Towards a comprehensive absolute sustainability assessment method for effective Earth system governance: Defining key environmental indicators using an enhanced-DPSIR framework

Abstract

Reflecting the growing interest in the concept of absolute sustainability, this research defines an absolute sustainability assessment method (ASAM) with three key characteristics: (i) assessment of a comprehensive range of environmental impacts in absolute terms; (ii) evaluation of these impacts at an early stage in impact pathways; and (iii) the capacity to assess these impacts at multiple economic levels. To that end, using an enhanced Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (eDPSIR) framework, this study systematically classified the environmental indicators reported in the Planetary Boundaries (PBs), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by mapping them on to a network of cause-effect chains developed in previous work, and extended to include the areas of protection in LCA. It was found that twelve major environmental problems could be defined as key central nodes in this causal network, and that the PBs and LCA evaluated many of these environmental problems at an early stage in the causal network while the SDGs generally addressed similar problems at the latter end of the causal network. Six of these environmental problems were addressed in all three approaches (PBs, LCA and SDGs) and the others were addressed in one or two approaches. An associated (but incomplete) set of absolute environmental sustainability indicators were identified that are already available in one or more of the three approaches; some of these indicators require further methodological development in order to support the advancement of an ASAM for effective Earth system governance.