Ecological Footprint Assessment Research Articles

Underestimations of the income-based ecological footprint inequality

Previous research has demonstrated that the wealthy harm the environment to a much greater extent than those with lesser means. According to recent estimates, the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population emit 50% more CO2 than the bottom half of the income distribution. The reason for this inequality is clear: affluence boosts consumption, which in turn increases the ecological footprint. Although the phenomenon seems intuitive, little is known as to whether the layperson notices it. The current study assesses the extent to which individuals recognize or fail to notice such massive ecological footprint inequality and why misperceptions may arise. Across four preregistered studies (N = 1,188) conducted in a highly unequal socio-economic environment (Brazil), we show that people often fail to accurately perceive the meaningful ecological footprint inequality that surrounds them. These misperceptions are explained by people’s (a) failure to properly incorporate the impact of income-based differences in consumption in their ecological footprint assessments and (b) tendency to associate wealth with superior environmental education, greater resources to act sustainably, and better local infrastructure (e.g., cleaner paved streets and proper waste collection). Emphasizing the lack of infrastructure in deprived neighborhoods further exacerbates the misperceptions, whereas highlighting key differences in consumption habits across the socio-economic spectrum increases accuracy. This research, thus, identifies the factors that magnify existing misperceptions in ecological footprint inequality and provides avenues for policymakers to reduce such mistakes.

Urban built-up area footprint (UBAF): A novel method of urban bio-capacity and ecological sensitivity assessment

In the city level, urban ecological footprint (UEF) assessment is used for a variety of measures, from biological resources through people as well as human population as a whole. But, the context of this study is sightly specific, here we focus built-up land consumption coming out the general concept of UEF. This study used to figure out the urban built-up area footprint (UBAF) as well as bio-productive status in a city scale, and its impact on urban ecological sensitivity (UES). For this assessment, one of the fastest growing-up cities in Eastern Himalayan region of India, namely Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) is selected as a study area. To assess the UEF and bio-capacity (BC), the yield and equivalent factors have been introduced. Further, variable weights combination (VWC) method is used to assess the UES of SMC. The result shows that increasing UBAF directly impacted on bio-capacity of SMC area. Most of the lands have been converted into built-up land, and highly ecological deficit is seen in the built-up land areas. Thus, the SMC is already crossed the standard limit of the UBAF limit (>3 ha per capita). Consequently, entire SMC has been ecologically sensitive and facing ecological deficit condition rigidly. Therefore, a UBAF based environmental impact assessment framework has been proposed for city level that can be helpful for the further urban land use planning.

Ecological Footprint Assessment of Hospitals in Solan City of Himachal Pradesh

This study was carried out in selected hospitals of Solan Town of Himachal Pradesh to assess the ecological footprint which appraised the load of different components namely electricity, water, food, material, transportation and biomedical waste, imposed by the hospitals on the natural environment. The total ecological footprint of all four selected hospitals of Solan town viz., Regional Hospital, Shiva Hospital, City Hospital and Sai Sanjivni Hospital was found to be 1553.75 gha 100.10 gha, 165.44 gha and 185.31 gha respectively during the year 2021. Transportation and material components registered the highest contribution towards the Ecological Footprint (EF) of the Hospitals and the lowest contribution was made by biomedical waste and electricity components. The maximum Ecological Footprint per area (6.02 gha) was exhibited by Sai Sanjivni Hospital and the minimum (0.75 gha) by the Regional Hospital. The sum Ecological Footprint for all the selected Hospitals was 2004.6 gha, whereas the average bio-capacity per capita was 0.0095 gha. It was concluded that the Ecological Footprint of all selected hospitals exceeded bio-capacity, resulting in un-sustainability. The hospitals had extremely poor bio-capacity, making it hard for them to keep up with the expanding footprints.

Ecological Footprint Assessment of Concrete: Partial Replacement of Cement by Water Treatment Sludge and Stone Dust

Currently, most concrete industries use conventional cement (Ordinary Portland Cement) as a binding material which involves natural resource depletion, colossal CO2 emissions, and a huge energy supply. The present study addresses this critical issue by using stone dust (sun-dried and calcinated) and water treatment sludge (sun-dried and calcinated) to replace cement partly in M20-grade concrete production. The environmental impact of ready-mixed concrete (RMC) production with conventional cement and partially replaced cement by other cementitious material, i.e., stone dust and water treatment sludge in concrete, is assessed through ecological footprint (EF) indicator. Moreover, a novel sustainability index is proposed for ready-mixed concrete plants to scale the environmental impact of different types of concrete (or grades) on the sustainability scale (environmental, social, and economic sustainability). The results showed that the sun-dried water treatment sludge and sun-dried stone dust could effectively replace cement (15% by weight) in the concrete, with a comparable compressive strength over the M20 ready-mixed concrete. The EF of conventional M20 RMC is estimated to be 0.02295 gha/m3. The EF of concrete (with sun-dried water treatment sludge) is reduced by 13.14% of the conventional ready-mixed concrete. The Ecological Sustainability Index (ESI) of the ready-mixed concrete plant is estimated to be 718.42 $/gha. Using water treatment sludge and stone dust in concrete production can be an innovative solution because it simultaneously solves the problem of waste disposal, large carbon emissions, cost, and high environmental impact.

Consumer Attitudes towards Fish and Seafood in Portugal: Opportunities for Footprint Reduction

Fish and seafood are central to the Portuguese diet, comprising a significant portion of Portugal’s Ecological Footprint. Diversifying dietary preferences is important because it has the potential to reduce pressure on marine ecosystems. We explored this opportunity by coupling (1) an Ecological Footprint assessment of Portugal to quantify the environmental impacts of Portugal’s food consumption choices (particularly fish and seafood), with (2) a consumer survey to assess attitudes towards fish and seafood of Portuguese residents and their willingness to modify their preferences, thus shedding light on the potential for sustainable dietary choices in Portugal and the best strategies by which to achieve them. Ecological Footprint results confirm that Portugal is unique in the Mediterranean region in that its food Footprint is driven by fish and seafood consumption, while, for most other countries, the main driver is meat. Results from the consumer survey show that Portuguese fish and seafood preferences are characterized by a high frequency of consumption and a preference for high trophic level species. Age was the primary demographic factor influencing consumption habits in Portugal. Moreover, Portuguese consumers lack knowledge on sustainable fishing practices. Actions and strategies to increase sustainable dietary choices in Portugal will need to consider these factors. We recommend targeted outreach messaging for different age groups, more and better information on sustainable options, together with efforts to protect marine biodiversity. Future research needs to better understand the whole value chain and all relevant stakeholders of the fish and seafood sector for more effective incentives for Footprint reduction.

Assessment of Ecological Footprint of Urban Squatter and Non-Squatter Settlements: A Case Study of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

This research attempted to understand the variation in the ecological footprint of squatter and non-squatter households in terms of the cumulative environmental behavior index (CEBI). A hybrid footprint measurement tool was built considering the principal factors affecting ecological footprint (EF). The correlation between settlement type (squatter and non-squatter) and the EF (as measured by the mean CEBI) was tested using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. Knowledge, attitude and behavior of people regarding the environment sustainability were studied through questionnaires and field observation. The average CEBI of non-squatter settlements was found to be significantly more than that of squatter settlements. Squatter households in the sample had a statistically significantly lower environmental impact (in terms of energy and water consumption) than non-squatter households (p<0.01). The highest contribution to the total CEBI was from the food sector, followed by waste production. People’s attitudes towards the environmental sustanability varied and most of the squatter households had no clear opinion. Knowledge of environment-friendly practices were found comparatively more in non-squatter households. A majority of the respondents were ignorant about renewable energy. Identification of factors mainly responsible for increasing footprint is needed to design interventions for promoting sustainable development. The findings from this research will be useful for urban planners and other concerned professionals to make amends in sector policies for the sustainable development.

Assessment of Ecological Footprint of Educational Institutes in Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh

The ecological footprint is a resources accounting tool that measures how much land and sea area is available on earth, and how much of this area is appropriate for human use. The present study was conducted in the year 2020-21to assess the ecological footprint of schools. Five components viz. electricity, water, solid waste, transportation, and material (paper) consumption of selected 13 Government Senior Secondary Schools of Bilaspur district were analysed. The total ecological footprint (EF) of all the selected educational institutes was found to be 2417.46 gha and per capita, EF was 0.58 gha.The highest ecological footprint was found to be 544.48 g ha in GSSS, Berthin, and per capita highest ecological footprint was calculated as 0.59 g ha and the lowest EF (91.43 g ha) was in GSSS, Ghumarwin and per capita, EF was 0.53 gha. The highest (1.47 g ha) biocapacity was observed in GSSS, Berthin,and the lowest biocapacity (1.33 gha) was estimated in GSSS, Bilaspur. The component-wise contribution towards total EF was 23.34 g ha, 0.012 g ha, 83.66 g ha, 2213.58 g ha, and 0.062 g ha respectively in energy, water, material, transportation, and solid waste. In Jhandutta Block, the maximum number of students and staff members falls under the sustainability scale of 60−120, which indicates that an extra campus is required to support their lifestyle. In Ghumarwin and Bilaspur blocks, the maximum number of the population falls under the sustainability scale of less than 60, which means that resources are used efficiently. In Swarghat block, the maximum population falls under the scale of 120−180, which indicates that students and staff arenot utilizing the resources efficiently.

Ecological footprint and economic assessment of conventional and geopolymer concrete for sustainable construction

Cement is the binding material in conventional concrete which involves excess lime quarry and large volume of CO2 emission during its production. On the other hand, the geopolymer concrete is a cement-less concrete where materials such as fly ash, blast furnace slag, bottom ash, construction, and demolition waste etc. are utilized as binder (precursor) when activated with alkaline solution. In the present study, ecological footprint along with the mechanical properties and the incurred cost of the production of M30 conventional cement concrete prepared according to IS, ACI and DOE code of practices were assessed and compared with that of geopolymer concrete. Cement concrete prepared according to IS, ACI and DOE code of practice had the compressive strength of 41 MPa, 43 MPa and 32 MPa respectively at 28 days. The compressive strength of geopolymer concrete was found to be 48 MPa at 28 days which was higher than that of all the conventional concrete. But the ecological footprint and the cost of geopolymer concrete production was found to be lower than that of conventional concrete. The geopolymer concrete had the lowest ecological footprint or the bio-productive land requirement of 0.0224 gha/m3 when compared to that of conventional cement concrete. The conventional cement concrete prepared as per the IS code had the highest ecological footprint of 0.0546 gha/m3. Heat curing contributed to 44% and the material contributed to 46% in the total ecological footprint of geopolymer concrete. However, burden of energy incurred on heat curing can be further reduced by the use of non-conventional source of energy. The production of geopolymer concrete also provides a sustainable disposal option for industrial waste produced as a by-product. Therefore, geopolymer concrete could be seen as eco-friendly and economical alternate to conventional concrete in the era of sustainable development.

Life Cycle Ecological Footprint Reduction for a Tropical Building

Rapid urbanization significantly impacts natural resource demands and waste management in the construction sector. In this study, a novel methodology has been developed that could assess the overall environmental impact of a building during its lifespan by considering resources such as building materials, energy use, emissions, water, manpower, and wastes. The proposed method can estimate the life cycle ecological footprint (EFT) of a building. The result indicates that 957.07 global hectares (gha) of bioproductive land are required during the lifespan of the case building. The CO2 absorption land is the most significant bioproductive land in the EFT of the building. The low environmental impact of building materials may reduce the ecological footprint (EF) of buildings, and using renewable energy can also reduce the operational EF of a building. The proposed building materials and solar PV systems have the potential to reduce the building’s life cycle environmental impact by up to two-thirds. The EF assessment of all existing and proposed buildings may be examined in order to execute strategies for a sustainable construction sector.

Integrated environmental influences quantification of pilot-scale constructed wetlands based on modified ecological footprint assessment

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely used for non-point source pollution control and water environmental quality improvement. Though it is effective in water quality improvement under most conditions, the overall impacts on the ecological environment in terms of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions is a growing concern. Besides, large area requirement has limited further applications of the technology in urban areas. A novel assessment tool of integrating grey water footprint into the ecological footprint framework is established for the assessment of pilot-scale CWs. Findings are compared with a natural riparian wetland adjacent to the researched CWs which were monitored simultaneously. Results demonstrated the CWs had relatively good water quality polishing performance, especially for nitrogen removal. Nonetheless, a large amount of CO2 and some CH4 and N2O emissions were recorded. Meanwhile, a substantial amount of CO2 was also sequestrated by wetland plants via photosynthesis. The strong reducing environment of the CWs inhibited CO2 and N2O generation to a great extent. Calculation of all gaseous emissions and sequestration in CO2 equivalents demonstrated that CWs are an efficient carbon sink. By contrast, the natural wetland was a carbon source because of the high emission of CO2 and N2O under its weak reducing environment conditions and low gross primary production. The carbon footprints of the constructed and natural wetlands were −24.24 and 12.99 gha respectively. Modified ecological footprint values were determined by integrating the carbon footprint, water footprint and build-up lands footprint, and a value of −24.36 gha was obtained for the CWs and 12.99 gha for the natural wetlands. The results indicated that the CWs had substantial beneficial impacts on the ecological environment. On account of the multifunctional service values provided by the CWs, a typical paradigm for water pollution remediation and carbon sequestration was presented for ecological and environmental governance, especially for riparian areas.

Assessment of the ecological footprint associated with consumer goods and waste management activities of south mediterranean cities: Case of Algiers and Tipaza

Despite the management strategies implemented, urban waste management in Algeria is a massive concern, especially entities in charge focus primarily on eliminating waste, neglecting material and energy use which might have a substantial environmental impact. This study uses combined urban metabolism analysis and EF assessment model to estimate the surface required to absorb greenhouse gas (GHG) generated, intending to demonstrate the reliability of Ecological Footprint (EF) as an environmental indicator in managing activities related to product manufacturing and waste management. Therefore, the research considers two neighboring coastal cities Algiers and Tipaza, contrasting demographically and economically. The results obtained from urban metabolism demonstrate that material produced from raw inputs is associated with higher GHG emissions. Similarly, emissions generated from waste management activities are dominated by transportation at more than 40% in both cities. Thus, proportional to the amount of GHGs emitted, EF in terms of energy is higher in the disposed material representing 90% consumer goods' EF compared to the Diverted material. These emissions require a total amount of 578 190.05 gha and 92 950.7gha in Algiers and Tipaza respectively. As for waste management, transportation requires the most significant EF values exceeding 5 thousand gha to sequester carbon in Algiers. Eventually, the investigations reveal disparities in data collection and structure in both cities and shortcomings in waste management. Thus, this empirical study highlights EF's reliability for understanding the tangible impact of economic growth on the environment that supports the development of cities.

Developing the Ecological Footprint Assessment for a University Campus, the Component-Based Method

Global warming has become an increasing challenge due to the impact of human activities on the environment. In this regard, university campuses with various activities and departments have a great impact on the environment. Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) is a natural resource depletion assessment tool, with a high level of accuracy, that measures the impact of human activities on the environment. Considering the Ecological Footprint (EF) capabilities, this study developed a method to assess the environmental impacts of a university campus using component-based parameters. The goals of the study are to explore the effective components of EF and to propose some policy guidelines to diminish the human impacts on the environment on university campuses. Five components, including natural gas and electricity consumption, water and food usage, and waste production, were measured in a survey from 2013 to 2016 at the building scale. The mean EF of the campus was 16,484 global hectares (gha). Fossil fuel energy had the highest level of environmental impact with 70.73%, followed by waste production and food and water usage with 26.87%, 1.28%, and 1.12%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the EF Index (EFI) of the case study campus was −0.82, which reveals an unsustainable performance. The EF results were illustrated on an Ecological Footprint Map (EFM), which shows the east and west parts of the camps were more unsustainable.

Mapping National Environmental Sustainability Distribution by Ecological Footprint: The Case of Italy

The paper proposes a possible way of spatially representing sustainability in Italy. For this purpose, the ecological footprint approach was used as a methodological framework to assess the level of sustainability of the 8092 Italian municipalities. For each municipality, the exploitation of ecosystem services, assessed by the ecological footprint indicator, and the corresponding availability of biological capacity, associated to an indicator, have been calculated and compared, thus generating a map representing the relative sustainability of Italian municipalities. The results show a very scattered distribution of ecological balance, wherein unsustainable conditions characterize more than 60% of the territory and almost 95% of the Italian population. Despite the limitations of the methodology and some assumptions regarding the ecological footprint assessment at the municipality level, the study represents an attempt to produce an innovating tool that, based on an operational definition of sustainability, can represent natural resource exploitation at the local level, and provide useful information to address coherent and targeted environmental policies of sustainability.

Analyses of Ecological Footprint at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Residential Area

Ecological Footprint (EF) assessment helps to identify what activities are having the biggest impact on nature and opens up possibilities to reduce our impact and live within the means of one planet. The introduction of EF has been very necessary for the context of Bangladesh especially in the industrial areas such Gazipur as the endless demand and the unplanned consumption pattern of the population here have been producing a very unsustainable situation. Thus this study intends to initiate it by calculating the Ecological Footprint of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), one of the important residential area of Gazipur and major consuming areas of that city as a sustainability indicator. Basic equation for assessing EF has been done according to Nunes et al. (2013). EF has been calculated for these components: energy, food, waste and building material consumption. Questionnaire survey has been conducted to gather information about consumption pattern for different components in the households of BARI residential area. The study also identified consumption of natural gas for household purpose as the most contributing factor in the footprint of BARI residential area followed by waste, building materials and electricity consumption.
 Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 12(1&2): 143-149, 2019

A Proposal for Measuring In-Use Buildings’ Impact through the Ecological Footprint Approach

To reduce the environmental impact of the construction sector, sustainable strategies for managing the in-use phase of buildings must be integrated urgently. Current green certifications present several limitations and, in particular, do not help determine where to focus for reducing the environmental demand of buildings. Among existing indicators, the ecological footprint (EF) is the most useful for assessing the buildings’ environmental performance through impact sources that reveal the over-consumption of resources. The present paper expands EF by taking into account the role of human behavior in over-consumption, and thus the efficiency in buildings’ use. After comparing ecological footprint with the existing green certifications, the paper demonstrates how a new integrated ecological footprint assessment can describe the impact of built-up, energy consumption, water consumption, material consumption, food and drink, mobility, waste generation, recycling potential, and occupants in the environmental efficiency of a building. The application of a case study demonstrates the reliability and the effectiveness of the model and shows that the estimated ecological deficit reflects not only the consumption of energy and materials, but also the behaviors of building users. This highlights the need for integrating a sustainable culture in the users of buildings.

Integrated Environmental Influences Quantification for Pilot Scale Constructed Wetlands Based on Modified Ecological Footprint Assessment

Integrated Environmental Influences Quantification for Pilot Scale Constructed Wetlands Based on Modified Ecological Footprint Assessment

Energy consumption of hybrid smart water-filled glass (SWFG) building envelope

Thermal properties have significant impact on ecological footprint and life-cycle assessment of buildings. This is even more crucial aspect for glass buildings, which have been criticised as major factors in climate change around the world. Recent debates on glass facades, which culminated in plans for a “glass building ban” in New York City highlighted the importance of innovation in glass construction.The current solutions for mitigating energy consumption for glass facades are improving insulation (U-value) and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) with advanced glazing or using shading devices. A fourth approach is the recent technology of water-filled glass (WFG), which utilizes water layer to improve thermal comfort and energy performance of the façade.This paper introduces Smart Water-filled Glass (SWFG) control method, which enables the change of the opacity of the façade element by colouring the fluid over a year regarding seasonal changes. The impact of changing transparency of water layer on cooling and heating energy demand is evaluated by simulating and analysing the energy performance of a reference office room with large glazing facade in different climates.The significance of this energy evaluation is that a water-filled glass with switchable transparency is simulated and assessed here for the first time. The paper analyses the performance in seven cities from all relevant major climatic regions using LBNL WINDOW and TRNSYS (v.18) As a novel approach, the simulation study makes it possible to evaluate the overall performance of two proposed operational methods (insolation-based & storage-based) for adjusting water layer settings depending on climate conditions and reusability of the captured heat in water layer. Moreover, seven different base cases are presented in this study to compare the performance of proposed system, including conventional solutions (e.g. double or triple glazing with/without shading) and a state-of-the-art switchable technology (e.g. electrochromic glazing or EC).The results verify the hypothesis that the impact of SWFG compared to WFG varies depending on the climate with 0%-5.28% for hot climates and 0.25–3.39% for climates with heating demand. The discussion includes comparison with standard glass facades, where SWFG shows 47.41%-78.01% energy savings depending on climate. The climate-based approach of SWFG and WFG offers a significant shift in façade design that sees glass buildings as an opportunity for sustainability rather than liability for climate change.

Modelling the effects of energy taxes on ecological footprint transfers in China's foreign trade

Significant inter-country transfers of ecological footprint are embodied in foreign trade. Previous research on these transfers mainly focused on historical characteristics of the flows based on historical data. However, the transfers of ecological footprints in foreign trade are dynamic and are influenced by environmental tax policies, whose future impacts have seldom been considered. In the present study, we explored the effects of an energy tax, a common form of environmental tax, on these transfers. We combined a multi-sector dynamic computable general equilibrium model with ecological footprint assessment, and analyzed the changes in the actual and virtual land uses that comprise the ecological footprint under different tax intensities. We used China as a case study to analyze the energy tax's effects. For the actual land use component of the ecological footprint, the energy tax increased the export of ecological footprint but decreased its import, and China's average net exports (exports minus imports) decreased by 4.56 × 106 gha (global hectares) and 10.81 × 106 gha from 2015 to 2020 under the low and high tax intensities, respectively. For the virtual land use component of the ecological footprint, the energy tax simultaneously decreased export and import of this footprint component; the average net import would increase by 3.84 × 106 gha and 8.91 × 106 gha. For the total ecological footprint, the energy tax also simultaneously reduced export and import, with the net import decreasing by 1.76 × 106 gha and 4.45 × 106 gha under the low and high taxes, respectively.

Life-cycle ecological footprint assessment of grid-connected rooftop solar PV system

ABSTRACT Solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation system is generally considered to be land-intensive in view of the diffuse nature of solar energy. However, a comprehensive assessment in this regard would involve bio-productive land for all types of resource consumption during the lifespan of the system. This study presents such an assessment for a grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic (RSPV) system located in a tropical climate. The life cycle ecological footprint (EFT) methodology has been used to derive the results based on material & energy consumption, water & manpower requirements along with waste disposal. This methodology is illustrated through an existing 1 MWp RSPV system installed at an educational institution in India. The total EFT is evaluated as 22.69 global hectare (gha) per year, out of which the environmental impact of solar PV panels is 76% of the total. The EFT per kWP capacity is 0.454 gha/kWP and the EFT per unit solar panel collector area is 0.074 gha/m2. The EFT of the RSPV system per unit electricity generation is 1.59 × 10−5 gha/kWh. However, considering only emissions from the grid-electricity in India, an approximate reduction potential of ecological footprint through RSPV-based electricity is estimated as 95%.

The application of ecological footprint and biocapacity for environmental carrying capacity assessment: A new approach for European cities

Contemporary socio-environmental problems such as the reduced availability of natural resources, the loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, pollution, an unprecedented population growth, the mass migration of people to cities, and urban sprawl may be associated with the consequences of an economic infinite growth paradigm on a finite planet. Despite international goals for improving the spatial and environmental management, current and future developments are continuously planned without the consideration of the biophysical limits to growth. This could be equated with the environmental carrying capacity (ECC), a concept and a tool for the sustainable development of human settlements. This research use the environmental indicators such as Ecological Footprint (EF) and biocapacity (BC) for ECC quantification. Despite EF and BC accounting is well-developed at the global, national and regional levels, there is still lack of local - urban standard for EF assessment. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to present the local approach for EF assessment and its potential to use for ECC assessment at local (i.e., city) level. The study compares the hybrid EF, which joined the bottom-up CF with the remaining EF’s components from a top-down approach, with the standard top-down EF approach. In this study, the assessment focused mainly on household consumption which could be equated as main driver responsible for Ecological Footprint. Thus, the impact of household consumption was quantified according to four categories reflecting resources’ use and waste generation as: Food, Housing, Mobility, Services and Goods. The analysis of ECC was conducted for the Polish city of Wrocław in Central Eastern Europe for the year 2016. The results showed, that the city of Wrocław exceeds its ECC. Both calculations were affected by data limitations, and likely represent overestimation of the EF. The proposed approach could be important for ECC assessment, quantification of the EF of human activities, and more sustainable spatial management of the city.