The Influence of Nutrients and Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the Ecological Footprint of Products

Marlia M. Hanafiah,Mark A.J. Huijbregts,A. Jan Hendriks

doi:10.3390/su2040963

Marlia M. Hanafiah, Mark A.J. Huijbregts + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su2040963

Copy DOI

Abstract

The ecological footprint (EF) commonly neglects the influence of other stressors than land use and CO2 emissions on the land area required for human activities. This study analyzes the relevancy of including nutrients and non-CO2 greenhouse gases in the EF assessment of products. The analysis was based on environmental information for 1,925 goods and services. Our findings suggest that within specific product categories, i.e., waste treatment processes, bio-based energy, agricultural products and chemicals, adding non-CO2 greenhouse gases and nutrient emissions can have a dominant influence on the EF results.

Highlights

IntroductionThe ecological footprint (EF) has proven to be one of the most successful devices for communicating the concept of environmental sustainability
The Ecological Footprint (EF) is widely used as an indicator for environmental performance [1].The ecological footprint (EF) has proven to be one of the most successful devices for communicating the concept of environmental sustainability
The EF of all of the product groups is dominated by CO2 emissions, except for biomass energy, agricultural products, paper and cardboards, and landfill

Summary

Introduction

The EF has proven to be one of the most successful devices for communicating the concept of environmental sustainability. Sustainability 2010, 2 consumption and waste assimilation of a defined human population in terms of productive land area. This productivity refers to the amount of biomass production required to renew the biotic resources used by humans and to absorb CO2 emissions from energy use [5,6]. Productivity area is measured in global hectares, which are measured from actual hectares by weighting with yield factors and equivalence factors which can be compared to the biocapacity of the earth to assess potential ecological overshoot by human activities [7]. Note that if the focus is on individual products, a biocapacity benchmark to assess ecological overshoot is not straightforward anymore

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion