7.2 Further Reflections
121
and emissions; and (5) data availability for a variety of operational control variables is an important limiting factor for the allocation of planetary boundaries to
country-specific shares.
7.2.5 Production-Based Versus Consumption-Based
Perspective
A further point of attention concerns the choice between consumption-based and
production-based footprint accounts in relation to nationalized planetary boundaries.
For environmental footprints, a distinction has been made between production-based
and consumption-based accounting (Peters 2008; Wiedmann 2009). Productionbased footprints refer to the pressure or impact exerted where production of goods and
services takes place. Given that more than ever consumers are driving environmental
impacts far beyond the geographical borders of their own locations (Moran et al.
2013), there is a growing focus on the consumption-based footprints which ignore
the pressures by activities for exported products, but on the other hand include the
activities that take place abroad and that are associated with products imported by
the region of concern (Chao et al. 2013). Both viewpoints are legitimate and have
a policy value, although the precise realms of application of the two are still under
debate. But regardless of the choice for production-based or consumption-based footprints, the environmental boundaries are supposed to be defined along with the same
principle. In this regard, in Chap. 6 there is a striking inconsistency between data for
the footprint metric and data for the boundary metric. That should be resolved in the
follow-up work.
7.3 Recommendations for Future Research
The book aims at bringing clarity and transparency to a number of unresolved and
important issues regarding environmental footprints; nevertheless, there remain many
gaps in our knowledge. In order to proceed with the development of environmental
footprints, we come up with a research agenda that includes the following prioritized
topics:
• Harmonization of the structure, terminology, and notation of environmental
footprints.
• Identification of the applicability and limitations of each environmental footprint.
• Evaluation of footprinting methods on scientific quality, policy relevance, and
public acceptance.
• Development of approaches for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of footprint
models.
121
and emissions; and (5) data availability for a variety of operational control variables is an important limiting factor for the allocation of planetary boundaries to
country-specific shares.
7.2.5 Production-Based Versus Consumption-Based
Perspective
A further point of attention concerns the choice between consumption-based and
production-based footprint accounts in relation to nationalized planetary boundaries.
For environmental footprints, a distinction has been made between production-based
and consumption-based accounting (Peters 2008; Wiedmann 2009). Productionbased footprints refer to the pressure or impact exerted where production of goods and
services takes place. Given that more than ever consumers are driving environmental
impacts far beyond the geographical borders of their own locations (Moran et al.
2013), there is a growing focus on the consumption-based footprints which ignore
the pressures by activities for exported products, but on the other hand include the
activities that take place abroad and that are associated with products imported by
the region of concern (Chao et al. 2013). Both viewpoints are legitimate and have
a policy value, although the precise realms of application of the two are still under
debate. But regardless of the choice for production-based or consumption-based footprints, the environmental boundaries are supposed to be defined along with the same
principle. In this regard, in Chap. 6 there is a striking inconsistency between data for
the footprint metric and data for the boundary metric. That should be resolved in the
follow-up work.
7.3 Recommendations for Future Research
The book aims at bringing clarity and transparency to a number of unresolved and
important issues regarding environmental footprints; nevertheless, there remain many
gaps in our knowledge. In order to proceed with the development of environmental
footprints, we come up with a research agenda that includes the following prioritized
topics:
• Harmonization of the structure, terminology, and notation of environmental
footprints.
• Identification of the applicability and limitations of each environmental footprint.
• Evaluation of footprinting methods on scientific quality, policy relevance, and
public acceptance.
• Development of approaches for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of footprint
models.