Search

© 2022 ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Affluence and planned urbanization may have a crucial role in conserving forests and decreasing forest footprint with rising awareness and human development. Productivity rise from technological progress is key to facilitating the underlying mechanisms of theoretically expected changes in all those processes. They are seen as an alternative way to transform the current habits into one that is conservative and respectful to the environment while keeping the economic welfare at the same time. By following the theoretical underpinnings of such expectations, this article investigates how the development changes of China have impacted on the forest footprint. In this frame, the study is an attempt to empirically inquire underlying mechanisms of the forest transition hypothesis, which supports the idea that affluence, urbanization, human capital, and productivity can help to save forests. The transition process is depicted by a hump-shaped curve mostly attributed to the Environmental Kuznets Curve in the literature. The period 1961–2017 is particularly relevant as it precedes and follows the Chinese open-door policy of the 1980s. This study reaches robust findings and new insights for sustainable forest management. Results show that income growth did not contribute to reducing the forest footprint, as the forest footprint has increased with income rises. On the contrary, urbanization, human capital, and total factor productivity have reduced the forest footprint. Based on the evidence provided, policymakers should devote increasing attention to education that serves human capital formation, and efficiency gains for sustainable forestry simultaneously.

This paper analyses the main perceptions of capitalism and crises from a mainstream and heterodox perspective. Broadly defined within the neoclassical structure, the mainstream approaches support the idea of long-term stability of capitalism and describe crises as exogenous events. The heterodox perceptions, on the contrary, perceive crises as an internal feature of capitalism and propose to reframe the global economy within the limits of the socio-environmental systems. Despite the historical recurrence of crises, the neoclassic capitalist framework and the related mainstream perceptions are still dominating the international economic debate. Most of the crises have then been addressed with reforms oriented to adjust some elements of the system without changing the overall economic structure. On the contrary, limited numbers of initiatives have been implemented to reorganise the economy according to the heterodox perspectives. Within this context, further analysis would be needed to investigate the feasibility of the proposed heterodox solutions. By discussing the main perceptions of capitalism and crises and by considering the ethical implications of the mainstream and the heterodox approaches, the present paper contributes to the existing debate around stability of capitalism and provides a starting point for analysis oriented to investigate the feasibility of alternative economic structures.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related lockdown restrictions have imposed a wide range of impacts that need to be analysed based on the specific characteristics of countries. By comparing socio-economic and energy data for the four quarters of 2020 to the same period of 2019, the MuSIASEM approach is used, for the first time, to investigate the energy metabolism of UK during a period of economic downturn. Results show that the commercial and the public administration activities have been able to achieve energy efficiency increases, and the residential sector has accounted for energy-related economies of scale. The industrial and the other activity sectors, on the contrary, have raised the energy intensity of production. Comparted to time series data, scenarios, and modelling exercises, the MuSIASEM approach integrates a wide range of intensive and extensive variables across different scales of analysis and investigate how specific socio-economic and energy structures have reacted to the COVID-19 crisis. The methodology can be easily replicated for other case studies and results can support the design of recovery and sustainable transition strategies.

The total factor carbon emission performance has been largely used to investigate the effectiveness of climate policies and to support the design of carbon reduction strategies. Despite the important information that this indicator is providing in relation to historical and cross-country trends, no previous studies have been specifically devoted to analyse the persistent and the transient components of the total factor carbon emission performance. By disaggregating the time-variant and the time-invariant elements of the carbon dioxide emission changes, this paper adopts, for the first time, a new methodological approach to decompose the components of the total factor carbon emission performance indicator. Using panel data for selected 30 Chinese provinces for the time-period 1997-2017, this paper combines the environmental production technology, the Shephard distance function, and the stochastic frontier models to measure and investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of the total factor carbon emission performance and to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese policies. By providing a better understanding of the main drivers of carbon dioxide emission changes, the proposed methodology, is suitable to be replicated across regions and countries, and provides an important opportunity for international comparisons and for the design of coordinated carbon reduction strategies.

This paper investigates the determinants of environmental taxes revenue. While the effects of environmental taxations are well discussed across academic and political debate, less analysis have been specifically devoted to investigate the factors influencing the revenue variations. By using an Index Decomposition Techniques, the present paper separates the contribution of economic factors from the contribution provided by taxation rates and regulations. The data pertain to the period 2004–2016 and 25 European Member States are included in the analysis. Results show that stricter environmental taxation rates and regulations has been the main factor influencing the revenue increase just for 5 of the 25 countries considered in this paper. For the other Member States, economic growth and the role played in the European economic panorama have been the main drivers of variations. By providing a comparative analysis of the factors influencing the environmental taxes revenue of European areas, this paper contributes to identify how regulations and economic factors have influenced the sustainability paths of countries and can be used to support the design of policies across the EU.

The carbon dioxide variations generated by the socio-economic restrictions imposed by the management of the COVID-19 crisis are analysed in this paper for 23 European countries and 10 economic sectors. By considering the most up to date information on GDP and carbon intensity of production, this paper represents one of the first attempts to estimate the CO2 emissions change that have taken place in Europe during the first six months of 2020. Results show that more than 195,600 thousand tons of CO2 have been avoided between January and June 2020, compared to the same period of the previous year, representing a -12.1% emissions change. The largest reductions have taken place in the Manufacturing, Wholesale, Retail Trade, Transport, Accommodation and Food Service sectors, accounting for more than 93.7% of total CO2 change. Spain, Italy and France have been the most affected areas with -106,600 thousand tons emissions drop. In line with the results provided by previous studies, this paper highlights that the geographical and the sectoral distribution of the CO2 emissions change has been largely influenced by the magnitude of the COVID-19 impacts. In addition, the carbon intensity of production, characterizing the most affected economic activities, has been the main element of differentiation compared to the previous 2008 crisis. By providing preliminary estimation of the CO2 emissions change that have taken place across geographical and sectoral activities, this paper contributes to the existing climate policy debate and can support future estimation of CO2 variations both in a context of confinement release as well as in a context of reintroduced COVID-19 restrictions.

The main objective of this paper is to use the successful example of the Hill Centered Education Network in Bogota, Colombia, to discuss the role that education and bottom-up initiatives can have in the integrated implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Founded in 2015 by a team of three organisations, the Bogota Hill Network includes today more than 100 schools, 21 non-governmental organisations and three governmental agencies. Oriented to promote ecological conservation through education, the network uses the natural ecosystems of the city as a learning environment where collaborative projects are created and implemented. By involving a large number of pupils with different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, the initiative has been able to promote equality and inclusion while developing environmental stewardship of students and communities. The achievements of the projects, together with the main opportunities and challenges, are used in this paper to map the interlinkages across targets and goals and to discuss the role of education in the development of integrated partnerships across a wide range of sustainability dimensions. From a policy perspective, the discussion of the bottom-up initiatives and the identification of successful examples can support the design of policies and the replication of sustainability initiatives.

This paper discusses how the deceleration of economic growth, that followed the financial crisis of 2008, influenced the energy efficiency, allocation and use of 18 European countries. By using a Multi-scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), the relationships between energy requirements, economic trends and population are investigated for the years 2008 and 2015. The analyses are performed for the entire society (Level N), for the household and the paid sectors (Level N-1) and for the agricultural, the industrial and the service activities (Level N-2). Results show that two main groups of countries performed the largest energy reductions, namely: the country most affected by the global financial crisis, such as Greece, Romania and Spain, where the total energy throughput decreased by −19.6%, −15.8% and −12.1%, respectively; and the countries, such as Ireland and United Kingdom, that experienced the largest energy intensity reductions (−38.7% and −19.2%), together with the highest GDP increases (+44.8% and +10.2%). By providing an overview of the relationships existing between socio-economic and energy variables, this paper contributes to the debate around growth and efficiency and can support the design of policies oriented to promote the achievement of a more sustainable and competitive economy.

In this paper the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Social Metabolism (MuSIASEM) is used to investigate the metabolic profile of 28 world countries. The years considered are 1995 and 2007 and the socio-economic and environmental data included in the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) are used to provide consistent comparisons between countries. The analyses are performed by considering the entire society (Level N), the household and the paid sectors (Level N-1) and the different economic sectors (Level N-2). The main results show that, despite the differences existing between countries, the increasing energy throughput and per-capita consumption contributed to change the metabolic profile of the countries considered in this paper.

In this paper, the metabolic profile of Ireland and the main drivers of energy variations are analysed for the period 1998–2014. By considering the years that extend from the Celtic Tiger to the Celtic Phoenix, the socio-economic and energy variables are analysed during periods of economic growth and recession. The main objective is to investigate how demographic and economic trends have influenced the energy used across different levels of analysis. The potential implications of economic growth and population structure are also discussed. The main results show that the standard of living has been the main factor influencing the energy consumption increase. In addition, the reduction of the economic energy intensity, driven by structural changes and implementation of energy efficiency action plans, has contributed to reduce the energy used in relation to gross domestic product and human time. Being characterised by one of the largest financial crashes and one of the quickest economic recovery, together with one of the highest population increase across European Union countries, Ireland represents an interesting case study to investigate the relationships existing between socio-economic and energy variables. The results can support the design of policies oriented to achieve sustainable energy strategies.

Urban planning, affordable houses and protection of the cultural natural heritage are important elements to be considered in the design of sustainable urban realities. Homes for One Pound, Granby Four Streets CLT, Homebaked CLT, Make Liverpool CIC and Engage Liverpool CIC are examples of successful initiatives oriented to foster urban regeneration by promoting environmental quality and social cohesion.

In this paper a multiregional input–output model is proposed and used to estimate time series trends for water use, water footprint and water trade balance. By using data provided by the World Input–Output Database, the water used in production, consumption and trade is quantified for 41 world regions between 1995 and 2008. Results show that global water use grew by 37.3%, with China, India and Brazil contributing most to that increase. China and India, together with the EU-27, were also responsible for the largest water footprint variations. In terms of trade, the EU-27 was the largest water importer and China and India the main water exporters. The results provided in this paper offer an overview of the main countries’ responsibility for the use of water resources. They provide a good starting point for international debates and policies on sustainable water use.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to use multidimensional approach to provide a well-being description across European regions.Design/methodology/approach– By considering the set of socioeconomic indicators provided by Eurostat for the EU 266 NUTS-2 regions, three main analyses have been performed for the year 2009: first, the “ideal point” technique has been used to identify: the best EU performances; the number and type of indicators that needs to be improved in every European regions. Second, a map of well-being has been elaborated to provide a picture summarizing the regional values in comparison to the European average. Third, Gini coefficient has been calculated to identify the indicators performing the largest inequalities across EU. The method presented in this paper is suitable to be complemented with subjective ranking of values and preference, making the proposed methodology useful to investigate well-being in a national, regional or individual scale.Findings– By providing a multidimensional description of well-being across the 266 EU regions, the present paper identifies and maps the existing differences on socioeconomic performance.Originality/value– The results provided can be useful to design policies oriented to reduce inequalities and to promote socioeconomic and environmental convergences across European regions. As far as the authors know, this is the first paper that provides a map of regional socioeconomic well-being across Europe.

Over the recent years, the sharing economy has been discussed as a community-based solution for a more sustainable future. Supported by the development of information technologies and defined by a large range of activities based on the access of underutilized resources over ownership, the sharing economy has been framed as a socio-economic model that is able to increase social bonding and collaboration and to reduce the inefficient allocation of resources. Within this framework, the sharing economy seems to align with the ideas of degrowth, broadly defined as a downscaling of production and consumption activities oriented to increase environmental quality and social collaboration. Despite the connections existing between them, no previous studies investigate the two concepts together. By considering the evidence provided by previous literature, this paper maps the links and similarities existing between sharing economy and degrowth and analyzes the discrepancies existing between the promises of the sharing economy and the impacts generated by practices. A paradox of scale, where the sharing activities fail to deliver as a consequence of success is also discussed together with future research directions. This paper contributes to the existing debate around alternative economic models and can support the design of sustainable practices.

Purpose – The increasing complexity of the present economic system and the strong interdependencies existing between production activities taking place in different world areas make modern societies vulnerable to crisis. The global supply chain is a paradigmatic example of economic structures on which the impacts of unexpected events propagate rapidly through the system. Climate change, which affects societies all over the world, is one of the most important factors influencing the efficiency of the present economic networks. During the last decades a large set of studies have been oriented to investigate the direct impacts generated on specific geographical areas or productions. However, a smaller number of analyses have been oriented to quantify the cascading and indirect economic effects generated all over the world. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the main studies, methodologies and databases used to investigate the climate vulnerability of the global supply chain. Findings – The great complexity of the global economic system, coupled with methodological and data gaps, makes it difficult to estimate the domino effects of unexpected events. A clear understanding of the possible consequences generated all over the world is, however, a fundamental step to build socio-economic resilience and to plan effective adaptation strategies. Originality/value – The information provided in this paper can be useful to support further studies, to build consistent quantification methodologies and to fill the possible data gap.

In this paper, a model of well-being, based on the concepts of sphere of needs and capitals, is proposed and used to investigate the effects of degrowth. Reciprocity work, considered here as an element of degrowth, is introduced into the well-being equation and the effects generated on well-being are investigated. A preliminary analysis demonstrates the lack of formal models of degrowth. This is due to, on one hand, an a priori ideological rejection by degrowth supporters and promoters of any formal framing; on the other to the fact that existing approaches fail, for different reasons, to comprehensively represent the definition of degrowth. The framework adopted is valid and viable and a good starting point for future research and developments. The idea of a formal representation of degrowth so that it could be made a concrete research subjects, is strongly supported.

This article quantifies for the first time the European employment effects of extra-EU exports and the correct number of jobs generated through the intra-EU trade (single market) associated with the production of such exports. The literature has neglected very often the latter effects mainly due to the lack of an appropriate methodology and data. The main results of the article show that, between 2000 and 2007, an increasing number of European jobs were dependent on extra-EU exports and on the strengthening of the trade linkages across the internal market. During the period considered, the EU employment supported by extra-EU exports grew from 22 to 25 million jobs, out of which 9 million jobs (in 2007) were due to spillover and feedback effects associated with the single market. Between 2000 and 2007 the EU also became a more vertically integrated economy, and reduced the labour intensity of the extra-EU exports.

In this paper, the concept of resilience is extended to the socio-economic domain in order to analyse the relationships between diversity in land use and ability to react to unexpected events. By considering the cocoa crisis of the 1990s, the impacts on economy, migration and land use diversification have been investigated for seven municipalities of the south-east of Bahia (Brazil). Correlation analyses between gross domestic product (GDP) and landscape indices have been performed to analyse the relationships between land use diversification and incidence of the crisis. Variations in the distribution of urban and rural population and in land use diversification have also been considered to analyse the reactions of the different municipalities. Results show that low land use diversification make the system low resilience. Being based on monoculture production, the seven administrative units considered in this paper turned out to be particularly vulnerable to the economic and environmental perturbation. The findings of this paper largely support policies promoting land use diversification as an instrument oriented to promote both economic productivity and environmental protection.

The present work provides a theoretical analysis oriented to link the social capital to the concept of degrowth. Defined by Schneider et al., 2010 as “an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level in the short and in the long term”, the concept of degrowth leads to a radical criticism of the neoclassical approach of economic growth and propose an alternative socio-economic paradigm based on the concept of “reciprocity work”. Constituted by a mix of social work, unpaid activities, self-production and co- operation among individuals, “reciprocity work” is assumed to be able to increase the social capital by promoting conviviality, mutual sustain and social relationships. In recent years, academic, political and social debates have been oriented to investigate the concepts of degrowth and the related impacts on social capital and well-being. The objective this paper is twofold. On one side, it provides a theoretical analysis in an attempt of explaining the concept of degrowth, that of reciprocity work and the implications for the social capital formation. On the other side, it reviews the main studies that investigate the social capital generation in a context of degrowth.

A decomposition analysis of energy related CO2 emissions is carried out for 33 world countries. The data pertain to the period 1995–2007. The methodology used is the Index Decomposition Analysis that allows to investigate the contribution of the following factors: (i) changes in abatement technologies, fuel quality and fuel switching; (ii) changes in the structure and efficiency of the energy system; (iii) relative ranking of a country in terms of the total GDP (Gross Domestic Product) generation and (iv) changes of the country specific total economic activity. The WIOD (World Input Output Database) has been used together with Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data on GDP. Results show that economic growth has been the main driving factor of energy related CO2 emissions increase. However, in fast developing countries like India and China, an important contribution has also been the increasing role that these economies are playing in the global economic panorama. Improvements on energy efficiency have been the main element contributing to reduce the overall CO2 emission increase in all the countries considered in this study.

Since the economy is embedded on environment, and since the environment is an important factor of economic growth, the problem of pollutions and resources exhaustion is receiving increasing attention of economists. The question at stake is whether economic growth can be compatible with environmental quality. Testing the possibility of a sustainable economic growth, for an EU27 case study, this paper brings analytical value to this discussion. Considering a double function of natural capital, that is a provider of materials and an absorber of emissions, this paper relates air pollutant emissions and material input data to GDP in order to test the de-pollution and the dematerialization hypothesis. Based on technological progress and income elasticity of environmental quality demand, they depict a positive correlation between income growth and environmental quality. In order to test these hypotheses a quadratic and a cubic version of the Environmental Kuznets curve, that is the theoretical bases for de-pollution and de-materialization hypothesis, have been performed. The EU27 data about pollutant emissions, material consumption and GDP has been provided by EUROSTAT. Results show that, for EU27, economic growth increased the carbon dioxide emissions and the domestic material consumption.

A decomposition analysis is used to investigate the main factors influencing the CO2 emissions of European transport activities for the period 2001–2008. The decomposition method developed by Sun [1] has been used to investigate the carbon dioxide emissions intensity, the energy intensity, the structural changes and the economy activity growth effects for the water and the aviation transport sectors. The analysis is based on Eurostat data and results are presented for 14 Member States, Norway and EU27. Results indicate that economic growth has been the main factor behind the carbon dioxide emissions increase in EU27 both for water and aviation transport activities.

Decomposition analysis is used to assess the progress in decoupling Italian economic growth from CO2 emissions. Using the method developed by Sun JW. Accounting for energy use in China, 1980–94. Energy 1998;23:835-49, the main factors that influence the changes in energy-related CO2 emissions are analysed. The study refers to the period 1998–2006, split into two time intervals (1998–2002 and 2002–2006) and considers four explanatory factors: CO2 intensity, energy intensity, structural changes and economic activity. The importance of sectoral dimension is taken into account by dividing the Italian economy into five main sectors: the agricultural; the industrial; the electricity and heat production, water and gas; the transport and the services sectors. An industrial sub-sector decomposition analysis is also performed by considering six industrial branches. It is found that, during the period considered, the Italian economy did not perform absolute decoupling in terms of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and that economic growth and energy intensity are the largest contributors to CO2 emissions increase.

The increasing dimension of socio-environmental problems make sustainability a macroeconomic issue and new methodological instruments are needed. In this paper, Material Flows Accounting is presented as a new statistical approach for an evaluation of macroeconomic sustainability. Based on the pre-analytic vision that economies are an open system embedded in the environment, it provides an overview in tonnes of annual material inputs and outputs of an economy. It quantifies the physical dimension of societies and analyses the “size” of the human economy in the geo-biosphere. As it provides information about efficiency and material requirements, it is a very important method for analysing whether a nation is moving towards sustainability or away from it. Used in many official statistics, it will become one of the most powerful tools in describing sustainability at the macroeconomic level. In this paper, after the presentation of the Material Flows Accounting approach, an Italian case study is considered.

Complex systems often involve a huge number of variables whose interdependence must be taken into account. This makes the adoption of an integrated approach essential for the proper management of a wide range of aspects related to human life, from social matters to the environment. In particular, this paper takes into consideration three different experiences in which the use of an integrated approach represented the most effective response for managing the evolving realities we took into consideration. We focused on the issue of land management, with particular attention to the problem of monoculture in Brazil. Then we analyzed the attempted cooperation between the States of the Aral Sea area for efficient water management of the basin and, finally, we dealt with the matter of energy efficiency and how the production of home integrated systems could lead to a better rationalization of energy consumption in the near future.

This paper quantifies the main impacts that the adoption of the best recycling practices together with a reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the adoption of a kerbside collection system could have on the 27 Member States of the EU. The main consequences in terms of employment, waste management costs, emissions and energy use have been quantified for two scenarios of polyethylene (PE) waste production and recycling. That is to say, a "business as usual scenario", where the 2012 performances of PE waste production and recycling are extrapolated to 2020, is compared to a "best practice scenario", where the best available recycling practices are modelled together with the possible adoption of the amended Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive related to the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the implementation of a kerbside collection system. The main results show that socio-economic and environmental benefits can be generated across the EU by the implementation of the best practice scenario. In particular, estimations show a possible reduction of 4.4 million tonnes of non-recycled PE waste, together with a reduction of around €90 million in waste management costs in 2020 for the best practice scenario versus the business as usual scenario. An additional 35,622 jobs are also expected to be created. In environmental terms, the quantity of CO2 equivalent emissions could be reduced by around 1.46 million tonnes and the net energy requirements are expected to increase by 16.5 million GJ as a consequence of the reduction in the energy produced from waste. The main analysis provided in this paper, together with the data and the model presented, can be useful to identify the possible costs and benefits that the implementation of PE waste policies and Directives could generate for the EU.

This paper provides an input–output method to estimate worldwide economic impacts generated by supply chain disruptions. The method is used to analyse global economic effects due to the disruptions in the automotive industry that followed the Japanese earthquake and the consequent tsunami and nuclear crisis of March 2011. By combining a mixed multi-regional input–output model, the World Input–Output Database and data at the factory level, the study quantifies the economic impacts of the disruptions broken down by country and industry. The results show that the global economic effect (in terms of value added) of this disruption amounted to US$139 billion. The most affected (groups of) countries were Japan (39%), the USA (25%), China (8%) and the European Union (7%). The most strongly affected industries were transport equipment (37%), other business activities (10%), basic and fabricated metals (8%), wholesale trade (7%) and financial intermediation (4%).

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to intend as a contribution to the performance evaluation of Third Sector organisations (TSOs). The Italian experience on the development and adoption of harmonised indicators is considered here as an example of problems and possible solutions. Design/methodology/approach – Preliminary analysis shows that, in the Italian situation, two main gaps exist. The first one relates to the incomplete statistical information on the magnitude and performance of TSOs; the second is related to the lack of a set of harmonised indicators. To address these problems, two initiatives have been recently set up in Italy. On the one hand, the newly presented “National Strategy on Social Corporate Responsibility – 2012-2014” has been oriented to fill the statistical gap, by extending the compilation of socio-economic and environmental accounts to TSOs; on the other hand, a joint initiative of the Italian Statistical Institute and the CSR Manager Network Italia towards the harmonisation of the “Global Reporting Initiatives-quantitative performance indicators” and the standards of the Italian statistical system. Within the second initiative, a specific sub-set of performance indicators for TSOs is proposed and presented in this paper. Findings – The Italian experiences reported here, together with the set of proposed indicators, can be used to improve data collection and to move towards a common framework for performance evaluation in the TSOs. Originality/value – The main contribution of the proposed set of indicators is to: first, provide standard definitions and clear calculation methods; second, define quantitative measurements allowing for aggregation; and third, promote data collection and performance evaluation in a context, as the Italian one, where statistical information for TSOs is largely incomplete.

Following the debate on the implications of international trade for global climate policy, this paper introduces the topic of the economic benefits from trade obtained by exporting countries in relation to the emissions generated in the production of exports. In 2008, 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 20% of the employment around the world were linked to international trade. China “exported” 30% of emissions and hosted 37.5% of the jobs generated by trade worldwide. The European Union and the United States of America were the destination of 25% and 18.4% of the GHG emissions embodied in trade. The imports of these two regions contributed to the creation of 45% of the employment generated by international trade. This paper proposes the idea of including trade issues in international climate negotiations, taking into account not only the environmental burden generated by developed countries when displacing emissions to developing countries through their imports, but also the economic benefits of developing countries producing the goods exported to developed countries.

In the recent decades, the increase in the world population, the economic expansion and the globalization of the economy have led to a dramatic growth in the use of some natural resources and in the levels of pollution. These trends have coincided with a growing concern about some critical questions for the future of humankind such as resource scarcity and depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, the limits of growth or the inequalities in the access to natural resources across countries. In this context arises the need to develop a comprehensive dataset of reliable and comparable economic and environmental information that contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of these issues, and supporting evidence-based policy-making. In order to comply with this need, this Pocketbook presents a series of indicators describing the evolution of the use of natural resources and the emission of air pollutants around the world, in relation to production, consumption and trade activities. Based on different analysis derived from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD), this publication includes information on 6 environmental dimensions: land use, material extraction, water use, and emission of acid substances, greenhouse gases and ozone precursors. The time frame covered is the period between 1995 and 2008, and the geographical scope includes the EU-27 Member States, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, the United States of America and the Rest of the World. The information presented in this publication can be classified into 3 different groups of indicators: 1. The "Production" or "Domestic" side indicators report for each country the use of resources as primary inputs (i.e. domestic extraction of materials or land cultivated) and the emissions directly generated by national economic activities. 2. The "Consumption" or "Footprint" indicators show the resources or pollution embodied in the domestic final demand of one country, regardless of where these resources/emissions were used/emitted. 3. The "Trade" indicators account for the resources/pollution embodied international trade. This article quantifies for the first time not only the domestic employment effects of foreign EU exports but also the correct number of jobs generated through intra-European trade (Single Market) in the production of such exported commodities. The literature has neglected very often the latter effects mainly due to the lack of an appropriate methodology and database. The empirical evidence shows that the EU has really progressed during the period 2000-2007 towards a more vertically integrated economy, reducing the labour intensity of the goods and services exported outside the EU, trading most prominently within the EU Single Market and subsequently, generating an increasing number of jobs. Despite the reduction in the labour intensity of the European exports, the associated employment grew from 22 to 25 million jobs, out of which 9 million jobs were created due to spillover and feedback effects associated to the Single Market

In the recent decades, the increase in the world population, the economic expansion and the globalization of the economy have led to a dramatic growth in the use of some natural resources and in the levels of pollution. These trends have coincided with a growing concern about some critical questions for the future of humankind such as resource scarcity and depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, the limits of growth or the inequalities in the access to natural resources across countries. In this context arises the need to develop a comprehensive dataset of reliable and comparable economic and environmental information that contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of these issues, and supporting evidence-based policy-making. In order to comply with this need, this Pocketbook presents a series of indicators describing the evolution of the use of natural resources and the emission of air pollutants around the world, in relation to production, consumption and trade activities. Based on different analysis derived from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD), this publication includes information on 6 environmental dimensions: land use, material extraction, water use, and emission of acid substances, greenhouse gases and ozone precursors. The time frame covered is the period between 1995 and 2008, and the geographical scope includes the EU-27 Member States, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, the United States of America and the Rest of the World. The information presented in this publication can be classified into 3 different groups of indicators: 1. The "Production" or "Domestic" side indicators report for each country the use of resources as primary inputs (i.e. domestic extraction of materials or land cultivated) and the emissions directly generated by national economic activities. 2. The "Consumption" or "Footprint" indicators show the resources or pollution embodied in the domestic final demand of one country, regardless of where these resources/emissions were used/emitted. 3. The "Trade" indicators account for the resources/pollution embodied international trade. This article quantifies for the first time not only the domestic employment effects of foreign EU exports but also the correct number of jobs generated through intra-European trade (Single Market) in the production of such exported commodities. The literature has neglected very often the latter effects mainly due to the lack of an appropriate methodology and database. The empirical evidence shows that the EU has really progressed during the period 2000-2007 towards a more vertically integrated economy, reducing the labour intensity of the goods and services exported outside the EU, trading most prominently within the EU Single Market and subsequently, generating an increasing number of jobs. Despite the reduction in the labour intensity of the European exports, the associated employment grew from 22 to 25 million jobs, out of which 9 million jobs were created due to spillover and feedback effects associated to the Single Market

This note provides an overview of the employment impact of exporting activity in the EU. We find that the exports of goods and services to the rest of the world supported around 25 million jobs in Europe in 2007 (an increase of 3 million since 2000). Two main additional insights stand out from this analysis: the importance of the complementary relation between the Single Market and external trade for job creation in Europe, and the “servicification” of the employment supported by exports.

This paper presents the X-farm model, a dynamic farm simulation model created to manage sustainable farming systems and to improve the planning capability of farms. X-farm considers an “agro-energy farm” where energy self-sufficiency results from the production, transformation and use of biomass obtained from the farm crops. The X-farm model is formed by different modules, integrated to describe the components of the agro-energy farm and grouped into management, production, soil and accountability (in terms of energy, environment and economy) sections. The main farm productions are the field crop yields. The model simulates a farm in which cereal and forage yield, oil seeds, milk and meat can be sold or reused. A preliminary calibration of the crop module of X-farm has been performed using experimental data from Sorghum bicolor L. (Moench) trials. X-farm has been implemented and calibrated using the SEMoLa language and simulation framework. Simulations of different cropping scenarios have been performed to test the X-farm capabilities to simulate complex farming systems, in order to be used as a decision-support tool.

This paper presents a theoretical model to allocate emission responsibility between producers or consumers and estimates: (1) the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions embodied in the bi-lateral trade of manufactured products between Italy and China from 1997 to 2003 and (2) the CO2 emissions avoided in Italy and China by importing products of bi-lateral trade. Adopting a consumption-based approach and applying the accounting method proposed by Shui and Harriss (2006), this paper reveals that Italy is responsible for 54 MMT of CO2 emitted in China and highlights that international trade contributes both to the increased CO2 emissions and to the displacement of CO2 production in developing countries. Since in the context of globalisation the commodities are not necessarily produced and consumed by the country itself, the CO2 emissions embodied in trade have to be considered so as to improve the carbon accounting methods as for the Kyoto Protocol.