Tracking resource use relative to planetary boundaries in a steady-state framework: A case study of Canada and Spain

Fanning, Andrew L.; O’Neill, Daniel W.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.04.034

Cited by 51 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We added references we are aware of, that cite the concept and/or are themselves cited in this context-but that do not appear in Web of Science (e.g. Raworth 2012, Crépin and Folke 2014, Fanning and O'Neill 2016. We obtained a total of 224 references (figure 1-note that 2 response articles are excluded from the count).…”

Section: Methodology-literature Search and Categorisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matching scope, purpose and uses of planetary boundaries science

Downing

Bhowmik

Collste

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Background: The Planetary Boundaries concept (PBc) has emerged as a key global sustainability concept in international sustainable development arenas. Initially presented as an agenda for global sustainability research, it now shows potential for sustainability governance. We use the fact that it is widely cited in scientific literature (>3500 citations) and an extensively studied concept to analyse how it has been used and developed since its first publication. Design: From the literature that cites the PBc, we select those articles that have the terms 'planetary boundaries' or 'safe operating space' in either title, abstract or keywords. We assume that this literature substantively engages with and develops the PBc. Results: We find that 6% of the citing literature engages with the concept. Within this fraction of the literature we distinguish commentaries-that discuss the context and challenges to implementing the PBc, articles that develop the core biogeophysical concept and articles that apply the concept by translating to sub-global scales and by adding a human component to it. Applied literature adds to the concept by explicitly including society through perspectives of impacts, needs, aspirations and behaviours. Discussion: Literature applying the concept does not yet include the more complex, diverse, cultural and behavioural facet of humanity that is implied in commentary literature. We suggest there is need for a positive framing of sustainability goals-as a Safe Operating Space rather than boundaries. Key scientific challenges include distinguishing generalised from context-specific knowledge, clarifying which processes are generalizable and which are scalable, and explicitly applying complex systems' knowledge in the application and development of the PBc. We envisage that opportunities to address these challenges will arise when more human social dimensions are integrated, as we learn to feed the global sustainability vision with a plurality of bottom-up realisations of sustainability.

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Section: Methodology-literature Search and Categorisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matching scope, purpose and uses of planetary boundaries science

Downing

Bhowmik

Collste

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Benchmarking the climate impacts of any economic system requires the definition of a share of the carbon budget associated with a global climate boundary (Fanning and O'Neill ; Hoff et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absolute Sustainability‐Based Life Cycle Assessment (ASLCA): A Benchmarking Approach to Operate Agri‐food Systems within the 2°C Global Carbon Budget

Chandrakumar

McLaren

Jayamaha

et al. 2018

J of Industrial Ecology

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Given the increasing environmental impacts associated with global agri-food systems, operating and developing these systems within the so-called absolute environmental boundaries has become crucial, and hence the absolute environmental sustainability concept is particularly relevant. This study introduces an approach called absolute sustainability-based life cycle assessment (ASLCA) that informs the climate impacts of an agri-food system (on any economic level) in absolute terms. First, a global carbon budget was calculated that is sufficient to limit global warming to below 2°C. Next, a share of the carbon budget available to the global agri-food sector was estimated, and then it was shared between agri-food systems on multiple economic levels using four alternative methods. Third, the climate impacts of those systems were calculated using life cycle assessment methodology and were benchmarked against those carbon budget shares. This approach was used to assess a number of New Zealand agri-food systems (agri-food sector, horticulture industries and products) to investigate how these systems operated relative to their carbon budget shares. The results showed that, in 2013, the New Zealand agri-food systems were within their carbon budget shares for one of the four methods, and illustrated the scale of change required for agri-food systems to perform within their carbon budget shares. This method can potentially be extended to consider other environmental impacts with global boundaries; however, further development of the ASLCA is necessary to account for other environmental impacts whose boundaries are only meaningful when defined at a regional or local level. Keywords:absolute environmental sustainability agri-food carbon budget climate change industrial ecology life cycle assessment Supporting information is linked to this article on the JIE website

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“…Even though it can be argued that lower environmental impacts are better for the affected ecosystems, it is not possible to determine how much and even if a certain impact actually leads to restriction in availability. Determining a target value with regard to the amount of impacts which can be seen as 'not critical' is challenging as presented in recent publications related to planetary boundaries [143][144][145]. Furthermore, as shown by Milà i Canals et al (2011) [146] as well as within the ongoing PEF Pilot phase [147,148], challenges with regard to data availability and quality exist for bio-based products and thus for biotic materials.…”

Section: Environmental Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Availability of Terrestrial Biotic Materials in Product Systems (BIRD)

et al. 2017

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Availability of abiotic resources has been a topic of concern in recent years, resulting in several approaches being published to determine their availability on country and product level. However, the availability of biotic materials has not been analyzed to this extent yet. Therefore, an approach to determine possible limitations to availability of terrestrial biotic materials over the entire supply chain is introduced. The approach considers 24 categories overall as well as associated category indicators for the five dimensions: physical, socio-economic, abiotic, social and environmental constraints. This ensures a comprehensive availability assessment of bio-based product systems. The approach is applied to a case study comparing biodiesel produced from rapeseed and soy beans. The study shows that the determination of indicator values is feasible for most categories and their interpretation leads to meaningful conclusions. Thus, the approach leads to a more comprehensive assessment of availability aspects and supports better informed decision making in industry and policy.

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Tracking resource use relative to planetary boundaries in a steady-state framework: A case study of Canada and Spain

Cited by 51 publications

References 38 publications

Matching scope, purpose and uses of planetary boundaries science

Matching scope, purpose and uses of planetary boundaries science

Absolute Sustainability‐Based Life Cycle Assessment (ASLCA): A Benchmarking Approach to Operate Agri‐food Systems within the 2°C Global Carbon Budget

Assessing the Availability of Terrestrial Biotic Materials in Product Systems (BIRD)

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