Abstract
Environmentally-extended input-output (EEIO) analysis provides a simple and robust method for evaluating the linkages between economic consumption activities and environmental impacts, including the harvest and degradation of natural resources. EEIO is now widely used to evaluate the upstream, consumption-based drivers of downstream environmental impacts and to evaluate the environmental impacts embodied in goods and services that are traded between nations. While the mathematics of input-output analysis are not complex, straightforward explanations of this approach for those without mathematical backgrounds remain difficult to find. This manuscript provides a conceptual and intuitive introduction to the goals of EEIO, the principles and mathematics behind EEIO analysis and the strengths and limitations of the EEIO approach. The wider adoption of EEIO approaches will help researchers and policy makers to better measure, and potentially decrease, the ultimate drivers of environmental degradation.
Highlights
IntroductionAs human impacts on the natural environment continue to grow, methods that can identify the ultimate, upstream causes of these impacts are becoming increasingly important
As human impacts on the natural environment continue to grow, methods that can identify the ultimate, upstream causes of these impacts are becoming increasingly important.Environmentally-extended input-output analysis (EEIO) is a long-established technique that continues to grow in popularity as a method for evaluating the relationship between economic activities and downstream environmental impacts
Applications of environmentally-extended input-output analysis continue to grow in popularity
Summary
As human impacts on the natural environment continue to grow, methods that can identify the ultimate, upstream causes of these impacts are becoming increasingly important. Resources 2013, 2 recently used for analysis of the global carbon [1,2,3,4,5], water [6,7], ecological [8,9,10], nitrogen [11] and biodiversity/wildlife footprints [12,13] This technique can be used to identify the economic drivers of any environmental impact, including the emission of pollutants, the degradation or harvest of natural resources and the loss of biodiversity. While the basic mathematics of EEIO are not complex, simple, intuitive explanations of this technique for those without mathematical backgrounds remain difficult to find This manuscript reviews the goals of EEIO, the principles and mathematics behind basic EEIO analysis and the strengths and limitations of the EEIO approach. Information on the development of new, global-scale input-output databases that are useful for EEIO applications can be found in several reviews [17,18] and in a recent special issue of the journal, Economic Systems Research ([19] and associated papers)
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