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The global demand for timber is increasing, with prognoses for the EU showing particularly high growth to meet renewable energy targets. However, there are limited options to meet rising timber demands within the EU, and global land competition to meet world food, energy and material needs, as well as to conserve high value nature areas, is increasing. This dissertation addresses the knowledge gap between the pressures of increased land use abroad and the underlying drivers of land use change. It argues that there is a high risk of problem shifting if EU policies to increase timber consumption are not accompanied by a monitoring system that accounts for consumption levels and provides a benchmark for sustainability.
Biodiversity loss is widely recognized as a serious global environmental change process. While large-scale metal mining activities do not belong to the top drivers of such change, these operations exert or may intensify pressures on biodiversity by adversely changing habitats, directly and indirectly, at local and regional scales. So far, analyses of global spatial dynamics of mining and its burden on biodiversity focused on the overlap between mines and protected areas or areas of high value for conservation. However, it is less clear how operating metal mines are globally exerting pressure on zones of different biodiversity richness; a similar gap exists for unmined but known mineral deposits. By using vascular plants' diversity as a proxy to quantify overall biodiversity, this study provides a first examination of the global spatial distribution of mines and deposits for five key metals across different biodiversity zones. The results indicate that mines and deposits are not randomly distributed, but concentrated within intermediate and high diversity zones, especially bauxite and silver. In contrast, iron, gold, and copper mines and deposits are closer to a more proportional distribution while showing a high concentration in the intermediate biodiversity zone. Considering the five metals together, 63% and 61% of available mines and deposits, respectively, are located in intermediate diversity zones, comprising 52% of the global land terrestrial surface. 23% of mines and 20% of ore deposits are located in areas of high plant diversity, covering 17% of the land. 13% of mines and 19% of deposits are in areas of low plant diversity, comprising 31% of the land surface. Thus, there seems to be potential for opening new mines in areas of low biodiversity in the future.
National policies for resource efficiency and waste management : structures, impacts, and deficits
(2015)
In the future, the capacities of renewable SNG (synthetic natural gas) will expand significantly. Pilot plants are underway to use surplus renewable power, mainly from wind, for electrolysis and the production of hydrogen, which is methanated and fed into the existing gas pipeline grid. Pilot projects aim at the energetic use of SNG for households and transport in particular for gas fueled cars. Another option could be the use of SNG as feedstock in chemical industry.
The early stage of development raises the question of whether SNG should be better used for mobility or the production of chemicals. This study compares the global warming potential (GWP) of the production of fossil natural gas (NG) and carbon-dioxide (CO2)-based SNG and its use for car transport versus chemical use in the form of synthesis gas. Since the potential of wind energy for SNG production is mainly located in northern Germany, the consequences by a growing distance between production in the North and transport to the South of Germany are also examined.
The results indicate that CO2-based SNG produced with wind power would lead to lower GWP when substituting NG for both uses in either transport or chemical production. Differences of the savings potential occur in short-distance pipeline transport. The critical factor is the energy required for compression along the process chain.
The rising global demand for metals in a context of declining ore grades is driving the opening of new mines and the expansion of existing ones, disturbing substantial land areas (especially by open pits). However, how much land is currently disturbed globally? How much land could be disturbed by metal mining in 2050? This study investigates the global area disturbed by mining of iron, bauxite, copper, gold, and silver for the first time. The first part consists of the calculation of the specific land requirements, i.e. the area newly disturbed caused by the ore extraction at the mine site. The second part addresses the global area disturbed in the year 2011 whereas the third presents scenarios of how such area might evolve until 2050. The last part addresses the current and future pressures on global biodiversity by metal mines and shows possibilities for the future opening of new mines in low biodiversity areas, alleviating pressures in high biodiversity ones. This study presents the findings of the author´s dissertation hoping they are used as a frame to develop policies and incentives to reduce the amount of area directly disturbed by mines and their pressures on biodiversity.
A reduction in working hours is being considered to tackle issues associated with ecological sustainability, social equity and enhanced life satisfaction - a so-called triple dividend. With respect to an environmental dividend, the authors analyse the time use rebound effects of reducing working time. They explore how an increase in leisure time triggers a rearrangement of time and expenditure budgets, and thus the use of resources in private households. Does it hold true that time-intensive activities replace resource-intensive consumption when people have more discretionary time at their disposal? This study on environmental issues is complemented by introducing the parameters of voluntary social engagement and individual life satisfaction as potential co-benefits of rebound effects. In order to analyse the first dividend, a mixed methods approach is adopted, enabling two models of time use rebound effects to be applied. First, semi-standardised interviews reveal that environmentally ambiguous substitutions of activities occur following a reduction in working hours. Second, estimates for Germany from national surveys on time use and expenditure show composition effects of gains in leisure time and income loss. For the latter, we estimate the marginal propensity to consume and the marginal propensity to time use. The results show that time savings due to a reduction in working time trigger relevant rebound effects in terms of resource use. However, both the qualitative and quantitative findings put the rebound effects following a reduction in working time into perspective. Time use rebound effects lead to increased voluntary social engagement and greater life satisfaction, the second and third dividends.
Consumption-based CO2 emissions, which are commonly calculated by means of environmentally extended input-output analysis, are gaining wider recognition as a way to complement territorial emission inventories. Although their use has increased significantly in the last years, insufficient attention has been paid to the methodological soundness of the underlying environmental extension. This should follow the internationally agreed accounting rules of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, which addresses the activities undertaken by the residents of a country, independent from where these take place. Nonetheless, some footprint calculations use extensions that account for all the activities within the territory, which leads to methodological inconsistencies. Thus, this article introduces the most relevant conceptual differences between these accounting frameworks and shows the magnitude of the gap between them building on the data generated for the EXIOBASE model. It concludes that the differences are high for many countries and their magnitude is increasing over time.
Shifting the resource base for chemical and energy production from fossil feedstocks to renewable raw materials is seen by many as one of the key strategies towards sustainable development. The utilization of biomass for the production of fuels and materials has been proposed as an alternative to the petroleum-based industry. Current research and policy initiatives focus mainly on the utilization of lignocellulose biomass, originating from agriculture and forestry, as second generation feedstocks for the production of biofuels and electricity. These activities act on the assumption that significant amounts of biomass for non-food purposes are available. However, given a certain productivity per area, the current massive growth in global biofuels demand may in the long term only be met through an expansion of global arable land at the expense of natural ecosystems and in direct competition with the food-sector. Although many studies have shown the potential of biofuels production to reduce both, greenhouse gas emissions and non-renewable energy consumption, these production routes are still linear processes which depend on significant amounts of agricultural or forestry production area. Cascading use, i.e. when biomass is used for material products first and the energy content is recovered at end-of-life, may provide a greater environmental benefit than primary use as fuel. Considering waste and production residues as alternative feedstocks could help to further reduce pressures on global arable land. This research focused on thermochemical and biochemical technologies capable of utilizing organic waste or forestry residuals for energy, chemical feedstock, and synthetic materials (polymers) generation. Routes towards synthetic materials allow a closer cycle of materials and can help to reduce dependence on either fossil or biobased raw materials. The system-wide environmental burdens of three different technologies, including (1) municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification followed by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS), (2) plasma gasification of construction and demolition (C&D) wood for syngas production with energy recovery, and (3) forest residuals use in a biorefinery for polyitaconic acid (PIA) production, were assessed using life-cycle assessment. The first two studies indicated that MSW gasification and subsequent ethylene and polyethylene production via FTS has lower environmental impacts than conventional landfilling. In the future, as societies may shift towards the use of renewable energy, power offset by conventional waste-to-energy systems would not be as significant and chemicals production routes may then become increasingly competitive (in terms of environmental burdens) also to waste incineration. While production cost of Fischer-Tropsch derived chemicals seems not yet competitive to fossil-based chemicals provision, future price increases in global oil prices as well as changes in waste tipping fees, and efficiency gains on site of the waste conversion systems, may alter the economics and allow carbon recycling routes to reach a price competitive to fossil-based production routes. The third study found that plasma gasification of C&D wood for energy recovery has roughly similar environmental impacts than conventional fossil-based power systems. However, process optimization with respect to coal co-gasified, coke used as gasifier bed material, and fuel oil co-combusted in the steam boiler, would allow to significantly lower the system-wide environmental burdens. The fourth study looked at PIA production from softwood hemicellulose in a stream integrated approach (with the partially macerated wood and lignin being used in other existing processes such as pulp & paper plants for conventional pulp and bioenergy production). The assessment indicated lower global warming potential, energy demand, and acidification, for the wood-based PIA polymer, when compared to corn-based PIA and fossil-based polyacrylic acid (PAA). However, water use associated with wood-derived PIA was found to be higher than for fossil-based PAA production and land occupation is highest for the wood-derived polymer. It is hoped that results of this dissertation will add to the current debate on sustainable waste and biomass utilization and to establish future supply chains for green and sustainable chemical products.
EXIOPOL (A New Environmental Accounting Framework Using Externality Data and Input–Output Tools for Policy Analysis) was a European Union (EU)-funded project creating a detailed, global, multiregional environmentally extended Supply and Use table (MR EE SUT) of 43 countries, 129 sectors, 80 resources, and 40 emissions. We sourced primary SUT and input–output tables from Eurostat and non-EU statistical offices. We harmonized and detailed them using auxiliary national accounts data and co-efficient matrices. Imports were allocated to countries of exports using United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database trade shares. Optimization procedures removed imbalances in these detailing and trade linking steps. Environmental extensions were added from various sources. We calculated the EU footprint of final consumption with resulting MR EE SUT. EU policies focus mainly on energy and carbon footprints. We show that the EU land, water, and material footprint abroad is much more relevant, and should be prioritized in the EU's environmental product and trade policies.
Global warming, the overall extraction of minerals and the expansion of cultivated land for biomass harvest are growing globally. These "Big Three" represent key environmental pressures which may lead to a continuous degradation of the living environment, if not controlled at levels with acceptable low risk. The situation is complex, because countries and regions consume products which require resources such as minerals and land in various parts of the world. Nevertheless, it is possible to measure the global resource use which is associated with the domestic consumption. In order to inform policies at the national and supranational level whether it may be necessary to adjust the incentive framework for industry and households, reference data are needed to compare the status quo of their countries with what may be deemed acceptable at a global level. This chapter outlines a rationale for the derivation of possible long-term targets for total material consumption of abiotic materials (TMCabiot) and global land use for crops (GLUcropland). The indicated targets are expressed in tentative per capita values which may serve as a first orientation and basis for further debate and research.
Several studies in Germany aimed at the development of a sound database on existing waste prevention measures by public bodies at the local, regional and federal levels. These results are the starting point for the creation of a national prevention program, which has to be presented by all European Member States until the end of 2013 - due to the revised European Waste Framework Directive. Based on this empirical foundation, this paper draws conclusions with regard to drivers and barriers for eco-innovations in the field of waste prevention. The analysis shows that an optimized adaptation of information on waste prevention to the needs of specific target groups is still missing but could be a relevant driver. With regard to barriers the results of the study show that waste prevention is by no means always a win–win-situation. Institutional frameworks are missing to coordinate the different interests and for the exchange of experiences that could help to realize learning effects regarding innovation approaches.
This chapter addresses material leakage as a major problem of international open markets for used goods, in particular for used vehicles. It develops elements of an international metal covenant that should allow for a more sustainable management of global material flows in that area. The arguments in favour of such a proposal are as follows: Any regulation should actively seek for industry participation, taking advantage of business interest in supplying a sufficient amount of materials while lowering materials cost. It should also address public issues such as sustainability of recycling and waste. A first section analyses contracts as a tool to overcome knowledge problems that occur when many actors are involved. A second short section gives empirical evidence for material leakage in the case of used vehicles from Germany. A third section develops elements of an international metal covenant. A fourth section analyses potential impacts and discusses legal and institutional issues. Finally, some conclusions are drawn.
Leasing society : study
(2012)
Europe in transition : paving the way to a green economy through eco-innovation ; annual report 2012
(2013)
Conflict minerals
(2012)
This study aims to investigate whether, to what extent and how a transition toward integrated flood management has taken place in the Dongting Lake area at the middle Yangtze. Accordingly, we conducted a longitudinal research of its flood management (1949–2009). We developed an analytical framework linking regime components to two societal learning types (double and triple-loop learning) that are key to a regime transition. Our study shows that the transition toward integrated flood management has already started, but the whole regime transformation will still take time to complete, due to, for example, the not-yet-ready decision-making processes that shape the structure changes as well as the incompatibilities between what is on paper and real implementation. To understand how the regime transition took place, we investigated where and how triple-loop learning was initiated as well as how so-called "informal learning processes" has contributed to the transition of Dongting flood management.
To achieve an efficient use and allocation of limited water resources and thus resolve increasing water use conflicts due to fast rising societal water demands, in 2000, the Chinese government started a management strategy of 'Construction of a Water Saving Society (WSS)'. It is guided by the principle that socio-economic development should consider the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and focuses on institutional innovation, building on the water rights concept. This paper explores the innovation process during the transition towards WSS by investigating the development course of the innovation process during the transition towards WSS, and the adaptive capacity of the existing water management regime underlying the innovation process. Accordingly, an analysis framework consisting of three types of governance activities and factors determining a regime's adaptive capacity was developed, based on the theory of transition management and adaptive governance. The Tianjin and Zhangye WSS experiments were selected for a deep understanding of local innovations. It is revealed that co-evolution of all three types of governance activities that are claimed to be essential for transition has taken place. However, the current adaptive capacity of the regime still needs further enhancement to support the transition towards the desired WSS in China. Finally, some general insights are provided for policy innovations in other political economies.
For decades, the Chinese government has been searching for solutions to cope with the increasing imbalance between the supply and demand of water in the Yellow River Basin. This paper aims at a better understanding of the development of the water allocation regime in the Yellow River Basin between 1950 and 2009, introducing a fresh perspective based on the notion of "regime transition". Accordingly, we investigated 1) whether so-called "Windows of Opportunity for Transition (WOPTs)" emerged, triggering a transition, and whether WOPT(s) resulted in a stable transition towards the new regime; 2) how informal learning processes and epistemic communities have contributed to the regime change. We adapted Kingdon's "multiple stream model" and identified four WOPTs from the 1950s, analyzing the reconfiguration process of the regime after the onset of the transition. Our examples of two types of informal learning processes demonstrate their contribution to the creation of WOPTs and the reconfiguration of the regime. Furthermore, this study indicates, in a qualitative manner, how epistemic communities contribute to the knowledge base of the regime, and thus to its development. Finally, we have provided a general insight into the further development of the water allocation regime and highlighted potential avenues for further studies.
Increasing urbanisation and climate change belong to the greatest challenges of the 21st century. A high share of global greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to originate in urban areas (40 % to 78 % according to UN Habitat 2010). Therefore, low carbon city strategies and concepts implicate large greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potentials. At the same time, with high population and infrastructure densities as well as concentrated economic activities, cities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and need to adapt. Scarce natural resources further constrain the leeway for long-term, sustainable urban development. The Low Carbon Future Cities (LCFC) project aims at tapping this three-dimensional challenge and will develop an integrated strategy / roadmap, balancing low carbon development, gains in resource efficiency and adaptation to climate change. The study focuses on two pilot regions - one in China (Wuxi) and one in Germany (Düsseldorf+) - and is conducted by a German-Chinese research team supported by the German Stiftung Mercator. The paper gives an overview of first outcomes of the analysis of the status quo and assessment of the most likely developments regarding GHG emissions, climate impacts and resource use in Wuxi. The project developed an emission inventory for Wuxi to identify key sectors for further analysis and low carbon scenarios. The future development of energy demand and related CO2 emissions in 2030 were simulated in the current policy scenario (CPS), using five different sub-models. Selected aspects of Wuxi's current material and water flows were analysed and modelled for energy transformation and the building sector. Current and future climate impacts and vulnerability were investigated. Recent climatic changes and resulting damages were analysed, expected changes in temperature and precipitation in the coming four decades were projected using ensembles of three General Circulation Models. Although Wuxi's government started a path to implement a low carbon plan, the first results show that more ambitious efforts are needed to overcome the challenges faced.
Northrhine-Westphalia (NRW) is the largest land of the Federal Republic of Germany. Until the 1970ies the Ruhr-area with a population of about 12 million people and a strong coal, steel and chemical industry had been plagued with severe pollution. In the 1970ies environmental protection had emerged on the international and national policy agendas. The federal and regional government launched massive legislative and economic public interventions for cleaning-up rivers, soils and air. As a result, a highly competitive eco-industry emerged. The article outlines main features of ecoindustries, the structural change of the Ruhr area and regional economic cluster policies in support of eco-industries in NRW. It draws conclusions for eco-industry policy developing from end-of-pipe towards integrated preventive approaches.
The green new deal and ecological industry policy : greening of manufacturing and energy generation
(2011)
Towards a set of indicators on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) for EEA reporting
(2010)
Resource-efficient construction : the role of eco-innovation for the construction sector in Europe
(2011)
Human societies face a threatening future of resource scarcity and environmental damages. This book addresses the challenge of turning these risks into opportunities and policies. It is a collection of high level contributions from experts of sustainable growth and sustainable resource management. Focussing on economics, sustainability, technology and policy, the book highlights system innovation, leapfrogging strategies of emerging economies, possible rebound effects and international market development. It puts natural resources centre stage and will make an important contribution to achieving the goal of a 21st century Green Economy.
Resource efficiency in Europe : policies and approaches in 31 EEA member and cooperating countries
(2011)
Managing solid waste is one of the biggest challenges in urban areas around the world. Technologically advanced economies generate vast amounts of organic waste materials, many of which are disposed to landfills. In the future, efficient use of carbon containing waste and all other waste materials has to be increased to reduce the need for virgin raw materials acquisition, including biomass, and reduce carbon being emitted to the atmosphere therefore mitigating climate change. At end-of-life, carbon-containing waste should not only be treated for energy recovery (e.g. via incineration) but technologies should be applied to recycle the carbon for use as material feedstocks. Thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies offer the option to utilize organic waste for the production of chemical feedstock and subsequent polymers. The routes towards synthetic materials allow a more closed cycle of materials and can help to reduce dependence on either fossil or biobased raw materials. This chapter summarizes carbon-recycling routes available and investigates how in the long-term they could be applied to enhance waste management in both industrial countries as well as developing and emerging economies. We conclude with a case study looking at the system-wide global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED) of producing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from organic waste feedstock via gasification followed by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS). Results of the analysis indicate that the use of organic waste feedstock is beneficial if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with landfill diversion are considered.
Fossil independence and substantial reductions in CO2 emissions seem to be possible with 2nd generation biofuels. New technologies allow a full carbon-to-fuel conversion of non-edible plant parts such as straw or wood, and the cultivation of algae or salt-resistant plants uncouples bioenergy from food production. Nevertheless, impacts on biodiversity, global land and water use are widely unclear and their competitiveness with 1st generation biofuels and electric mobility is an open question. An interdisciplinary team of Empa, University of Zurich and the Wuppertal Institute of Climate, Environment and Energy evaluated the most sustainable production techniques and assessed their potential for our future mobility.
This contribution presents the state of the art of economy-wide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we outline system definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use.
During the last century, the consumption of materials for human needs increased by several orders of magnitude, even for non-renewable materials such as metals. Some data on annual consumption (input) and recycling/waste (output) can often be found in the federal statistics, but a clear picture of the main flows is missing. A dynamic material flow model is developed for the example of copper in Switzerland in order to simulate the relevant copper flows and stocks over the last 150 years. The model is calibrated using data from statistical and published sources as well as from interviews and measurements. A simulation of the current state (2000) is compared with data from other studies. The results show that Swiss consumption and losses are both high, at a level of about 8 and 2 kg/(cap year), respectively, or about three times higher than the world average. The model gives an understanding of the flows and stocks and their interdependencies as a function of time. This is crucial for materials whose consumption dynamics are characterised by long lifetimes and hence for relating the current output to the input of the whole past. The model allows a comprehensive discussion of possible measures to reduce resource use and losses to the environment. While increasing the recycling reduces losses to landfill, only copper substitution can reduce the different losses to the environment, although with a time delay of the order of a lifetime.
Economy-wide material flows
(2010)
Air emissions accounts
(2010)
This article addresses informational barriers to energy efficiency. It is a widely acknowledged result that an energy efficiency gap exists implying that the level of energy efficiency is at an inefficiently low level. Several barriers to energy efficiency create this gap and the presence of asymmetric information is likely to be one such barrier. The article finds that problems of moral hazard and adverse selection indeed can help explain the seemingly low levels of energy efficiency. The theory reveals two implications to policies on energy efficiency. First, the development of measures to enable contractual parties to base remuneration on energy performance must be enhanced, and second, the information on technologies and the education of consumers and installers on energy efficiency must be increased. Finally, it is found that the preferred EU policy instrument on energy efficiency, so far, seems to be the use of minimum requirements. Less used in EU legislation is the use of measuring and verification as well as the use of certifications. Therefore, it is concluded that the EU should consider an increased use of these instruments.
Overviewing the European carbon (C), greenhouse gas (GHG), and non-GHG fluxes, gross primary productivity (GPP) is about 9.3 Pg yr-1, and fossil fuel imports are 1.6 Pg yr-1. GPP is about 1.25% of solar radiation, containing about 360 × 1018 J energy - five times the energy content of annual fossil fuel use. Net primary production (NPP) is 50%, terrestrial net biome productivity, NBP, 3%, and the net GHG balance, NGB, 0.3% of GPP. Human harvest uses 20% of NPP or 10% of GPP, or alternatively 1‰ of solar radiation after accounting for the inherent cost of agriculture and forestry, for production of pesticides and fertilizer, the return of organic fertilizer, and for the C equivalent cost of GHG emissions. C equivalents are defined on a global warming potential with a 100-year time horizon. The equivalent of about 2.4% of the mineral fertilizer input is emitted as N2O. Agricultural emissions to the atmosphere are about 40% of total methane, 60% of total NO-N, 70% of total N2O-N, and 95% of total NH3-N emissions of Europe. European soils are a net C sink (114 Tg yr−1), but considering the emissions of GHGs, soils are a source of about 26 Tg CO2 C-equivalent yr-1. Forest, grassland and sediment C sinks are offset by GHG emissions from croplands, peatlands and inland waters. Non-GHGs (NH3, NOx) interact significantly with the GHG and the C cycle through ammonium nitrate aerosols and dry deposition. Wet deposition of nitrogen (N) supports about 50% of forest timber growth. Land use change is regionally important. The absolute flux values total about 50 Tg C yr-1. Nevertheless, for the European trace-gas balance, land-use intensity is more important than land-use change. This study shows that emissions of GHGs and non-GHGs significantly distort the C cycle and eliminate apparent C sinks.
The papers for this special issue were originally contributed to the 2nd International Wuppertal Colloquium on "Sustainable Growth, Resource Productivity and Sustainable Industrial Policy - Recent Findings, new Approaches for Strategies and Policies" that was held from 10 to 12 September 2009 in Wuppertal, Germany. The intensive discussion during the Colloqium and the subsequent rigorous review process have helped to facilitate this process - we wish to thank all participants and contributers, as well as Sevan Hambarsoomian and Deniz Erdem for administrative support.