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The Sharing Economy has been suggested as a sustainable mode of consumption due to its potential to lower resource use and waste generation. A better understanding of sharing drivers, consumption dynamics, and their interlinkages is essential to suitably appraise the role that sharing practices can play in sustainable transitions. A survey of 654 participants from the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Switzerland) was carried out in order to investigate their household goods sharing practices. Among the participants, 328 people that borrowed household goods (takers) were identified and their responses were analysed to find motives and barriers for sharing household goods. Furthermore, Environmental Rebound Effects (EREs) were investigated with the consideration of psychological and economic factors that may influence them. The findings indicate that attitudes towards sharing household goods are most positively influenced by expected environmental impacts followed by enjoyment, economic savings, and social interactions. Negative influences include concerns about a potential loss of independence and lack of trust in people. However, it also turned out that EREs actually amounted to 102%, indicating that the motivating (direct) environmental benefits from sharing tend to be fully compensated for by the negative impacts derived from subsequent re-spending. The imperfect substitution of sharing and the moral licensing effect contributed to this result. Furthermore, consumers’ sharing rationale significantly influences the magnitude of EREs; either increased by economic motivations, or decreased by environmental motivations. Based on our results, we suggest that, to ensure the implementation of the Sharing Economy as a sustainable mode of consumption, it is necessary to increase awareness of the environmental rebound effects caused by re-spending. Consumers could thus be more motivated to share for environmental reasons, identify themselves with sustainability and decide to abstain from morally licensing themselves to re-spend their extra disposable income on Carbon Footprint intense activities.

Urban sustainability is today commonly considered to be a crucial determinant of global sustainable development, and indicator-based assessments represent a popular means of operationalizing this complex concept. An important aspect of these assessments concerns the elaboration of accompanying conceptual frameworks. Despite the pivotal role of such frameworks, they are often developed in an unstructured manner, without consideration of their potential purposes and impacts, and without awareness and evaluation of available options. Here, we discuss this topic based on both theoretical considerations and the analysis of the conceptual frameworks of 67 urban sustainability indicator initiatives. The discussion makes two contributions: First, we provide guidance for assessment developers for leveraging the potential of conceptual frameworks. Second, considering the analyzed frameworks as de facto definitions of urban sustainability allows us to advance understanding of the meaning of this complex concept, and to critically discuss the conceptual shortcomings that remain in current assessment practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analyze how drivers and barriers to sharing have been studied to date. • Bibliometric, epistemological and substantive data from 175 papers is analyzed. • 3191 driving factors are categorized across a comprehensive typology. • Attention paid to environmental factors clearly varies across activity sectors. • Environmental factors are predominantly found to influence the intention to share. The sharing economy (SE) has gained attention in recent years in both academia and practice. This derives from the economic and social benefits that are often attributed to it, but also from its limited anticipated environmental impacts. However, its role as a sustainability enabler will largely depend on the extent to which consumers change the criteria they consider. If consumers engage in sharing motivated by the same drivers as usual, rebound effects can significantly reduce the sustainability potential of the SE. This paper contributes to this debate by illuminating on the existing SE literature and consumer behavior. The research team systematically scrutinized 175 scientific papers through a novel approach that combines bibliometric, epistemological and substantive meta-analysis. 3,191 influential construct-item combinations were collected from the sample and categorised according to a comprehensive typology. The findings highlight the diversity of drivers/barriers studied so far regarding the SE, as well as the limited attention paid to environmental factors. Despite this, environmental factors are often found to significantly influence the willingness to share, particularly in sectors such as mobility, clothing and household goods. Results demonstrate that environmental factors have been analysed at a broad level and almost exclusively as potential motivations (rebounds never being considered). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • 494 Green Economy Indicators are screened through SDGs and Natural Resources (NRs). • Concrete SDG-NR links are quantitatively estimated. • All SDGs are related to at least one NR through the perspective of GE indicators. • The premise of an adaptable analytical framework for sustainability assessments is developed. Abstract Natural Resources are essential inputs for economic and social development. However, unsustainable resource use has led to environmental degradation and resource depletion, endangering the well-being of humanity and the environment. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a plan of action to address these issues. The Green Economy (GE) concept is described by various institutions as a vehicle to move towards sustainable resource management. This paper demonstrates the linkages between SDGs and Natural Resources though the systematic analysis of 494 GE indicators, derived from 12 distinct frameworks focusing on GE or on Green Growth. This articulation provides insights to gain an improved understanding of the links between SDGs and Natural Resources and interpret their inherent complexity. GE indicators focus unevenly on SDG, although each SDG is related to at least one resource category. Two complementary typologies were applied to the Materials subcategory to highlight additional characteristics, leading to the proposal of an adaptable analytical framework for the assessment of sustainability issues and GE transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of sustainability is growing in importance for local urban governance, and indicator-based assessments represent a popular means for its operationalization. While much effort has been spent developing the technical aspects of these assessments, less attention has been given to their potential for influencing real-world governance processes. To address this issue, we put forward an assessment approach that systematically embeds the assessed indicators within their sociopolitical and institutional contexts, thereby aiming to enhance the informational value of the assessment for local governance. We apply the approach to the assessment of the City of Geneva's (Switzerland) housing system, for which an assessment model is first developed, covering 13 goals and 26 indicators. The indicators reveal the most critical issues of Geneva's housing system, which include energy performance, availability and affordability, and certain aspects of the urban environment (noise, moderation of traffic, green areas, and mobility). We then deepen the analysis by connecting the indicators to ongoing controversies around the housing system, and to the stakeholders and institutions that these controversies touch upon. As the case study demonstrates, the proposed assessment approach can elucidate a richer picture of the challenges identified in the assessment than a typical quantitative-only analysis of indicators. Therefore, it offers more complete support to local governance stakeholders for learning about and acting upon the problem under assessment. Overall, our work aims to contribute to a productive alliance between sustainability assessment methodologies and urban governance stakeholders, thereby leading to more informed steering of cities towards sustainability. • Assessment approach with enhanced potential for influencing governance is proposed • The approach is applied to assess the housing system of the City of Geneva • Problems for Geneva's housing include energy use, availability and affordability • The assessment is enriched by embedding the indicators in their context • The value of the approach for local urban governance is discussed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities account for 75% of resource consumption and 80% of CO 2 emissions. With rising urbanization, achieving urban sustainability becomes crucial. The Circular Economy (CE) concept has been proposed to reduce resource consumption, although its link to sustainability remains unclear from theoretical and practical perspectives. This paper provides an in-depth comparative analysis of 57 indicator sets used in academia or practice to measure either CE in urban areas or urban sustainability. Indicators were extracted and categorized according to three conceptual frameworks, namely: the STEEP categories, the Sustainable Development Goals, and inductively-created thematic groups. The similarities among the 57 sets were analyzed to derive clusters. Results show that CE represents a subset of urban sustainability, while offering more indicators to assess specific thematic groups (e.g., waste). In the discussion, the value added by targeting a CE rather than sustainability is questioned, and insights are provided to support actors involved in an urban transition to develop well-informed city targets. The results offer theoretical, practical, and methodological contributions, and aid involved actors, especially those leading urban transition agendas, to unravel the conceptual link between CE and sustainability, specifically at the urban scale. • Focus on how urban sustainability and circular economy are measured. • Indicators categorized according to complementary conceptual frameworks. • Indicator sets are analyzed to obtain and discuss clusters. • Circular Economy lacks novelty of topics covered, compared to urban sustainability. • For some topics, Circular Economy offers more indicators (e.g., about waste). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban sustainability is analyzed by scrutinizing 2847 indicators. • A novel approach linking indicators to SDGs, STEEP and MONET frameworks is proposed. • Current issues and gaps in urban sustainability indicator sets are elicited. • The most frequently used indicators are identified and discussed. • Seven key lessons are proposed for selecting urban sustainability indicators. Today, the centrality of cities in the global sustainability challenge is widely acknowledged, and numerous initiatives have been developed worldwide for monitoring and comparing the sustainability performance of urban areas. However, the escalating abundance of indicators makes it difficult to understand what really counts in urban sustainability and how to properly select the most suitable indicators. By methodically collecting and mapping the diversity of available indicators, our work aims to elucidate the emphases, as well as the gaps, that exist in the way urban sustainability is currently translated into metrics, and to draw instructive lessons to support the development of future indicator sets. Representing the most comprehensive study ever performed in the field, this analysis relies on both an innovative research approach entailing multi- and cross-typological systematic analysis of indicators and an extensive data sample comprising 67 indicator sets (for a total of 2847 indicators) from academia and practice. The findings highlight the most frequent indicators in urban sustainability measurement initiatives, and demonstrate the prominence of social issues (e.g., quality of life, access to services, consumer behaviour, employment) and to a lesser extent, of environmental stakes. In contrast, urban sustainability indicator sets generally pay marginal attention to political questions (e.g., participation, policies, institutional settings), gender issues and distributional concerns. From a systemic point of view, the analysis reveals the strong emphasis placed on the status of actual and potential resources as well as the satisfaction of current needs. The study further highlights seven key lessons on how to deal with three typical tensions faced during indicator selection processes: (i) parsimony vs. comprehensiveness; (ii) context-specificity vs. general comparability; and (iii) complexity vs. simplicity. The directly implementable recommendations proposed herein will support both scholars and practitioners in the design of future urban sustainability measurement initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past ten years, the Green Economy (GE) concept has gained momentum in both academia and policy-making arenas, leading to international programs in diverse sectors and driving national agendas all over the world. The concept is however highly controversial, partly due to its theoretical blurriness. The aims of this article are to shed light on the conceptual ambiguities surrounding the GE and to clarify its distinctive components. More concretely, the paper aims at understanding what GE definitions have in common as a conceptual whole (that is, which key features do they share?), and what makes them different to each other. For these purposes, the present study relies on an extensive review of both academic and grey literatures. Such a review yielded 95 GE definitions, as well as 45 definitions of Green Growth (GG), which is often interchangeably used with the former. All the definitions were methodically translated into a coded format thanks to a conceptual framework inductively developed by the research team. They were subsequently analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as network analysis. Results provide the basis for a common meta-understanding of the GE concept. Like Sustainable Development (SD), the GE is a multidimensional notion, whose focus is on the potential trade-offs and synergies between economic and environmental dimensions (without ignoring social issues). The results uncover several discourses underlying the GE narrative, such as "econocentric incrementalism", "unlimited eco-efficiency" and "transformative GE". The analysis outlines several key cleaving elements discriminating GE definitions, like the focus on either well-being or economic growth, or the consideration or not of environmental limits. Finally, GE definitions are put into a broader perspective according to their potential as theoretical backgrounds for handling the social-ecological challenges posed by the Anthropocene. • 95 Green Economy and 35 Green Growth definitions are collected from both scientific and grey literatures. • Qualitative conceptualizations are translated into a numerical coded format. • Statistical analysis shows significant differences between GE and GG concepts. • Differences are also found between academic and policy-oriented GE definitions, as well as across geographical regions. • Network analysis displays interrelations between conceptual elements and key cleaving notions across definitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]