Accounting Tool for Sustainability

Balance between:• Resource demand: How much of the biosphere’s

regenerative capacity is used by human activities?

• Resource supply: How much regenerative capacity is available?

Ecological Footprint

‘Biosphere regenerative capacity’

• Capacity of soil, water, plants, animals, micro-organisms to provide resources without being exhausted.

• EG soil to grow food without eroding/losing fertility, forests to regrow after felling, fish stocks to build up after harvesting

• EG surface and groundwater to provide drinking, industry, crop irrigation etc supply

• Capacity for vegetation to absorb CO2, water to break down pollutants to harmless substances

Energy assumed to be the biggest problem

• Climate change associated with rising GHGs assumed to be the biggest current threat to biosphere regenerative capacity

• Energy production and consumption given greatest weighting

• ‘Carbon footprint’ focuses solely on GHG emissions [not covered here]

Overhang assumptionWe can use biosphere resources eg fish, timber, soil, water, oil, gas etc faster than:

(1) they can regenerate,

(2) our waste products can be assimilated [ie not accumulate in toxic/damaging concentrations in air, water, on land].

But only for while.. Eventually either they run out, or we pollute our planet with very bad consequences for our wellbeing

• We measure the mutually exclusive types of areas necessary to produce the resources we consume and absorb the waste we produce.

• The unit is a global hectare [gha] (10 000 m²), with the average productivity of the world’s bio-productive surface (ocean and land). Assumes everybody on Earth is entitled to equal share of global resources

Ecological Footprint

Footprint components

Fossilenergie verbaute Abfall Nahrung Holz und Faser Fläche W.Pekny, Plattform Footprint

Ecological Footprint

Fossil Fuel Built-up Waste Food Fibres, Firewood absorption

• Non renewable fossil fuels impacts are calculated with the area necessary to absorb the emitted CO2 (forest and oceans).

• Note each piece of land is assumed to have only one effect. Eg forest land to absorb carbon dioxide does not also provide timber, fish etc

• Many methodological issues arise

Ecological Footprint

Bioproductive segments

18% productive land 11%

Deserts, ice

67% Oceans with low productivity

4% Oceans with high productivity

22%

Biocapacity

13.4 B hectares

• The very complex ecological inter-relations are summarized to simple parameter: area.

• The strength of the concept is the obvious and indisputable limit of area on planet Earth.

• No matter how much money, houses, industries we have, we need biocapacity to survive

Ecological Footprint

Footprint

The only sustainabilitymetric with an undisputable maximum value: one Earth.

13.4B ha bio productive

area

Ecological Footprint

Assuming a fair allocation of area, there is about

1.8 gha available per person today (not including any area for biodiversity)

• The average European citizen requires 4.8 gha to meet his/her material demands. (US citizen 9.6 gha)

For all people to live like Europeans

would require 2.5 planets

Sustainable scenario

Standard scenario

Human Ecological Footprint, 1950-2050

Source: Ecological Footprint of Europe WWF2008

Absolute Limits

Humankind uses an equivalent of 1.4 EarthsWe no longer get along with the interest Earth provides.We use the capital stocks.

+ 40% in 2008

Source: GFN Daten update 2008

Sustainable scenario

Standard scenario

Human Ecological Footprint, 1950-2050

By 2050, the ecological debts would equal about 34 years of planetary production

Absolute Limits

WWF Living Planet Report 2008

D A

National Footprints Figures in gha/capita

Austria

Germany

Switzerland

Worldavailable

China

Ireland tenth

Slovenia

Hungary

Built landFishingForestPastureArable landCarbon Footprint

WWF Living Planet Report 2008

National Footprints

figures in gha/capita

China 1330

Pakistan158

India1100

Nigeria 130 Indonesia

223

Bangladesh142

National Footprint

Aggregated Footprintper capita

ComponentFootprint

Top Down- Regional Footprints- City Footprints- Individual Footprint

Bottom Up- Energy Footprint- Transport Footprint- Carbon Footprint

Product Footprints

Summary 1• In relation to region/Earth’s capacity to

provide us with energy, food, living space, assimilate wastes, can measure whether we are using resources faster than are being renewed

• gha unit: big success, many organisations, countries, companies have adopted it as key indicator for measuring sustainability

• Raising general awareness: many people believe they understand what the EF measures

Summary 2

Socio-economics not included

Toxic substances not included

One aggregated figure: not much use for prioritising policies

Awareness/behaviour divide

What EF can do for us…• Measure resource demand and supply.• Show us where we are using resources too

quickly.• Highlight which land type is used most

intensively.• Provides a basis for comparing overall

resource demand amongst settlements, regions and countries.

• Provides a personal account of the resource demand of an individual’s lifestyle.

What EF cannot do for us…

• Show us why we are using resources too quickly.

• Help with finding policies to reduce our consumption [other than the general policy: ‘we must use less’].

• Take account of other impacts on the environment eg mercury pollution, ozone depletion [ie it UNDERESTIMATES our overall impact on the Earth].

• Tell us about the impact of resource consumption on human health and wellbeing.

Take this quiz to estimate your Ecological Footprint

www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/.../calculators/

ORSearch words: calculate your ecological

footprint