349
Similar extensions to industry- and economy-wide accounting frameworks have
been developed in fields like material flow analysis (also called substance flow
analysis) which look at the flows and stocks of certain materials/substances in
a system.
The United Nations System of Integrated Environment-Economic Accounts
(SEEA) is a “framework that integrates economic and environmental data to provide
a more comprehensive and multipurpose view of the interrelationships between the
economy and the environment and the stocks and changes in stocks of environmental assets, as they bring benefits to humanity” (UN 1993). SEEA uses market
exchange information (i.e., financial intersectoral payments) to infer biophysical
flows of material and energy. Since the publication of the SEEA, many countries
and states have developed their own versions. However, there is currently no biophysical metric analogous to GDP, although candidates include domestic processed
output and total domestic output—both measures of the total mass of material flowing through an economy (Matthews et al. 2000).
The ecological footprint has become a popular indicator of the environmental
impact of economic activities at multiple levels by parsing the environmental
impacts of a person, community, or activity in terms of the natural land area
required to service the activity (Wackernagel & Rees 1998). The global human
population is currently living beyond the planet’s available land area (Rees &
Wackernagel 2013).
Other methods account all economic expenditures positively (i.e., as income), to
GDP, even when that activity constitute negative societal costs such as the cleanup
of polluted sites. Such spending should be subtracted from GDP (Daly 2013).
The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) measures both the benefits and costs
of a region’s economic activity to determine when further growth becomes
uneconomic (Lawn 2003). Studies indicate that for many industrialized countries, GPI is stagnant or even declining despite increases in GDP (Kubiszewski
et al. 2013).
As was noted in Chap. 12, there are several considerations involved in metric
development including spatial and temporal issues as well as quantity and quality issues.
13.1.2 Metrics and Models
The choice of model used to characterize the system will influence what type of
metrics are used and eventually any action that is undertaken. This also occurs in the
opposite direction where the type of metric used will determine what sort of data is
collected and subsequently what sorts of models can be built.
13 Metrics
Similar extensions to industry- and economy-wide accounting frameworks have
been developed in fields like material flow analysis (also called substance flow
analysis) which look at the flows and stocks of certain materials/substances in
a system.
The United Nations System of Integrated Environment-Economic Accounts
(SEEA) is a “framework that integrates economic and environmental data to provide
a more comprehensive and multipurpose view of the interrelationships between the
economy and the environment and the stocks and changes in stocks of environmental assets, as they bring benefits to humanity” (UN 1993). SEEA uses market
exchange information (i.e., financial intersectoral payments) to infer biophysical
flows of material and energy. Since the publication of the SEEA, many countries
and states have developed their own versions. However, there is currently no biophysical metric analogous to GDP, although candidates include domestic processed
output and total domestic output—both measures of the total mass of material flowing through an economy (Matthews et al. 2000).
The ecological footprint has become a popular indicator of the environmental
impact of economic activities at multiple levels by parsing the environmental
impacts of a person, community, or activity in terms of the natural land area
required to service the activity (Wackernagel & Rees 1998). The global human
population is currently living beyond the planet’s available land area (Rees &
Wackernagel 2013).
Other methods account all economic expenditures positively (i.e., as income), to
GDP, even when that activity constitute negative societal costs such as the cleanup
of polluted sites. Such spending should be subtracted from GDP (Daly 2013).
The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) measures both the benefits and costs
of a region’s economic activity to determine when further growth becomes
uneconomic (Lawn 2003). Studies indicate that for many industrialized countries, GPI is stagnant or even declining despite increases in GDP (Kubiszewski
et al. 2013).
As was noted in Chap. 12, there are several considerations involved in metric
development including spatial and temporal issues as well as quantity and quality issues.
13.1.2 Metrics and Models
The choice of model used to characterize the system will influence what type of
metrics are used and eventually any action that is undertaken. This also occurs in the
opposite direction where the type of metric used will determine what sort of data is
collected and subsequently what sorts of models can be built.
13 Metrics