Environmental footprint family to address local to planetary sustainability and deliver on the SDGs

Does expanding wild venison consumption substitute livestock meat consumption? Evidence from the demand systems analysis of meat products in Hokkaido, Japan

In many countries, growing deer populations cause environmental, economic, and traffic safety problems. This study sheds light on the potential implications of expanding the consumption of venison from hunted wild deer through deer population management efforts. It focuses on changes in environmental impacts resulting from changes in the demand for livestock meat due to increased consumption of wild venison. We analyzed the demand system between them using the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model and scanner data from a grocery store chain in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. The results show that wild venison is a substitute good for pork and lamb. By contrast, wild venison is a complementary good for imported and domestic beef. Based on the estimated demand system model, we conducted an environmental footprint analysis to estimate the changes in environmental impacts when venison consumption increased. This shows that the greenhouse gas, water, and land footprints would increase, indicating greater environmental impacts, under a scenario of expanded venison consumption. The results demonstrate that increased venison consumption does not necessarily reduce the net environmental impacts of meat consumption, which depends on the demand system for meat products and the environmental footprint intensities of the respective products.

Mapping quantity, composition, and embedded environmental impacts of post-consumer waste in the food service industry in China

Understanding the current state of food waste is the basis for effective interventions. Based on field research conducted for 133 days, from March to August 2022, and for 25 days in November 2022, totaling 158 days, this study obtained first-hand data on the waste and consumption of 103 food items in ten categories at sample restaurants in different regions and city levels, and of different operation sizes in China. A total of 7759 consumers were part of this study, of whom 10 % them were children. The food delivered to a total of 2538 tables was counted as part of this study, and the average number of people per table in this study was three. The research objective was to measure the quantity, composition, and environmental impacts of post-consumer waste in the food service industry at the national level. It was discovered that: (1) Food waste generated by post-consumers in China totaled 7.57 Mt, or 43.98 g per capita per meal in 2022. (2) Fruit was the most important type of waste at 1.51 Mt. (3) Roots and tubers had the highest food waste rate (53 %). (4) The annual food waste resulted in a carbon footprint of 30.67 Mt CO2-eq, a nitrogen footprint of 393.94 million kilograms (Mkg N), a phosphorus footprint of 53.87 Mkg P, a water footprint of 17.09 million litres, and a land footprint of 4.36 million hectares (Mha).

Applying a climate-biodiversity-health framework to support integrated food systems planning and policy

Food systems impact different aspects of sustainability and human life, such as pollution, health, climate change, biodiversity loss, water shortage, and soil infertility. However, in many places, food systems are neither resilient nor sustainable. Integrated planning approaches can help to overcome fragmented strategies and policies in ways that improve the sustainability and resilience of food systems. This study explores such an approach by applying a climate-biodiversity-health (CBH) nexus to local and regional food systems in the Comox Valley region, British Columbia, Canada. The CBH nexus is used as an analytical lens to identify systems relationships among food systems, climate change, biodiversity and health issues and strategies in the region. The employs a place-based approach entailing semi-structured interviews with provincial, regional, and local stakeholders in order to develop a holistic understanding of planning challenges, strategies and their outcomes through the CBH lens. Outcomes of this work include a system map that can be used as a framework for elucidating how various strategies align or conflict with different CBH imperatives and can be used to support integrated community sustainability planning and policy-making efforts. The framework is developed within the Comox Valley context, but it can be adapted to other communities. This paper details the development of this framework, the interconnections between different components, and how this framework can be adopted in other communities.

Multi-objective ecological restoration priority in China: Cost-benefit optimization in different ecological performance regimes based on planetary boundaries

In the context of the "United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration", optimizing spatiotemporal arrangements for ecological restoration is an important approach to enhancing overall socioecological benefits for sustainable development. However, against the background of ecological degradation caused by the human use of most natural resources at levels that have approached or exceeded the safe and sustainable boundaries of ecosystems, it is key to explain how to optimize ecological restoration by classified management and optimal total benefits. In response to these issues, we combined spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics at the national scale in China to construct five ecological performance regimes defined by indicators that use planetary boundaries and ecological pressures which served as the basis for prioritizing ecological restoration areas and implementing zoning control. By integrating habitat conservation, biodiversity, water supply, and restoration cost constraints, seven ecological restoration scenarios were simulated to optimize the spatial layout of ecological restoration projects (ERPs). The results indicated that the provinces with unsustainable freshwater use, climate change, and land use accounted for more than 25%, 66.7%, and 25%, respectively, of the total area. Only 30% of the provinces experienced a decrease in environmental pressure. Based on the ecological performance regimes, ERP sites spanning the past 20 years were identified, and more than 50% of the priority areas were clustered in regime areas with increased ecological stress. As the restoration area targets doubled (40%) from the baseline (20%), a multi-objective scenario presents a trade-off between expanded ERPs in areas with highly beneficial effects and minimal restoration costs. In conclusion, a reasonable classification and management regime is the basis for targeted restoration. Coordinating multiple objectives and costs in ecological restoration is the key to maximizing socio-ecological benefits. Our study offered new perspectives on systematic and sustainable planning for ecological restoration.

Downscaling of environmental indicators: A review

Environmental indicators at different scales are important for environmental management, daily life, and scientific research. Because of the lack of statistics below a national scale for many environmental indicators, scholars have developed various downscaling methods to obtain finer-scale and diverse forms of data for different environmental indicators. However, the existing downscaling methods for environmental indicators are diverse and fragmented. Here, we reviewed the downscaling methods by reclassifying the environmental indicators from a life cycle perspective into five categories: natural resources use and related attributes; material and energy consumption; environmental discharge; climate change; and environmental footprints. We first provide a general introduction to downscaling theory in the environmental field, including definitions, techniques, and evolution. We then elaborate on downscaling methods and make an inventory of the five categories of environmental indicators. We summarize the downscaling methods commonly applied to specific indicators, scale transformation, the strengths and limitations of corresponding methods, and provide specific examples. Next, we discuss ways to select or construct downscaling methods based on four principles: objective orientation, data accessibility, model feasibility, and model adjustment. Finally, we explore the future direction of downscaling and provide insights for improving downscaling for environmental indicators. In this review, we generalize and clarify the downscaling techniques for environmental indicators, which will help facilitate the appropriate selection of downscaling methods by researchers.

Environmental assessment of diets: overview and guidance on indicator choice

Comprehensive but interpretable assessment of the environmental performance of diets involves choosing a set of appropriate indicators. Current knowledge and data gaps on the origin of dietary foodstuffs restrict use of indicators relying on site-specific information. This Personal View summarises commonly used indicators for assessing the environmental performance of diets, briefly outlines their benefits and drawbacks, and provides recommendations on indicator choices for actors across multiple fields involved in activities that include the environmental assessment of diets. We then provide recommendations on indicator choices for actors across multiple fields involved in activities that use environmental assessments, such as health and nutrition experts, policy makers, decision makers, and private-sector and public-sector sustainability officers. We recommend that environmental assessment of diets should include indicators for at least the five following areas: climate change, biosphere integrity, blue water consumption, novel entities, and impacts on natural resources (especially wild fish stocks), to capture important environmental trade-offs. If more indicators can be handled in the assessment, indicators to capture impacts related to land use quantity and quality and green water consumption should be used. For ambitious assessments, indicators related to biogeochemical flows, stratospheric ozone depletion, and energy use can be added.

Water footprints and crop water use of 175 individual crops for 1990-2019 simulated with a global crop model

The water footprint of a crop (WF) is a common metric for assessing agricultural water consumption and productivity. To provide an update and methodological enhancement of existing WF datasets, we apply a global process-based crop model to quantify consumptive WFs of 175 individual crops at a 5 arcminute resolution over the 1990-2019 period. This model simulates the daily crop growth and vertical water balance considering local environmental conditions, crop characteristics, and farm management. We partition WFs into green (water from precipitation) and blue (from irrigation or capillary rise), and differentiate between rainfed and irrigated production systems. The outputs include gridded datasets and national averages for unit water footprints (expressed in m3 t-1 yr-1), water footprints of production (m3 yr-1), and crop water use (mm yr-1). We compare our estimates to other global studies covering different historical periods and methodological approaches. Provided outputs can offer insights into spatial and temporal patterns of agricultural water consumption and serve as inputs for further virtual water trade studies, life cycle and water footprint assessments.

Uncovering the relationship between floating marine litter and human activities in watersheds

Rivers serve as the primary pathway for transporting floating marine litter (FML) from land to sea. However, the complex dynamics of transboundary rivers pose a significant obstacle when examining the impact of watershed-based human activities on FML distribution. This study conducts year-long monthly monitoring of FML using trawl and visual surveys in the coastal water of a peninsula dominated by indigenous rivers in south China. Overall, small pieces debris dominates FML in the nearshore waters of the peninsula, with meso-sized (0.5 cm-2.5 cm) FML accounting for 73.93 % of the total. The density of FML is more profoundly influenced by human activities within watersheds rather than its composition. Moreover, the association between human activity and FML density exhibits greater significant compared to variations based on geography and seasonality. This study provides a scientific basis for coastal protection and contributes for understanding of the mechanisms of marine litter transfer from land to sea.

Synergies and gaps between circularity assessment and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

This article evaluates the synergies between circularity assessment and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by investigating their alignments, misalignments, and challenges in addressing sustainability. The analysis emphasizes the significance of a multi-level approach, positioning these methods at various levels, including philosophy, strategy, assessment, and communication. The findings demonstrate that both LCA and circularity assessment can serve as sustainability assessment methods for circularity strategies, despite existing gaps. However, neither approach can provide a complete picture of a system's environmental performance on its own. Data availability, diverse assumptions, spotlights and shadows (highlighted and neglected elements), multiple life cycles, products, functions, strategies, and as well as temporal aspects are identified as the main challenges in addressing sustainability. This article provides recommendations based on the lessons learned from each approach, suggesting the integration of their strengths and addressing challenges to achieve a comprehensive understanding of environmental sustainability and make informed decisions for a circular and sustainable future. These recommendations include using function-based models and the principles of prospective and dynamic LCAs for the development of future circularity assessments. Additionally, circularity assessment can be used to establish LCA models, aiding in identifying hotspots during the goal and scope definition, and determining allocation and weighting factors in both Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA).

Water resource sustainable use assessment methodology and an impact factor analysis framework for SDG 6-oriented river basins: evidence from the Yellow River basin (Shaanxi section) in China

The rapid growth of developing countries has placed unprecedented pressure on water resources, severely hindering the realization of sustainable development goal 6 (SDG 6) in river basins. In this study, sustainable water resource utilization (SWRU) in the Yellow River basin (Shaanxi section) from 2005 to 2019 is evaluated through an analysis of water resource overload combined with the water footprint (WF) and the water planetary boundary (WPB) and an analysis of water resource utilization quality combined with the WF and city development index (CDI) based on the coupled coordination model. Then, the results are incorporated into the drive-pressure-state-impact-response framework to analyze the impacts of the socioeconomic system on SWRU and the feedback effect of related policies. The results show that there were obvious differences in the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the WF in different geographical units. The WF of Guanzhong first increased and then decreased, and the WF of Northern Shaanxi grew continuously. The water deficit state is increasing. Although the coordination level between the WF and CDI in the basin increased by 500.31%, it was characterized by nonequilibrium and volatility. Compared to water resource endowment, socioeconomic development and government policies have greater impacts on SWRU; furthermore, the influencing factors demonstrate spatial variability, revealing the complexity of achieving SDG 6 in the basin. As policy implications, adaptive water resource policies should be formulated on the basis of strengthening the overall basin management. This study provides a scientific basis for promoting the realization of SDG 6 through watershed water management.

Global food trade alleviates transgressions of planetary boundaries at the national scale

Food systems are among the leading causes for transgression of planetary boundaries globally, which define the safe operating space for humanity. We quantify unsustainable environmental impacts of food systems, indicated by the transgression of national-scale planetary boundaries (i.e., the safe operating space for food production in each country), from both production and consumption perspectives of 189 countries/regions around the world. A multi-regional input-output model is used to map the global transfers of the national-scale transgression of planetary boundaries, including freshwater use, land change, and biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus). Our results show that China is a major global unsustainable water and nitrogen exporter and an unstable land and phosphorus importer. This means that water and nitrogen uses in China are used to support food demands in other countries, and food consumption in China requires unsustainable land and phosphorus uses elsewhere. In contrast, the US is a major exporter of unsustainable water, land, and nitrogen uses but only an importer of unsustainable phosphorus for food consumption. Globally, compared to a counterfactual scenario where there is no food trade among any countries, food trade saves massive transgressions of planetary boundaries (270 km3 of water, 18 million tons of nitrogen, 7 million tons of phosphorus, and 5,431 million km2 of land). Alleviation of national-scale planetary boundary transgression has been achieved primarily in the US, China, Saudi Arabia, etc., while aggravation was incurred in Pakistan, Australia, Argentina, and so forth.

Multi-model assessment identifies livestock grazing as a major contributor to variation in European Union land and water footprints

Food systems are the largest users of land and water resources worldwide. Using a multi-model approach to track food through the global trade network, we calculated the land footprint (LF) and water footprint (WF) of food consumption in the European Union (EU). We estimated the EU LF as 140-222 Mha yr^-1 and WF as 569-918 km³ yr^-1. These amounts are 5-7% of the global LF and 6-10% of the global WF of agriculture, with the EU representing 6% of the global population. We also calculated the global LF of livestock grazing, accounting only for grass eaten, to be 1,411-1,657 Mha yr^-1, and the global LF of agriculture to be 2,809-3,014 Mha yr^-1, which is about two-thirds of what the Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics (FAOSTAT) database reports. We discuss here the different methods for calculating the LF for livestock grazing, underscoring the need for a consistent methodology when monitoring the food LF and WF reduction goals set by the EU's Farm To Fork Strategy.

The water-energy-food nexus in biodiversity conservation: A systematic review around sustainability transitions of agricultural systems

The Water Energy Food nexus is a powerful topic in agricultural systems to elucidate threats to biodiversity conservation and culture. This paper aimed to recapitulate nexus thinking research, focusing on social-ecological transitions of agriculture systems and biodiversity management within the Water-Energy-Food nexus. We developed a systematic review and a bibliometric analysis derived from 529 documents in the Scopus database. The ToS method identified a total of 81 relevant information in the sample of documents (529) categorised into roots (10), trunks (9) and leaves (62). This review paper situates types, focus, and highlights regarding biodiversity and prevalent thematic research areas such as "Food Nexus", "Environmental Flows", "Sustainability", "Transitions", and "Governance". Our results suggest that future research should focus on the nexus of "Water-Energy-Food-Biodiversity" and propose a transdisciplinary approach to elucidate the state of sustainability transitions in the agricultural systems at the landscape level. It could increase stakeholder interest in conservation, and sustainability management, to reverse biodiversity losses in ecosystems.

Food demand displaced by global refugee migration influences water use in already water stressed countries

Millions of people displaced by conflicts have found refuge in water-scarce countries, where their perceived effect on water availability has shaped local water security discourses. Using an annual global data set, we explain the effects of refugee migrations on the host countries' water stress through the food demand displaced by refugees and the water necessary to produce that food. The water footprint of refugee displacement increased by nearly 75% globally between 2005 and 2016. Although minimal in most countries, implications can be severe in countries already facing severe water stress. For example, refugees may have contributed up to 75 percentage points to water stress in Jordan. While water considerations should not, alone, determine trade and migration policy, we find that small changes to current international food supply flows and refugee resettlement procedures can potentially ease the effect of refugee displacement on water stress in water-vulnerable countries.

Performance analyses of effective rainfall estimation methods for accurate quantification of agricultural water footprint

Water footprint (WF) assessments have become a significant tool for the sustainable management in recent years. Effective rainfall (P_eff) is a critical indicator for characterizing soil moisture (green water, WF_green) and calculating irrigation requirements (blue water, WF_blue). However, majority of the water footprint analyses employ empirical or numerical models to predict P_eff, and the number of studies for experimental validation of these models are quite insufficient. The main scope of this study is to test the performance of commonly used P_eff estimation models in relation to the soil water balance (SWB) of an experimental site. Accordingly, the daily and monthly soil water budget is estimated from a maize field which is characterized as semi-arid land with continental climate (Ankara, Turkey), equipped with moisture sensors. Then, P_eff, WF_green, and WF_blue parameters are calculated using FP, US-BR, USDA-SCS, FAO/AGLW, CROPWAT, and SuET methods and compared with SWB method. Employed models were highly variable. CROPWAT and US-BR predictions were the most accurate. In majority of months, the CROPWAT method estimated the P_eff with a maximum deviation of 5% from the SWB method. In addition, the CROPWAT method predicted blue WF with an error less than 1%. The widely utilized USDA-SCS approach did not produce expected results. The FAO-AGLW method provided the lowest performance for each parameter. We also find that the errors in estimating P_eff in semi-arid conditions cause green and blue WF outputs to be quite less accurate than the dry and humid cases. This study provides one of the most detailed assessments about the impact of effective rainfall on the blue and green WF results with high temporal resolution. The findings of this study are important for the accuracy and performance of the formulae used in P_eff estimations and to develop more precise blue and green WF analyses in the future.

Recent advance in biomass membranes: Fabrication, functional regulation, and antimicrobial applications

Both inorganic and polymeric membranes have been widely applied for antimicrobial applications. However, these membranes exhibit low biocompatibility, weak biodegradability, and potential toxicity to human being and environment. Biomass materials serve as excellent candidates for fabricating functional membranes to address these problems due to their unique physical, chemical, and biological properties. Here we present recent progress in the fabrication, functional regulation, and antimicrobial applications of various biomass-based membranes. We first introduce the types of biomass membranes and their fabrication methods, including the phase inversion, vacuum filtration, electrospinning, layer-by-layer self-assembly, and coating. Then, the strategies on functional regulation of biomass membranes by adding 0D, 1D, and 2D nanomaterials are presented and analyzed. In addition, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral applications of biomass-based functional membranes are summarized. Finally, potential development aspects of biomass membranes are discussed and prospected. This comprehensive review is valuable for guiding the design, synthesis, structural/functional tailoring, and sustainable utilization of biomass membranes.

Assessing coupling interactions in a safe and just operating space for regional sustainability

Human activities affect the Earth System with an unprecedented magnitude, causing undesirable irreversible degradation. The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an integrated global action plan for sustainable development. However, it remains a great challenge to develop actionable strategies to achieve regional sustainability within social-environmental constraints. Here we proposed a framework, integrating safe and just operating space (SJOS) with SDGs, to assess regional sustainability and interactions between environmental performance and human well-being across scales. Despite China has not fully achieved sustainable development from 2000 to 2018, most provinces have shown significant improvements. Our analyses further delineated four development patterns (i.e., coupled and developed, coupled and underdeveloped, uncoupled and underdeveloped, and coupled and underdeveloped), and developed targeted strategies and pathways for each pattern to transition towards sustainability. Our operationalizable framework is broadly applicable to other regions or nations to actualize sustainable development.

Knowledge domain and emerging trends of carbon footprint in the field of climate change and energy use: a bibliometric analysis

Carbon footprint (CF) research has attained tremendous popularity for improving the climate environment purposes. In particular, current energy use has been identified as the main cause of climate change. CF plays an irreplaceable role in managing energy use, reducing gas emissions, and improving climate change. The objective of this study was to review studies that have developed CF and to perform a bibliometric analysis using two key terms: "climate change" and "energy use". From bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace and VOSviewer, it was possible to establish a knowledge map of cooperative network structure and research evolution. We are aiming to reveal the main logical chain of CF research leading to climate change, to make up for the lack of current literature, and provide research inspiration for researchers. The research findings mainly focus on four aspects. First, the relevant research began in 2008 and is in a state of continuous rise. Second, due to the law of research development and the prominence of practical problems, related research has experienced a stage from conceptual methods to specific problems. Third, China and the USA assume an important role in which international cooperation is the overall trend. Fourth, related research can be divided into CF algorithm research, ecological environment management research, and specific cross-industry fields. In addition, possible opportunities for change in related research are explored. It is also suggested that the integration of CF with other footprints, when energy use and environmental change are fully considered, may become an important future research trend by providing a more comprehensive environmental impact.

The global biodiversity footprint of urban consumption: A spatially explicit assessment for the city of Vienna

With ongoing global urbanization processes and consumption patterns increasingly recognized as key determinants of environmental change, a better understanding of the links between urban consumption and biodiversity loss is paramount. Here we quantify the global biodiversity footprint (BDF) of Vienna's (Austria) biomass consumption. We present a state-of-the-art product specific approach to (a) locate the production areas required for Vienna's consumption and map Vienna's BDF by (b) linking them with data taken from a previously published countryside Species-Area-Relationship (cSAR) model with a representation of land-use intensity. We found that food has the largest share in Vienna's BDF (58 %), followed by biomass for material applications (28 %) and bioenergy (13 %). The total BDF occurs predominantly within Austria and in its neighbouring countries, with ~20 % located outside Europe. Although the per capita biomass consumption in Vienna is above the global average, global and Viennese per capita BDFs are roughly equal, indicating that Vienna sources its products from high-yield regions with efficient production systems and comparatively low native species richness. We conclude that, among others, dietary changes offer a key leverage point for reducing the urban BDF, while expanding the use of biomass for material and energy use may increase the BDF and requires appropriate monitoring.

Analyzing the relationship between product waste footprints and environmental damage - A life cycle analysis of 1,400+ products

A major problem for the circular economy is monitoring improvements in environmental sustainability. Measuring how much waste reduction efforts contribute to the decrease of environmental impact is difficult, because knowledge on whether life cycle waste amounts correlate with environmental damage is limited. In this article, product waste footprints are used to explore structural similarities and differences in associations with environmental damage. Using the waste flows linked to the production system of 1487 reference products from the Ecoinvent database, we found significant regression equations with R² of 0.75-0.89 between product waste footprints and potential impact on ecosystem diversity, human health and resource availability using log-transformed variables. For each 1 % increase in solid waste, potential impact on the environment increased by 0.75-0.84 %. This strong association between pre-consumer waste and environmental damage is particularly important for advocating for circular economy efforts at the point of consumption, where life cycle waste is invisible to consumers.

Estimating the impact on water scarcity due to coffee production, trade, and consumption worldwide and a focus on EU

Coffee consumption is concentrated in the "Global North", while production is mainly located in the "Global South". This trade-driven dependency leads to the exploitation of natural resources. As an export-oriented cash crop, such dependency jeopardizes the existence of a fair distribution of the risks and revenues among all the actors taking part in its globalized supply chain. Coffee trees are mainly rain-fed and only partly irrigated. However, the increasing global coffee demand led to higher consumption of freshwater, which can exacerbate the stressed condition of already stressed water basins. This study quantifies the impact of global coffee consumption on water scarcity, considering the larger system made of producer and consumer countries. The global displacement of such impact is driven by consumer preferences. We found that the US, EU and Asian countries' coffee consumption create impact on water scarcity mostly in African and South American countries, which is also representative of the economic disparities existing behind the global trade flows. Climate change will likely affect the varieties currently preferred by global consumers. Therefore, immediate environmental sustainability actions including water resource preservation are necessary to face current and future challenges.

The drivers and impacts of Amazon forest degradation

Approximately 2.5 × 10⁶ square kilometers of the Amazon forest are currently degraded by fire, edge effects, timber extraction, and/or extreme drought, representing 38% of all remaining forests in the region. Carbon emissions from this degradation total up to 0.2 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year^-1), which is equivalent to, if not greater than, the emissions from Amazon deforestation (0.06 to 0.21 Pg C year^-1). Amazon forest degradation can reduce dry-season evapotranspiration by up to 34% and cause as much biodiversity loss as deforestation in human-modified landscapes, generating uneven socioeconomic burdens, mainly to forest dwellers. Projections indicate that degradation will remain a dominant source of carbon emissions independent of deforestation rates. Policies to tackle degradation should be integrated with efforts to curb deforestation and complemented with innovative measures addressing the disturbances that degrade the Amazon forest.

Regionalized chemical footprint method to identify aquatic ecotoxicity hotspots of hard disk drive rare-earth magnets

The chemical footprint (ChF), which combines life cycle assessment (LCA) and quantitative risk assessment principles, shows promise for exploring localized toxicity impacts of manufacturing processes, which is not achievable with LCA alone. An updated ChF method was applied to the global annual production of a hard disk drive (HDD) rare-earth element (REE) magnet assembly, assuming a supply chain in East and Southeast Asia. Existing REE magnet assembly LCA inventories were combined with supplier manufacturing locations to create a cradle-to-gate spatial unit process inventory. Emissions from the electricity grid for each manufacturing site were downscaled to hydrobasins of interest using the Global Power Plant Database. The predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) was chosen as the ecotoxicity pollution boundary to determine the threshold for dilution of each chemical of concern (CoC) and to calculate the ChF. Finally, a high-resolution hydrological database provided volumes of the freshwater river reach draining each hydrobasin and was used to calculate the dilution capacity (DC), that is, the volume required to remain at or below the PNEC for each CoC. The total ChF of annual REE magnet assembly production was 6.91E12 m³ , with hotspots in watersheds in China and Thailand where REEs are processed and steel metalworking takes place. Metals were the primary CoCs, with cadmium and chromium(VI) comprising 77% of total ChF. Dilution factors ranged from 5E-09 to 9E + 03 of the DC of the waterbody, reflecting the spatial variability in both emissions and DC. An advanced ChF method was demonstrated for HDD REE magnets. Scoping is a key step required to reduce model complexity. The use of regionalized fate factors and standardized hydrological data sets improves the comparability of ChFs across hydrobasins. Additional work to combine data sets into readily available tools is needed to increase usability and standardization of the ChF method and promote wider adoption. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:272-283. © 2022 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Animal- and Plant-Based Protein Sources: A Scoping Review of Human Health Outcomes and Environmental Impact

Dietary proteins are indispensable to human nutrition. In addition to their tissue-building function, they affect body composition and regulate various metabolic pathways, as well as satiety and immune system activity. Protein use can be examined from a quantitative or qualitative viewpoint. In this scoping review, we compare animal- and plant-based protein sources in terms of their effects on human health and the environment. We conclude that the consumption of vegetable protein sources is associated with better health outcomes overall (namely, on the cardiovascular system) than animal-based product use. The healthier outcomes of vegetable protein sources dovetail with their lower environmental impact, which must be considered when designing an optimal diet. Indeed, the health of the planet cannot be disjointed from the health of the human being. Future research will clarify the mechanisms of action underlying the health effects of plant-based protein sources when compared with animal sources, fostering better agronomic practices and influencing public health in a direction that will benefit both the planet and its inhabitants.

Tomatoes from the desert: Environmental footprints and sustainability potential in a changing world

Worldwide growing demand for food, alongside limited resources and accelerating environmental changes, suggests that future global food security may rely at least partially on unconventional land and production systems, such as built infrastructure located in desert areas. This paper analyses the environmental footprints (water, soil, carbon, material, solid waste, and ecological) of a tomato production system in passive greenhouses, a low-tech growing structure with no artificial heating or cooling. We collected data from 10 farms in the hyper-arid region of the Central Arava, Israel. Our analysis covers the four stages of production up to the overseas export destination and investigates the system's direct and indirect biophysical interactions. The average footprint of a ton of tomatoes is 1,040 kg/t (Material footprint), 94 m3/t (Water footprint), 72 m2/t (Land footprint), 952 kgCO2eq/t (Carbon footprint), 442 kg/t solid waste (SWF) and 243 gha/t (Ecological footprint). Our results indicate that the environmental hotspots can be attributed to universal factors–water production, fossil energy, fertilizers, structures, and road transport, alongside case-specific elements–soil, evaporation, location and the human-factor. Some differences were found when examining the full range of footprints within farms. No correlation was found between the farm's yields and materials inputs or carbon footprint, pointing to the human factor. We discuss the advantages and limitations of the local production system and proposed some improvement strategies.

Arable land and water footprints for food consumption in China: From the perspective of urban and rural dietary change

Since the adoption of the open-door policy, the Chinese dietary pattern has changed greatly. Based on the dietary changes, this study analyzed the arable land and water footprints (WFs) for the food consumption of urban and rural residents in China. The results showed that the arable land demand and WFs for meat, vegetable oil, soybeans and liquor exceeded those for other foods, and the per capita arable land and WFs for food consumption of urban residents were higher than those of rural residents. The total arable land and WFs for the food consumption of residents increased by 16.9 million ha (from 91.1 to 108 million ha) and 214.5 billion m³ (from 457.9 to 672.4 billion m³), respectively, from 1983 to 2017. Specifically, the total arable land and WFs for the food consumption of urban residents increased by 45.9 million hm² (from 22.6 to 68.5 million hm²) and 318.3 billion m³ (from 113.2 to 431.5 billion m³), respectively. Additionally, those of rural residents decreased by 29.7 million hm² (from 69.2 to 39.5 million hm²) and 103.9 billion m³ (344.8 to 240.9 billion m³), respectively, mainly due to the migration of the rural population to cities and the reductions in per capita arable land and WFs due to increased crop yields. The arable land and blue WFs required for food consumption will reach 127.7 million hm² and 221.1 billion m³, respectively, in 2030. However, these values will be reduced by approximately 23% and 20%, respectively, to 98.9 million hm² and 177.8 billion m³ under a balanced dietary pattern. Measures such as improving the investment in agricultural research and development, advocating a balanced diet, and increasing the import of resource-intensive foods could alleviate the pressure on land and water resources.

Human Activity Intensity and Its Spatial-Temporal Evolution in China’s Border Areas

Monitoring human activities in border areas is challenging due to the complex geographical environment and diverse people. China has the longest terrestrial boundary and the highest number of neighboring countries in the world. In this study, a human activity intensity index (HAI) was proposed based on land cover, population density, and satellite-based nighttime light for a long-term macroscopic study. The HAI was calculated at 1 km resolution within the 50 km buffer zone of China’s land boundary on each side in 1992, 2000, 2010, and 2020, respectively. Results show that human activity is low in about 90% of the study area. Overall, the HAI on the Chinese side is higher than that on the neighboring side, and the intensity of land use on the Chinese side has increased significantly from 1992 to 2020. Among China’s neighbors, India has the highest HAI with the fastest growth. With the changes in the HAI between China and its neighboring countries, four regional evolution patterns are found in the study area: Sino-Russian HAI decline; Sino-Kazakhstan HAI unilateral growth; Indian HAI continuous growth; China and Indochina HAI synchronized growth. Hotspot analysis reveals three spatial evolution patterns, which are unilateral expansion, bilateral expansion, and cross-border fusion. Both the “border effect” and “agglomeration effect” exist in border areas. The HAI changes in border areas not only impact the eco-environment but also affect geopolitics and geoeconomics. The HAI can be used as an instrument for decision-making and cooperation between China and neighboring countries in such areas as ecological protection, border security, and border trade.

Dietary Change and Global Sustainable Development Goals

Food production for human consumption is a leading cause of environmental damage in the world and yet over two billion people suffer from malnutrition. Several studies have presented evidence that changes in dietary patterns across the world can lead to win-win outcomes for environmental and social sustainability and can complement ongoing technological and policy efforts to improve the efficiency of agricultural production. However, the existing evidence have been compiled in “silos” by a large range of researchers across several disciplines using different indicators. The aim of this quantitative review is to bring together the existing knowledge on heterogeneity of current dietary patterns across the world and how a transition toward healthy diets in different countries can aid in progress toward multiple global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We first summarize the nutritional quality, economic cost, and environmental footprint of current diets of over 150 countries using multiple indicators. Next, we review which shifts in dietary patterns across different world regions can help toward achievement of SDG2 (Zero hunger), SDG3 (Good health and wellbeing), SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation), SDG13 (Climate action), SDG14 (Life below water), and SDG15 (Life on land). Finally, we briefly discuss how to enable the shift toward sustainable dietary patterns and identify the research and data gaps that need to be filled through future efforts. Our analysis reveals that dietary change is necessary in all countries as each one has unique priorities and action items. For regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, increased intake of nutrient dense foods is needed to address deficiency of essential nutrients like folate, potassium, and vitamin A. For North America and Europe, shifting toward more plant-based diets would be healthier and simultaneously reduce the per capita environmental footprints. The results can be useful for policymakers in designing country-specific strategies for adoption of sustainable dietary behaviors and for food industry to ensure the supply of sustainable food items customized with regions' need.

Environmental Concern, Environmental Knowledge, and Residents’ Water Conservation Behavior: Evidence from China

Water conservation represents a typical green behavior and a sustainable lifestyle. Understanding residents’ water conservation behaviors is a prerequisite for promoting more water savers. Using the snowball sampling technique, this study conducted a survey on a sample of 532 Chinese residents to investigate their water conservation behavior, i.e., reusing water in daily life. This study aims for examining psychological and knowledge factors on residents’ water conservation behavior in China using binary logistic regression. Results show that over half of the respondents (54%) have the habit of reusing water in their daily lives. Residents with stronger environmental concern and higher level of environmental knowledge are more likely to exhibit household water conservation in China. Additionally, environmental knowledge plays a positive moderating role in the relationship between environmental concern and water conservation behavior. Environmental knowledge serves as a catalyzer that facilitates the transformation from residents’ environmental concern into real water conservation behavior. Among the demographic variables, only income exerts significantly negative effect on residents’ water conservation behavior, and other variables (e.g., age and gender) fail to exert any influence on this behavior. This study contributes to the literature on environmental psychology and concludes with implications for water resource management.

Sustainability Analysis of a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant through Emergy Evaluation

Water and wastewater treatment plants are essential for the supply of drinking water for consumption and the treatment of effluents produced by human/industrial activities. However, few studies deal with the investments and sustainability of these services, which consider both the contribution of nature and society. This study uses the emergy approach to evaluate a wastewater treatment plant located in the northeastern part of Romania, in Iași city. An assessment of the environmental costs of natural fluxes required for the treatment processes was performed, considering that the treated effluent is, still, loaded with contaminants that have to be absorbed by the receiving water natural system. The work done by nature to assimilate this load, generally considered free, is esteemed as a further cost in the total emergy budget of the wastewater treatment processes. The sustainability perspective was approached by calculating and analyzing the emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental load rate (ELR), and emergy sustainability development index (ESI). The use of local renewable natural resources in Iași municipal wastewater treatment plants is negligible (1.71% of the total plant emergy budget), as compared to that of the purchased resources (98.29% of the total plant emergy budget) mainly processed with the support of fossil fuels’ generated energy. The unit emegy value was, also, calculated and compared to other studies relevant for wastewater treatment plants. The analysis suggests that the large amount of emergy that wastewater contains is proportional to the number of resources employed for wastewater treatment and the extensive effects on surrounding ecosystems, where wastewater is discharged.

National water shortage for low to high environmental flow protection

Global freshwater biodiversity has been decreasing rapidly, requiring the restoration and maintenance of environmental flows (EFs) in streams and rivers. EFs provide many ecosystem services that benefit humans. Reserving such EFs for aquatic ecosystems, implies less renewable water availability for direct human water use such as agriculture, industry, cities and energy. Here we show that, depending on the level of EF protection, global annual renewable water availability for humans decreases between 41 and 80% compared to when not reserving EFs. With low EF protection, currently 53 countries experience different levels of water shortage, which increases to 101 countries for high EF protection. Countries will carefully have to balance the amount of water allocated to humans and the environment.

Sustainable Diet Optimization Targeting Dietary Water Footprint Reduction—A Country-Specific Study

Food production creates 70% of the total anthropogenic water footprint, and it is the main cause of water pollution. Thus, more sustainable diets could contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. A linear programming-based stepwise optimization was designed to create dietary water footprint-reduced, culturally acceptable, and healthier diets in the case of Hungary based on a representative dietary survey. Optimization resulted in a considerable total dietary water footprint reduction (women: 18%; men: 28%) with a moderate dietary shift (~32%). Milk and dairies (observed: ~31.5%, optimized: ~20.5%) and meats and meat products (observed: ~28.0%, optimized: 28.9%) contributed the most to the dietary water footprint. In the water footprint–healthiness synergy, the vegetables, eggs, poultries, and fermented dairies were the most beneficial, increasing in amount, while fatty dairies, foods high in added sugar, and meat products were the most non-beneficial food sub-groups, decreasing in amount in the optimized diets. The problematic nutrients to fulfill in the optimized diets were energy, dietary fibers, sodium, vitamin D, zinc, vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and potassium at the maximum water footprint reduction. The study provides supporting evidence about the dietary water footprint–healthiness synergy for the further improvement of the national food-based dietary guideline.

Sub-national climate change risk assessment: A case analysis for Tibet and its prefecture-level cities

Avoiding climate change from exceeding its critical threshold is a serious challenge facing humanity at present and in the future. As the mode of global cooperative action is stranded, multi-center and multi-level efforts are needed to deal with global warming in the future. In order to provide information for the formulation of low-carbon development policies, it is essential to assess the maintain or cross of climate change threshold on different scales. In this study, the carbon footprint calculated based on the process coefficient approach is systematically integrated with the climate change indicator of the planetary boundaries framework improved with the goals of the Paris Agreement to identify the climate change risks of Tibet and its prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2017. Moreover, the main driving factors behind carbon footprint were analyzed. The findings showed that: (1) Since 2000, Tibet's CO₂ emissions have demonstrated steady and rapid increase. The sector composition is dominated by cement production-related and transportation sector-related emissions. The type composition is dominated by diesel-related, process-related, and coal-related emissions. There are significant differences in CO₂ emissions among all prefecture-level cities, with Lhasa having the largest contribution. (2) Except for Lhasa and Shannan's CO₂ emissions that have crossed their critical threshold of climate change and are in an unsafe state, Tibet and other prefecture-level cities have not yet crossed their critical threshold. (3) Except for Ngari, per capita GDP, energy intensity, population size, and carbon intensity positively affect the increase of CO₂ emissions in Tibet and its prefecture-level cities. Our study helps actors at less aggregated scales to determine appropriate policy strengths based on globally agreed goals and ambitions in the process of responding to global warming in a bottom-up manner.

Energy-socio-economic-environmental modelling for the EU energy and post-COVID-19 transitions

Relevant energy questions have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic shock leads to emissions' reductions consistent with the rates of decrease required to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Those unforeseen drastic reductions in emissions are temporary as long as they do not involve structural changes. However, the COVID-19 consequences and the subsequent policy response will affect the economy for decades. Focusing on the EU, this discussion article argues how recovery plans are an opportunity to deepen the way towards a low-carbon economy, improving at the same time employment, health, and equity and the role of modelling tools. Long-term alignment with the low-carbon path and the development of a resilient transition towards renewable sources should guide instruments and policies, conditioning aid to energy-intensive sectors such as transport, tourism, and the automotive industry. However, the potential dangers of short-termism and carbon leakage persist. The current energy-socio-economic-environmental modelling tools are precious to widen the scope and deal with these complex problems. The scientific community has to assess disparate, non-equilibrium, and non-ordinary scenarios, such as sectors and countries lockdowns, drastic changes in consumption patterns, significant investments in renewable energies, and disruptive technologies and incorporate uncertainty analysis. All these instruments will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of decarbonization options and potential consequences on employment, income distribution, and vulnerability.

Bridging planetary boundaries and spatial heterogeneity in a hybrid approach: A focus on Chinese provinces and industries

Communicating the finiteness of the Earth system at sub-global scales is necessary to guide human activities within a safe operating space. Despite the numerous efforts committed to downscaling planetary boundaries (PBs) at multiple scales, neither top-down nor bottom-up approaches adequately account for the spatial heterogeneity and integrity of local and global natural systems. To overcome these shortcomings, we developed a hybrid approach that combines bottom-up aggregation and top-down adjustment for downscaling five crucial PBs (i.e., climate change, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, freshwater use, and land use change) to Chinese provinces and industries. In addition to the widely applied equity principle, we further incorporated the eco-efficiency principle into the downscaling of PBs under the proposition that safeguarding finite PBs should be reconciled with the pursuit of maximizing human welfare. Environmental sustainability at multiple scales was subsequently assessed with the complementary use of environmental footprints and downscaled PBs. The results demonstrate that 1) China suffers from severe unsustainability because of the transgression of PBs for phosphorus and nitrogen cycles, carbon emissions, and cropland use; 2) provinces in West and North China perform worse than other provinces in terms of the eco-efficiency in manufacturing industries, including Electronic equipment, Textiles, and Wood processing and furnishing, rendering these industries that are more unsustainable; and 3) industries with varying eco-efficiencies account differently for the provincial PBs. Construction dominates the provincial shares of carbon PBs, whereas Agriculture and Food processing and tobacco contribute most to the other four PBs. Our findings suggest that improving eco-efficiency in most manufacturing industries is the key to saving resources, reducing emissions, and safeguarding local boundaries.

Arjen Y. Hoekstra: A Water Management Researcher to Be Remembered

On 18 November 2019, the life of Arjen Y [...]

Water security assessment with the improvement of modifying the boundary consistency between footprint and provision

Clarifying specific water resources distribution and quantifying water security are vital for sustainable management. There is still unexplored gap regarding security indicators as the linkage between water footprint and availability. This study proposed a dynamic water security assessment framework considering the boundary consistency between green water footprint and provision at multi spatio-temporal scales and applied it to Yalong River Basin (YLRB) of southwest China. Results show: 1) The temporal variation of blue water was stronger than green water. Green water flow exhibited more homogeneous spatial distribution than blue water and green water storage. 2) The hotspots of green water crisis were observed in the middle reach with the higher scarcity/vulnerability. 3) Under anthropogenic disturbance, pastureland exhibited lower green water sustainability with scarcity >1 than forest. 4) Lower green water scarcity denoted the potential for rain-fed agriculture in the southeastern YLRB and higher blue water security indicated the water supply prospect for socioeconomic utilization. This work contributes to ensure water resources sustainable management in eco-socioeconomic nexus.

Monitoring the spatial spillover effects of urbanization on water, built-up land and ecological footprints in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the considerable attention given to the environmental implications of urbanization, evidence on the role of urbanization in the ongoing biodiversity loss lacks from an African perspective. In this perspective, we explore the threats urbanization poses on biodiversity with a focus on water, land, and the overall ecosystems across 28 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 2000-2017. Specifically, we employ water, land, and ecological footprints as metrics to characterize human-induced pressures on biodiversity. Unlike previous studies, we demonstrate that urbanization displays heterogeneous effects on footprint indicators, and the consideration of a single footprint item may underestimate the impact of urbanization on biodiversity loss. The results show that urbanization contributes to the expansion of human-induced pressures on water and built-up landscape. Furthermore, there is evidence that being surrounded by highly urbanized countries increases the per capita water and built-up land footprints. These spatial spillover effects of urbanization should be considered when establishing pathways to conservation policies.

A multi-criteria approach to evaluate the sustainability performances of wines: the Italian red wine case study

The wine industry has faced two significant environmental problems in recent years: productivity is challenged by environmental trends such as global warming, and buyers are becoming more environmentally conscious. From an environmental standpoint, the food industry is one of the most impacting sectors and wine results as one of the most studied agri-food products in the scientific literature. In general, comprehensive studies that consider an application of set of indicators to evaluate the overall sustainability of wine sector are lacking in literature. This paper aims to carry out a sustainable assessment using different indicators for fifteen Italian red wines: Water Footprint (WF), Carbon Footprint (CF), Vineyard Indicator (VI), and Territory Indicator (TI). VI is an indicator of the vineyard's agronomic management's sustainability at plot level with values ranging from 0 (fully sustainable) to 1 (fully not sustainable), while TI covers the socio-economical aspects of sustainability. Considering system boundaries from cradle to grave, at 90% confidence interval, CF results ranged between 0.97 kg CO₂ eq./functional unit and 1.97 kg CO₂ eq./functional unit, with an average estimated at 1.47 kg CO₂ eq./functional unit, while the WF of a 0.75 L bottle of wine from cradle to gate is 666.7 L/functional unit on average, out of which 86.75% is green, 1.92% is blue and 11.34% is grey water. Concerning the VI, at 90% confidence interval VI results were between 0.117 and 0.498 with an average estimated at 0.307. The results of the correlation analyses confirmed that each indicator is not statistically correlated with each other. Concerning the sub-indicators, a positive correlation has been found between the total CF and the sum of blue and grey WF. The application of a multi-criteria analysis for sustainability performances evaluation of the wine sector presented in this study can be used by wine companies' experts to better assess sustainability performances.

Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Agri-Food Sector: Research Trends and Innovating Practices

Natural resources are becoming scarcer and, together with the growth of the population, a widespread situation of overexploitation is inevitable that has become the biggest challenge for today's world. In this context, the agri-food sector has a considerable environmental impact in terms of water and energy consumption. For about two decades, the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF) Nexus has been trying to address this problem, focusing on efficient interrelationships among these dimensions. The objective of this work is to analyse the evolution of research on WEF Nexus in the agri-food sector and its development in scientific databases. For that purpose, a bibliometric study was carried out with publications obtained from the Scopus database, examining the main journals, authors, institutions, countries, subject areas, funding sponsors, and keywords. Moreover, a final section is specifically dedicated to the agri-food innovations in WEF Nexus in order to explore innovative aspects to effectively overcome technical barriers that hinder a real implementation of the Nexus approach. The results show that, over the past decade, Nexus research in the agri-food sector has been growing exponentially. The top country in this field is USA, the most studied area is environmental science, and the most relevant keywords are "energy use", "water budget", "food security", "sustainable development", and "water resources".

Integrative analysis of dietary water footprint and dietary quality – Towards the practical application of sustainable nutrition

The contribution of food production to the environmental burden is considerable, therefore, numerous countries have been trying to create a sustainable food supply chain to ensure food and nutrition security. The scope of this study was to analyse the association between water footprint and healthiness based on dietary records. Furthermore, it was aimed to create a classification of integrative dietary indicators of sustainable nutrition. With these methodological aims, the dietary records of 25 healthy adults were assessed. The dietary quality scores and dietary water footprint were calculated and Spearman's rank correlation was tested between them. The indicator nutrients were classified based on their advantageous or disadvantageous health impact and association with water footprint. There was a significant positive correlation between the meat consumption and water footprint, while significant negative correlations were found between the dietary quality score and water footprint and dietary quality score and meat consumption (P < 0.05). Protein, energy, sodium, and saturated fatty acids as integrated indicator nutrients could be identified for both dietary quality and water footprint. The improvement in dietary quality could simultaneously decrease the dietary water footprint. The integration of environmental impact into the analysis of diets could be the future direction in the counseling practice of nutritionists.

Fairness analysis and compensation strategy in the Triangle of Central China driven by water-carbon-ecological footprints

This study proposes water-carbon-ecological footprints to form footprint family indicators for identifying the ecological compensation and regional development equilibrium in the Triangle of Central China (TOCC). The occupation of natural capital stock and flow consumption can be illustrated using a three-dimensional ecological footprint model, and Gini coefficient is integrated into the evaluation framework for fairness measurement from various aspects. Quantificational ecological compensation standards can be given with considering indicators associated with ecological resource conversion efficiency and willingness to pay. Results reveal that ecological and carbon footprints in the TOCC demonstrate rising trends from 2000 to 2015, while its water footprint presents a fluctuating trend. The majority of average Gini coefficients exceed the threshold value of 0.4 under different footprints, thereby indicating poor overall fairness of regional development. Water footprint in Jingmen, Xiangtan, and Yichun show relatively higher compensation expenses, while Yichang, Zhuzhou, and Fuzhou exhibit higher received compensation values compared with other cities. Carbon footprint in Wuhan, Loudi, and Xinyu indicate high compensation expenses due to their overuse of biological resources. Maximum amounts of compensation expense appear in Nanchang and Wuhan from the perspective of ecological footprint. This study can provide a theoretical reference for sustainable development in the TOCC by performing a comparative analysis with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration and developed countries.

Revisited Globalization's Impact on Total Environment: Evidence Based on Overall Environmental Performance Index

This study aims to examine the impact of globalization on environmental performance by employing panel data for 148 countries from 2001 to 2018, via the indicator of Environmental Performance Index to capture the overall environmental quality and KOF index to measure the multi dimensions of globalization. The empirical results suggest that globalization is critical to environmental performance, which is reliable while we conduct several robustness tests. Furthermore, if globalization increases, it would be beneficial for the environmental performance; moreover, among specific dimensions of globalization, economic globalization, social globalization and political globalization would bring about better environmental performance. Besides, the improvement of globalization, social globalization and political globalization would bring about better environmental performance, while that of economic globalization cannot change the overall environmental performance. Our study offers more insight into the relationship between globalization and environmental performance.

Revisiting the application and methodological extensions of the planetary boundaries for sustainability assessment

The planetary boundaries (PBs) delineating the safe operating space for human activities have been broadly recognized as a well-grounded framework for global sustainability assessment. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the application and methodological extensions of the PBs by linking with multiscale environmental sustainability assessments. We find that the targeted scales, sharing principles and sustainability perspectives jointly determine the downscaling of the PBs-a complex process that needs to take into account the biophysical, socioeconomic, ethical and cultural dimensions. Despite the varying sharing principles, in general both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been employed to define the environmental boundaries at sub-global scales on which the various PBs highly differ in their threshold behaviors. To clarify the responsibility of different stakeholders for sustainable development, the PB-informed sustainability assessment should refer to a specific perspective (i.e., production-, consumption-, or life cycle-based). Furthermore, the methodological extensions of PBs have the potential to monitor the progress and gaps of the globally consensus-based Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve the SDGs within the PBs, there is a great need for a thorough transition of socioeconomic systems towards a prosperous, just and sustainable future.

Territorial and Sustainable Healthy Diets

The rapid changes that societies have gone through in the last few decades have led to the increase in the prevalence of malnutrition in all its forms and to the degradation of natural resources and the environment. The change in the dietary habits and production systems are responsible for much of this change. Some territorial diets have been shown as potentially capable of reversing these trends by positively contributing to the health of people and the environment such as the Mediterranean Diet and the New Nordic Diet. In this paper, we review the contribution of these 2 diets to health and nutrition and to environmental, sociocultural, and economic sustainability proposing pertinent indicators. Learning from a culturally established diet and a constructed one, tradeoff could be reached to ensure better health and sustainability outcomes. Strong factors for achieving this goal lie in building on the sociocultural appropriation of diets, having the proper tools and indicators, investing in cross-sector collaboration and policy coherence, and having the necessary political support to push the agenda of sustainability forward.

Which diet has the lower water footprint in Mediterranean countries?

The Mediterranean region is increasingly water scarce, with the food system being the largest driver of water use. We calculate the water resources related to food consumption in nine major Mediterranean countries, by means of the water footprint (WF), for the existing situation (period 2011-2013) as well as the Mediterranean and EAT-Lancet diets. We account for different food intake requirements according to gender and six age groups. These nine countries - Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco - represent 88% of the population of all countries bordering the Mediterranean. As first major observation, we find that the EAT-Lancet diet, a scientifically optimised diet for both nutrition and certain environmental indicators, requires less water resources than the Mediterranean diet, a culturally accepted diet within the region. In terms of water resources use, adherence to the former is thus more beneficial than adherence to the latter. As second major observation, we find that the EAT-Lancet diet reduces the current WF for all nations consistently, within the range -17% to -48%, whereas the Mediterranean diet reduces the WF of the European countries, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco within the range of -4% to -35%. For the Maghreb countries Tunisia and Algeria, the Mediterranean diet WF is slightly higher compared to the current WF and the proportions of food product groups differ. Such dietary shifts would be important parts of the solution to obtain the sustainable use of water resources in Mediterranean countries.

Quantifying the Impact of Production Globalization through Application of the Life Cycle Inventory Methodology and Its Influence on Decision Making in Industry

Industries are nowadays not only expected to produce goods and provide services, but also to do this sustainably. What qualifies a company as sustainable implies that its activities must be defined according to the social and ecological responsibilities that are meant to protect the society and the environment in which they operate. From now on, it will be necessary to consider and measure the impact of industrial activities on the environment, and to do so, one key parameter is the carbon footprint. This paper demonstrates the utility of the LCI as a tool for immediate application in industries. Its application shall facilitate decision making in industries while choosing amongst different scenarios to industrialize a certain product with the lowest environmental impact possible. To achieve this, the carbon footprint of a given product was calculated by applying the LCI method to several scenarios that differed from each other only in the supply-chain model. As a result of this LCI calculation, the impact of the globalization of a good’s production was quantified not only financially, but also environmentally. Finally, it was concluded that the LCI/LCA methodology can be considered as a fundamental factor in the new decision-making strategy that sustainable companies must implement while deciding on the business and industrial plan for their new products and services.