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Abstract
The aim of this research is to address the challenge of achieving more equitable social outcomes through a reduction and fairer allocation of environmental burdens, and in doing so, contributing to national sustainable development policy. This novel study demonstrates the nature of societal outcomes through the lens of inequity with respect to lifestyle related environmental footprints and stakeholder preferences. Footprints are derived using input-output analysis, while environmental issue preferences and potential remedial actions are identified using a national survey. To highlight the value of the broadly applicable framework, here we demonstrate a case study of Japan, which is interesting due to shifting demographics engendering an aging, shrinking population. Key findings include that the mitigation of environmental footprints in line with household preferences can positively influence both societal equity outcomes and contribute to closing the gap between rich and poor. Importantly, broad participation, i.e. participation irrespective of income level, is shown to be more effective than participation from a single sector. These findings can assist policymakers to develop policies which are responsive to societal preferences and demographic trends while also furthering the debate toward clarifying norms for acceptable levels of social equity.
Highlights
Demand-side or consumption-based approaches focusing on people’s lifestyles and the factors that influence them are essential, both for climate change mitigation and for sustainable development which integrates environmental, economic and social issues (Bertram et al 2018, Creutzig et al 2018)
We aim to quantify social equity outcomes resulting from household consumption considering future trends of various environmental footprints, and by incorporating stakeholder values and priorities related to each footprint
Framework for quantifications of environmental burden and social equity This study proposes the Input-Output Analysis Sustainability Evaluation Framework (IOSEF), consists of three steps: (1) estimation of households’ environmental impacts, (2) measurement of stakeholder preferences to mitigate those impacts, and, (3) quantification of the distributional equity impacts of environmental burdens across households, based on potential future remedial actions
Summary
Demand-side or consumption-based approaches focusing on people’s lifestyles and the factors that influence them are essential, both for climate change mitigation and for sustainable development which integrates environmental, economic and social issues (Bertram et al 2018, Creutzig et al 2018). Consumption-based accounting, a widely accepted, recognized methodology may offer a way to quantify lifecycle environmental pressures via international supply chains (i.e. environmental footprints) and their allocation to final consumers (Peters 2008, Wiedmann 2009, Nansai et al 2012, Hertwich and Wood 2018). The application of this methodology has shed light on the socio-environmental inequalities engendered by uneven distribution of social and environmental burdens (Boyce et al 2016, De Schutter et al 2018), across nations and regions (Peters et al 2011, Simas et al 2015, Moran et al 2018, Wiedmann and Lenzen 2018, Zhang et al 2018, Nansai et al 2020b). The difference in per-capita carbon footprints between the highest and lowest income groups was about 1.4 times in Japan (Shigetomi et al 2016), 4.5 times in the UK (Chitnis et al 2014), times in China (Wiedenhofer et al 2017), and times at the global level (Hubacek et al 2017b)
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