Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space
Achieving sustainability – the balance between economic and social development and environmental viability – is one of the key goals of industry, society and government. To measure sustainability, numerous indicators or "metrics" have been developed. However, they do not typically incorpor...
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Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University
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ftkyotouniv:oai:repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp:2433/170268 2023-05-15T14:01:54+02:00 Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space Mclellan, Benjamin Craig Dicks, Andrew João Carlos Diniz da Costa 2012-12-10 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2433/170268 eng eng Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University 1349-872X http://hdl.handle.net/2433/170268 AA12013504 SANSAI : An Environmental Journal for the Global Community 6 31 49 Sustainability metrics sustainable development indicators environment acidification 519 Journal Article 2012 ftkyotouniv 2018-08-30T23:15:36Z Achieving sustainability – the balance between economic and social development and environmental viability – is one of the key goals of industry, society and government. To measure sustainability, numerous indicators or "metrics" have been developed. However, they do not typically incorporate any information about a local region: they relate equally to a power station in Antarctica or in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. This paper describes a new approach to sustainability metrics that brings local conditions into the assessment of sustainability. We introduce a general mathematical and theoretical model for deriving such metrics and then demonstrate on one specific metric – soil acidification – that provides a useful and well known example. The metrics are applied to differentiate between four sites for the same power station in Australia. The methodology demonstrates a marked difference to existing sustainability metrics, in that it is able to distinguish between different receiving environments, something that cannot be achieved with previously described sets of metrics. These "location-specific sustainability metrics" offer a model to improve the information upon which decisions about future development strategies are made, and to evaluate sustainability in a way that better represents the real world. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Kyoto University Research Information Repository (KURENAI) |
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Kyoto University Research Information Repository (KURENAI) |
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English |
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Sustainability metrics sustainable development indicators environment acidification 519 |
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Sustainability metrics sustainable development indicators environment acidification 519 Mclellan, Benjamin Craig Dicks, Andrew João Carlos Diniz da Costa Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
topic_facet |
Sustainability metrics sustainable development indicators environment acidification 519 |
description |
Achieving sustainability – the balance between economic and social development and environmental viability – is one of the key goals of industry, society and government. To measure sustainability, numerous indicators or "metrics" have been developed. However, they do not typically incorporate any information about a local region: they relate equally to a power station in Antarctica or in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. This paper describes a new approach to sustainability metrics that brings local conditions into the assessment of sustainability. We introduce a general mathematical and theoretical model for deriving such metrics and then demonstrate on one specific metric – soil acidification – that provides a useful and well known example. The metrics are applied to differentiate between four sites for the same power station in Australia. The methodology demonstrates a marked difference to existing sustainability metrics, in that it is able to distinguish between different receiving environments, something that cannot be achieved with previously described sets of metrics. These "location-specific sustainability metrics" offer a model to improve the information upon which decisions about future development strategies are made, and to evaluate sustainability in a way that better represents the real world. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mclellan, Benjamin Craig Dicks, Andrew João Carlos Diniz da Costa |
author_facet |
Mclellan, Benjamin Craig Dicks, Andrew João Carlos Diniz da Costa |
author_sort |
Mclellan, Benjamin Craig |
title |
Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
title_short |
Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
title_full |
Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
title_fullStr |
Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
title_full_unstemmed |
Location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
title_sort |
location-specific sustainability metrics: measuring sustainability space |
publisher |
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2433/170268 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_relation |
1349-872X http://hdl.handle.net/2433/170268 AA12013504 SANSAI : An Environmental Journal for the Global Community 6 31 49 |
_version_ |
1766271959334649856 |