Transforming an Existing Scientific Sub-metric into a Universal Ecological Certificate for Automated Material Flow Exchanges: How to close the loop between earth’s resources, industrial activity, personal consumption and planetary boundaries

Abstract

Earth’s Politicians have agreed a target to cap global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. While the agreement of such a target is a laudable achievement, one has to be wondering how we will achieve this. What does sustainability actually mean and how do we measure it? And when will we know this goal has been achieved? Put more succinctly: what needs to happen in the economy to help us stay within the target? The promise of clever engineering to solve the problem was made many years ago but it hasn’t materialized. A key ingredient to the industrial success of our economy is the freedom that entrepreneurs and business owners have to create products that serve the wishes of society. No one wants this freedom of expression and access to such products to be curbed, but a brake of some sort may need to be applied. This paper investigates the fundamental “missing link” that would enable people to understand the environmental impact of their economic/consumption activities. It posits that what is missing is an environmental accounting system that enables all economic actors to easily and therefore actively engage in a cogent sustainability solution. Such a solution would link economic activity to planetary boundaries. Before any such global aspiration can be contemplated however, we would need a universally agreed metric, or system of metrics, in order to communicate effectively. A universally applicable ecological certificate is proposed. It is based on the existing scientific method of life cycle analysis; extending an existing sub metric with a vital missing component that could then behave like a global ecological “currency” Keywords—resources economy; ecological economy; environment economy; accounting; planetary boundaries; ecocost; myecocost; automated material flow exchanges; ecoaccounting; sustainability; circular economy.