Cleaner Production Letters最新文献

The first step for transforming the current linear and degenerative socio-economic systems into ones that are circular and regenerative is to understand how they grow and develop. Here, we explore whether there are limits to robustness of a socio-economic system as the result of a linear metabolic structure, and how those limits could theoretically be affected by its transition to a circular economy. First, we study how the circular use of materials and the economic openness of the EU27 would affect the value of its circularity rate (as defined by Eurostat), theoretically. Then, given that the circularity rate does not capture regenerative aspects, we develop a conceptual framework based on regenerative economics and on indicators from ascendency analysis and ecological network analysis. We use this framework to assess a theoretical future case where the EU27 manages to successfully transition to a CE within its given linear material flow metabolism. The results show that there are limits to robustness, and which do not necessarily correspond to a maximum circularity rate. None of the 45 scenarios assessed can theoretically lead to the maximum robustness observed in natural ecosystems, including those which maximize the circularity rate. Interestingly, the highest possible robustness value is obtained at a circularity rate of about 33% as a combination of a material recovery rate of 30% and of a material export rate of 10%. Scenarios of higher circularity rate (as the result of higher export rates and/or higher material recovery rates) seem to lead to brittle networks. Other indicators from regenerative economics are also discussed. Furthermore, the results show that even if substantial steps are taken by the EU27 towards a circular economy, 100% circularity rate seems to be unlikely. This analysis highlights that the use of tools from regenerative economics can assist policy makers and researchers to account for and to monitor network properties such as those of resilience and robustness, during strategic planning activities for a transition to a regenerative circular economy.

Rapid urbanisation has marked recent human history with more than 50% of the world's population now living in urban areas while the percentage and the overall population are still growing. Resource consumption is conglomerated in urban settlements which depend primarily on externally supplied and often fossil-based products. With the aim to transform cities sustainably from resource sinks to regenerative hubs, the concept of the Urban Bioeconomy poses a potential alternative to the current economic system. While the concept has been in discussion among practitioners and a few researchers, its meaning is not well established. Therefore, this study proposes a definition of the Urban Bioeconomy based on a systematic literature review, which focused on identifying its components, impacts and potential synergies within bioeconomic sectors, namely the ‘Urban Bio-Symbiosis’. This work highlights existing and emerging bioeconomic components within cities such as urban farming, biowaste valorisation methods and green infrastructure techniques. It outlines opportunities and challenges of the Urban Bioeconomy by presenting potential positive and negative environmental, economic, social and health impacts. Based on these results, it identifies the potential of the Urban Bio-Symbiosis and Resource Circularity as promising solutions to bring about synergistic effects between different urban bioeconomic components themselves and with the other parts of the economy. By proposing a definition of the Urban Bioeconomy, this work sets the ground for further research in this field.

Manufacturers are often identified as agents of change to conserve resources. The circular economy is the paradigm of the societal operation model that aims to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation through a system of efficiency measures. However, a growing body of literature reported the failure of efficiency measures to conserve energy and resources in the current socio-economic environment. Several complex compensatory mechanisms called the rebound effect were reported to offset efficiency gains and resulted in higher resource use.

In this paper, we addressed the lack of data on the microeconomic one-company rebound effect investigation by presenting the case study of a medium manufacturer from the US that implemented energy, water and material efficiency measures. While the company qualified as a top-performing “circularity developer” according to the published self-assessment questionnaire, it retained its linear business model. Energy efficiency and renewable energy measures resulted in a short-term rebound effect of 161% or backfire. In the long term, the rebound effect of 25% was calculated. The drivers and barriers that the company encountered when implementing efficiency measures were identified. In conclusion, it was found that the system focused exclusively on efficiency was incapable of conserving resource use and delivering on CE decoupling promise. Wider societal acceptance of sufficiency measures was suggested to improve resource-saving capacity in manufacturing.

Tourism has become an important contributor to many sustainability issues. In addition, online booking platforms have grown to become an increasingly used means of booking accommodation, which can be crucial for encouraging sustainability. Furthermore, the promotion of sustainable tourism (ST) and accommodation services at an international level has become essential. Although the number of sustainability-certified accommodation solutions has been increasing, limited attempts have been made to promote ST using online booking platforms. This study aims to identify whether the concept of sustainability has been integrated into online booking platforms. For the objective to be met, a representative sample of platforms were identified and then analysed both in terms of their content and by testing them. The results highlight that this concept has not been adequately integrated into such platforms and that the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the priority from sustainability to health and safety issues. However, the opportunity to take advantage of the pandemic to promote ST is still possible.

The rapid economic growth accompanied by health concerns and other global environmental problems in cities and regions has boosted the popularity of the ‘urban metabolism’ topic among academics and policymakers. Currently, 56.2% of the world's population lives in cities, accounting for 80% of the global GDP. It is projected that the current trend for world economic growth complemented by population growth and migration will continue affecting the resource production and consumption in cities and the impact this has on other urban areas. Here, we developed a new model approach that combines emergy input-output tables with ecological network analysis to investigate urban metabolism generally, and applied it to Vienna, Austria. This novel approach allows researchers to study the hierarchy of sectors and functional relationships along all possible metabolic paths of ecological and socio-economic flows exchanging in an urban economy and between the urban economy and its environment. Then, using system-level analyses (flow and contribution analyses) we determined the status of the system components. Finally, the critical components responsible for the status (distribution structure of each industry) and emergy consumption of the other sectors were identified using pairwise control and utility analyses. The results showed that the “agriculture, forestry and fishing” and “mining and quarrying” sectors had the lowest ability to receive financial inputs from the other sectors, reflecting a shortage of agricultural and mining products to meet consumers' demand. Moreover, “agriculture, forestry and fishing” had the highest energy dependence on the other sectors, indicating the lack of self-sufficiency in energy use and the inability of this sector to deliver energy effectively to consuming sectors. This also implies the importance of this sector in achieving the energy efficiency improvement and economic development goals for consumer cities. This work contributes to the existing literature on ecological network analysis via an introduction of the two-step approach that combines the diagnosis of low activity components in the system taken from traditional ecological network analysis with the novel identification of components behind the low activity of the other components. In addition, direct and indirect control, and indirect utility analysis were introduced for the analysis of the impact of the direct energy and indirect pairwise economic control and relational interactions of sectors in cities. Finally, this work explored the inner workings of the service part of the urban economy to reveal the role each tertiary sector plays in the development of primary and secondary sectors of an urban economy. The model developed in this study will provide support for city managers and policymakers to guide resource consumption towards an efficient and sustainable urban metabolic system worldwide.

Emissions reduction and increasing environmental quality have become a global concern to ensure sustainable development and mitigate the negative impacts of global warming and climate change. However, there is a scarcity of research exploring the potential of emission reduction components by using econometric approaches. Thus, the present study investigated the role of economic growth, fossil fuel energy use, renewable energy use, technological innovation, agricultural productivity, and forested area to achieve environmental sustainability by reducing carbon dioxide emissions in Indonesia. Time series data from 1990 to 2020 were utilized by applying the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares method. The empirical findings revealed that a 1% increase in economic growth and fossil fuel energy use will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.36% and 0.67% in Indonesia. Conversely, a 1% increase in renewable energy use, technological innovation, agricultural productivity, and the forested area may lead to carbon dioxide emissions reduction by 0.11%, 0.07%, 0.24%, and 2.87%, respectively in the long run. This article put forward policy recommendations in the areas of low-carbon economy, promoting renewable energy use, financing technological innovation, climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable forest management which would ensure environmental sustainability by reducing emissions in Indonesia.

Current developments show that the true magnitude of global sustainability problems is often underestimated. In order to tackle these global problems, fundamental changes in consumption and production processes are needed. The steel industry is one of the main emitters of CO₂ and changes in production processes bear a potential for climate change mitigation. Sustainability assessments often focus on the environmental dimension, while social impacts associated with such changes remain under-researched. The present study examines potential social impacts of production changes (bio-economy transition) in a steel mill in Belgium using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) analysis. Within this paper three indicators are presented: workers' compensation, employment and vulnerable employment. The results show that the demand for labour in Belgium increases in the scenario studied, while reductions in employment and compensation are to be expected for the majority of other regions. This emphasizes that such transitions can have both positive and negative impacts and that a ‘big picture’ is needed. Improvements in one aspect (e.g., environment) can lead to negative impacts in another (e.g., social), resulting in so-called sustainability trade-offs. It is crucial to consider impact dimensions in an integrated manner to enable the identification and discussion of sustainability trade-offs of transition pathways.

Many cities around the world are aiming to be zero emission or environmentally sustainable, particularly cities in the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. This paper contributes to the literature by using a systems approach to argue for a wider view, not only for the full range of deleterious effects of urban transport in a given city itself, but also for its impact on possibly distant locations that supply transport inputs and receive its waste products. The paper uses the published literature to first examine the various adverse effects of urban travel, and then to critically evaluate the proposed technology-based solutions. The main finding is that all these solutions are found wanting to some extent, especially given the limited time frame available; hence, for urban sustainability, large travel reductions are thus needed. It then looks at a very different approach: reductions in urban vehicular travel, particularly by car. Four approaches considered (changing urban land-use, reducing private vehicle travel convenience, introducing carbon taxes, using information technology as a travel substitute), This paper concludes that various measures for decreasing the convenience of car travel, such as by cutting speed limits and parking spaces, as being the most equitable in OECD cities, and potentially capable of rapid implementation.

Cities worldwide are putting policies in place to combat impacts of climate change, but it has been established that in order to engender public support, the policies need to resonate with local perceptions and values. However, these are notoriously difficult to obtain in an authentic version: local values require some interpretation by the researchers trying to define them, but this modifies them unacceptably. In this work we use a transdisciplinary perspective, by holding fast to the need for well-defined outcomes of perceptions but by obtaining them via a humanities-based process, named WeValue InSitu, of tacit-to-explicit crystallization of shared values-in-action. Here we innovate and demonstrate the approach of following that crystallization process immediately with a carefully-designed focus group discussion about climate change impacts on their life in the city. The result is a set of clear articulations with respect to life values, such that nuances and linkages between perceptions and values are retained, and across groups is a saturation and consistency that reflects the city (Shanghai) context. We find a conceptual model emerges for the residents: a) they have surprising awareness of climate change but did not think it's impacts so severe or urgent; b) some impacts concern them but they consider Shanghai to be the best place to live, because of its resources and good governance; c) they consider responsibility to be jointly individual and collective with the government; d) they expect clear and transparent communication from the government for collective action. These research outcomes are significant because there is currently no other efficient method to produce such useful results which are also demonstrably authentic: results which indicate not only future policy pathways but the current situation in detail. As the WeValue InSitu method is already shown to be transferable, this approach should now be systematically applied in comparative studies in different cities to determine its scalability, and to academic fields with similar research gaps such as ecosystem services and urban design.

Flood risk is an increasing concern in densely populated cities as urban drainage systems are demanded progressively more. The need for decentralising water management becomes relevant, and vegetated roofs are internationally known to be able to assist in locally retaining and detaining stormwater. For these Nature-based Solutions to be effective, there must be science-based standardisation, supporting decision-makers towards effective public policy-making based on hydrological performance. However, this performance should be associated with local environmental conditions, and continental-size countries such as Brazil can have a large variety of climates. At the same time, Brazil lacks a comprehensive review associating experimental results with climatic classifications. In this sense, the present work aims at reviewing the experimental research undertaken in Brazil and synthesising its rainwater retention outcomes associating it to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. To accomplish this task, the Rational Method is used to extract and conform data from 34 records involving internationally and nationally published works as well as grey literature. Results of this work present to national researchers not only gaps but important trends, generating further innovative opportunities for work, and present to international researchers an accessible and georeferenced bulk of data on vegetated roofs' hydrological performance in Brazil with the highest possible resolution. It was found that semi-arid climates had the best average rainwater retention rates (0.79), followed by subtropical (0.54–0.72), and the tropical climates had the lowest (0.55–0.69). The work concludes that vegetated roofs have a positive hydrological performance throughout Brazil. However, further work is needed to quantify the hydrological influence of a range of different structural and environmental factors that modify the roofs' performance. It is also shown that climates, particularly outside the financial centres of Brazil, lack data and hence need further investigation and experimental research.