Reducing global environmental inequality: Determining regional quotas for environmental burdens through systems optimisation

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:270

Article

Pozo, C.¹  Galan-Martin, A.^2,3  Cortes-Borda, D.³  Sales-Pardo, M.³  Azapagic, A.⁴  Guimera, R.^3,5  Guillen-Gosalbez, G.² 

[1] Univ Girona, LEPAMAP Res Grp, C Maria Aurelia Capmany 61, Girona 17003, Spain

[2] Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Dept Chem & Appl Biosci, Inst Chem & Bioengn, Vladimir Prelog Weg 1, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland

[3] Univ Rovira & Virgili, Dept Engn Quim, Tarragona 43007, Spain

[4] Univ Manchester, Dept Chem Engn & Analyt Sci, Sackville St, Manchester M13 9PL, Lancs, England

[5] Inst Catalana Recerca & Estudis Avancats, Barcelona 08010, Spain

关键词: Environmental inequality;    Sustainability;    Input-output analysis;    Inequality drivers;    Target;    System optimisation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121828

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Reducing inequality is essential for sustainable development, yet our understanding of its many dimensions and driving forces is still limited. Here we study the global distribution of 25 environmental burdens encompassing natural resources (water, materials and land use) and air emissions, all related to activities underpinning human welfare. We find large disparities in inequality levels across burdens and a general, yet slow, decline in inequality in the period 1995-2009, explained mostly by the faster economic growth of emerging economies. Acknowledging that allocation issues may hamper greater equality, we propose a framework for an optimal allocation of quotas for environmental burdens respecting a maximum allowable inequality limit while ensuring a safe operation within the Earth's ecological capacity. Our results shed light on the global distribution of environmental burdens and provide a roadmap for achieving a greater environmental equality using systems optimisation. It is hoped that this work will trigger further discussion on the need to address environmental inequality, currently missing in the Sustainable Development Goals, and open up new research avenues on the use of whole-systems approaches in solving global sustainability problems. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

【 授权许可】

Free