A purposeful approach for measuring greenhouse gas emissions of material flow accounts for the accomplishment of territorial sustainable development and cultural economy goals on climate. The case of the Basque Country

Abstract

This study aims at developing a purposeful approach for estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its possible use to recreate alternative scenarios that might potentially facilitate the attainment of the material productivity (MP) ratio needed for achieving territorial sustainable development (SDGs) and circular economy goals on climate. The propounded method associates these two key concepts (GHG-MP) with the domestic material consumption (DMC) and international trade of materials, including product life cycle emissions in the overarching GHG total estimation. Developed utilizing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and diverse data, linked to the suggested scheme, from the Basque Country (Spain), this work also relies its scientific foundation upon leading literature in this field to align territorial models of production and consumption with a more localized measurement of GHG emissions. According to its results, the emissions estimated allow advising more contextualized scenarios for the potential achievement of local MP target indicator, when expressed as the amount of economic output―based on gross domestic product (GDP)—generated per unit of materials consumed and traded―in terms of DMC. From a theoretical perspective, this work contributes to the local strategic management of circular economy research and 2030 Agenda, particularly on the subject of measuring progress in the achievement of territorial climate and circular economy goals. From a utilitarian perspective, the findings comprise promising implications for both multilevel policy makers and public/private organizations that further sustainable development and actions against climate change.