Preface
This book focuses on the environmental footprints that have attracted considerable
interest and discussions within academia, policy, and the public as an effective tool
to assess anthropogenic effects on the planet’s environment. As a starting point for
clearing the footprint jungle, the book begins with an overview of the state of the art
in environmental footprinting. On the basis of a thorough investigation into the
theoretical and methodological aspects of footprint accounting in the literature, a
unified framework for structuring, categorizing, and integrating a variety of environmental footprints is established. Furthermore, the book explores the disciplinary
relations to relevant fields of study in environmental and earth sciences, with the
aim to bring clarity to debates on the role of life cycle assessment in accounting for
environmental footprints and to challenge the isolation of environmental footprints
and planetary boundaries. The findings of the research provide novel insights into
the development of environmental footprints for environmental impact assessment
and environmental sustainability assessment and therefore would be of sufficient
interest to a broad readership.
Kai Fang
School of Public Affairs
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, China
v