for eco-efficiency in the dairy industry: A closer look at the IPPC directive

This study contributes to the discussion on the potential of the IPPC Directive to serve as a driver for eco-efficiency through the analysis of case studies of British, Finnish and Swedish dairy industries and the corresponding regulatory bodies. The signals given to the companies on the required improvements and the focus of the permitting process – on the manufacturing process rather than end-of-pipe measures – were identified as major factors in determining the influence of the permitting process with regards to eco-efficiency. The analysis revealed that the influence of the IPPC Directive on the dairy industry would probably be noticeable in the UK but less significant in Finland and Sweden. Key issues that require further attention are presented.     

Special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production, ‘From Material Flow Analysis to Material Flow Management’: strategic sustainability management on a principle level

The process of sustainable development and its goal, sustainability, are difficult to define. Many conflicting interests and preferences are involved. Recently, scientists have attempted a principle-orientated definition of sustainability. Unlike specific, detailed and quantitative thresholds, principles can be general, qualitative, flexible and sufficient to make progress when combined with more detailed and case-specific strategies, approaches, tools and indicators. The Natural Step (TNS) principles have been defined in a consensus process between 10 pioneering sustainability scientists and presented as sustainability principles. We develop criteria for evaluating the TNS principles. The criteria are applied to eco-efficiency (EE) principles that have become, perhaps, the most popular principles in the discourse on sustainability policies and management. EE has also been offered as the general and overall vision and goal for policy and management; increased efficiency in materials and energy use is perceived as desirable. We find that the eco-efficiency principles are not suitable as sustainability principles. The EE principles can be used as practical actions and concrete measures under the overall TNS sustainability principles.     

Towards mitigation of greenhouse gases by small changes in farming practices: understanding local barriers in Spain

Small changes in agricultural practices have a large potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the implementation of such practices at the local level is often limited by a range of barriers. Understanding the barriers is essential for defining effective measures, the actual mitigation potential of the measures, and the policy needs to ensure implementation. Here we evaluate behavioural, cultural, and policy barriers for implementation of mitigation practices at the local level that imply small changes to farmers. The choice of potential mitigation practices relevant to the case study is based on a literature review of previous empirical studies. Two methods that include the stakeholders’ involvement (experts and farmers) are undertaken for the prioritization of these potential practices: (a) Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) of the choices of an expert panel and (b) Analysis of barriers to implementation based on a survey of farmers. The MCA considers two future climate scenarios – current climate and a drier and warmer climate scenario. Results suggest that all potential selected practices are suitable for mitigation considering multiple criteria in both scenarios. Nevertheless, if all the barriers for implementation had the same influence, the preferred mitigation practices in the case study would be changes in fertilization management and use of cover crops. The identification of barriers for the implementation of the practices is based on the econometric analysis of surveys given to farmers. Results show that farmers’ environmental concerns, financial incentives and access to technical advice are the main factors that define their barriers to implementation. These results may contribute to develop effective mitigation policy to be included in the 2020 review of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy.     

Partitioning of resources in production: an empirical analysis

Industrial economies ingest materials, energy and information to produce goods and services and excrete wastes and emissions. Wastes can be minimized and the relative amounts of resources, which go into goods and services, as opposed to waste, are essential to clean production and to the sustainability of the production system. A regression model based on empirical data is presented that provides a partition coefficient expressing the ratio of energy (or material) resources invested in goods to energy going to waste. Partition coefficients are developed for five countries and are shown to be related to GDP, energy and material consumption and energy and waste intensities. Higher partition coefficients mean higher productivity and lower energy, waste and material intensities. In addition, energy use/capita and pollution/capita is lower. The price of energy to the industrial sector is related to the partition coefficient. The policy implications are that partitioning of resources to goods should be maximized and waste minimized for economic as well as environmental reasons.