Four Sustainability Paradigms for Environmental Management: A Methodological Analysis and an Empirical Study Based on 30 Italian Industries

Fabio Zagonari

doi:10.3390/su8060504

Abstract

This paper develops an empirical methodology to consistently compare alternative sustainability paradigms (weak sustainability (WS), strong sustainability (SS), a-growth (AG), and de-growth (DG)) and different assessment approaches (LCA, CBA, and MCA) within alternative relationship frameworks (economic general equilibrium (EGE) and ecosystem services (ESS)). The goal is to suggest different environmental interventions (e.g., projects vs. policies) for environmental management at national, regional, or local levels. The top-down methodology is then applied to 30 interdependent industries in Italy for three pollutants and four resources during two periods. The industries were prioritized in terms of interventions to be taken to diminish pollution damage and resource depletion, whereas sustainability paradigms were compared in terms of their likelihood (i.e., WS > AG = DG > SS), robustness (i.e., AG > SS > DG > WS), effectiveness (i.e., SS > AG > DG > WS), and feasibility (i.e., SS > DG > WS > AG). Proper assessment approaches for projects are finally identified for situations when policies are infeasible (e.g., LCA in WS and SS, MCA in DG and SS within ESS, CBA in WS, and AG within EGE), by suggesting MCA in WS within ESS once ecological services are linked to sustainability criteria.

Highlights

Environmental problems are generating growing concern each day, and have awoken public awareness about trade-offs between economic growth and environmental conservation [1,2]
Among the many alternative definitions of environmental conservation, the following empirical definition will be used: a situation in which the future status of the environment (Fenv) is equal to or better than a certain minimum status (Fenv) that is required to preserve its functioning over time (i.e., Fenv ě Fenv)
The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for environmental management at the national, regional, or local levels, with the goal of achieving environmental conservation

Summary

Introduction

Environmental problems (from resource exploitation and biodiversity loss to air pollution and climate change) are generating growing concern each day, and have awoken public awareness about trade-offs between economic growth and environmental conservation [1,2]. Among the many alternative definitions of environmental conservation (e.g., maintain eco-system functioning, preserve natural resources, perpetuate eco-system services), the following empirical (i.e., it can be tested from observed data) definition will be used: a situation in which the future status of the environment (Fenv) is equal to or better than a certain minimum status (Fenv) that is required to preserve its functioning over time (i.e., Fenv ě Fenv).

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion