Environmental Impact Assessment Review最新文献

{"title":"Technology adoption and assessment of eco-efficiency in water management","authors":"Amer Ait Sidhoum ,&nbsp;Maria Vrachioli","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107799","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107799","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study focuses on the importance of water management in agriculture, considering both economic and environmental aspects. We aim to assess the eco-efficiency of farms by incorporating water-related indicators into performance evaluations. These eco-efficiency scores are further decomposed into water conservation efficiency (WCE) and water use efficiency (WUE). This paper uses a combination of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and econometric analysis to calculate efficiency scores and identify the factors that influence efficiency for small-scale greenhouse farms in Crete (Greece) from 2009 to 2013. Findings reveal that: i) the average technical efficiency (TE) score for the sample is 0.891, indicating a relatively high level of efficiency; ii) the scores for WCE and WUE are 0.180 and 0.174 on average, respectively, suggesting room for improvement in managing water resources; iii) farmers who adopt alternative irrigation technology demonstrate higher technical efficiency compared to the overall sample, while non-adopters show even higher levels of efficiency. Moreover, non-adopters have been found to exhibit relatively better water conservation and use efficiency, indicating that adopters need to adjust their irrigation management practices and fine-tune the system's settings. Lastly, the findings suggest that utilizing more advanced irrigation technologies can enable farmers to effectively counteract the detrimental effects of aridity in managing water resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107799"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying the sustainability of human and natural systems: A novel perspective on conjugate mechanisms","authors":"Qian Gao ,&nbsp;Danling Tang ,&nbsp;Haimeng Liu ,&nbsp;Changjian Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107792","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107792","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantifying the sustainability of human and natural systems is essential for advancing sustainable development. In light of the traditional perspective's limitations on coupling mechanisms, this paper presents a novel and comprehensive theoretical model, alongside a technical process, for assessing the sustainability of these systems through the innovative framework of conjugate mechanisms. Compared to widely recognized cutting-edge scientific frameworks, they align in their vision of achieving harmony between humanity and nature, yet the conjugate mechanisms provide uniquely subtle contributions in evaluation principles, methodological processes, and local adaptability. Utilizing the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANSTM) as a case study, our findings demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of sustainability quantification via this conjugate mechanism. The quantitative results indicate an improvement in sustainability, although stability remains insufficient, thereby providing valuable decision-making support for local governments in evaluating their sustainable development management performance. This study aims to effectively apply conjugate mechanisms to the examination of interactions between human and natural systems, addressing existing knowledge gaps and offering a new perspective for more informed regional sustainable development management. Advancing the refinement of indicator datasets, integrating with other sustainability frameworks, and exploring conjugate governance models are future research directions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107792"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rebuilding or retrofitting? An assessment of social impacts using Social Life Cycle Assessment","authors":"Irene Josa ,&nbsp;Aiduan Borrion","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107794","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107794","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In a world that is facing multiple crises, the construction sector occupies a pivotal position due to its significant impacts on the economy, environment, and society. To respond to some of these challenges, the construction industry has implemented sustainability measures, such as decarbonisation and circularity strategies. A noteworthy strategy in this context involves retrofitting a building instead of the traditional approach of demolishing and rebuilding. This alternative not only showcases potential for enhanced energy efficiency and reduced use of raw materials but also presents opportunities for long-term cost savings. Despite evident economic and environmental advantages of these strategies, social impacts have remained relatively unexplored. To address this gap, this study employs, for the first time, a Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to systematically evaluate the social implications associated with rebuilding and retrofitting scenarios. It uses a university building in London (United Kingdom) as a case study. Normalisation and uncertainty analysis of the results help interpret the findings. The results of this assessment demonstrate that retrofitting, when compared to rebuilding, provides broad and positive social benefits for various stakeholders involved in the construction process. The findings not only contribute to a more holistic understanding of construction impacts but also offer valuable insights for decision-makers, practitioners, and policymakers, highlighting the importance of considering social dimensions in sustainable construction practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107794"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing the link between digital government development and urban industrial chain resilience: Evidence from public data openness","authors":"Jiale Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107796","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107796","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nowadays, the trend of anti-globalization is becoming increasingly obvious, which poses a huge challenge to China industrial chain. At the same time, the Chinese government launched a lot of policies related to the digital economy and data elements to promote the industry chain development. Based on the data of 278 cities in China from 2012 to 2021, we use the public data openness platform as a quasi-natural experiment and use a difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of public data openness on the urban industrial chain resilience. The findings of this paper are as follows. First, public data openness significantly improves the urban industrial chain resilience. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion remains valid. Second, the mechanism test shows that the public data openness mainly improves the urban industrial chain resilience by improving the efficiency of government governance and enhancing the vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship. And after the level of innovation and entrepreneurship vitality breaks through the critical value, the role of promotion will become more significant. Third, the promotion of public data openness is more obvious in cities with higher human and material capital. This paper has important policy implications for further promoting public data openness and improving the urban industrial chain resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107796"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The synergistic carbon emission reduction advantage of green finance and digital finance","authors":"Mengfan Du ,&nbsp;Yue-Jun Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107795","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107795","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Financial development is a key factor influencing the achievement of “dual‑carbon” goals, and the financial sector is undergoing simultaneous green and digital transformations, driven by digital technologies and the need for green development. Elucidating the impacts of these transformational trends on environmental performance is critical for green and low-carbon development. However, the environmental impacts of synergistic greening and digital transformation of the financial sector have not been fully explored, which hinders the formulation of financial support policies for low-carbon development. To address this research gap, this study assesses and compares the different impacts and mechanisms of digital finance (DF), green finance (GF) and green digital finance (GDF) on carbon emissions using moderating effects and simultaneous equations models, highlighting the carbon reduction advantages of GDF. Specifically, the empirical evidence suggests that (1) DF leads to an increase in urban carbon emissions, whereas GF and GDF have the opposite effect of reducing them. (2) GDF emerges as a more accessible and environmentally beneficial alternative than DF and GF. It can help relevant cities reduce carbon emissions by influencing investment scale and pushing green innovation. (3) The mitigation advantages of GDF are more pronounced in cities with higher levels of information technology specialization and financial specialization, stronger financial regulation, and lower environmental protection, economic and climate policy uncertainty. These results demonstrate the significance of developing complementary financial transition strategies to establish a competitive edge in reducing carbon emissions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107795"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Determining factors and future trajectory of volatile organic compounds emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region of China","authors":"Shuicheng Zhu ,&nbsp;Yining Jin ,&nbsp;Wenxu Deng ,&nbsp;Meiting Fan ,&nbsp;Xi Zhang ,&nbsp;Donglin Song ,&nbsp;Shuai Shao","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107793","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107793","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the three main urban clusters in China with the largest economic aggregate, but facing increasingly severe air pollution including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. For the first time, this study employs the generalized Divisia index method (GDIM) to uncover the determining factors behind VOCs emissions changes, and applies the Monte Carlo simulation and scenario analysis to project the future trajectory of VOCs emissions in the YRD region. The results show that during 2006–2020, energy consumption scale and economic scale were the dominant drivers of the increment in VOCs emissions, accounting for 181.48 % and 119.20 % of the total VOCs emission increase, respectively. Conversely, emission intensity of output and emission intensity of energy were the major factors of VOCs reduction, leading to 83.22 % and 99.71 % of the total VOCs emission decrease, respectively. The effects of population scale, per capita emission, per capita GDP, and energy intensity on VOCs emissions changes were relatively weak. During 2020–2035, VOCs emissions will continue to grow in the YRD region under the business-as-usual scenario and high-emission scenario, while achieve the peak in 2030 in low-emission scenario. Based upon the results, several policy recommendations are proposed for mitigating VOCs emissions, including optimizing the energy structure, adopting suitable punitive measures, and constructing a unified VOCs emission standard and trading system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107793"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Driving factors and reduction paths dynamic simulation optimization of carbon dioxide emissions in China's construction industry under the perspective of dual carbon targets","authors":"Yujie Xian ,&nbsp;Huihui Wang ,&nbsp;Zeyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Yunsong Yang ,&nbsp;Yuhao Zhong","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107789","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107789","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality are currently key research targets in various fields in China. These goals aim to mitigate the negative impacts of human activities on climate change while supporting China's pursuit of a low-carbon economy and promoting high-quality development. This study proposes a methodological framework to explore the carbon dioxide emission (CDE) driving factors and reduction paths dynamic simulation optimization in China's construction industry (CI) under the dual carbon target. Firstly, it carries out carbon accounting for the CI across the entire country and thirty provinces. Then, the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model is introduced to analyze the driving factors of CDE in these research areas. Finally, four different emission reduction scenarios are designed, and a system dynamics model is constructed to dynamically simulate the CDE reduction paths of China's CI under the perspective of dual carbon targets. The results show that the indirect CDE of the CI, i.e. the CDE of related industries induced and driven by the CI, is always the most important component, accounting for more than 90 % of the CI; at the national level, the contribution of CDE from China's CI is dominated by the scale of the construction output, as well as by the intensity effect of the indirect CDE; The results of four scenarios show that under the “baseline scenario”, CDE of the CI is still 1017.02 Mt. away from the 2060 carbon neutral target. However, only the “carbon neutral scenario” is considered to be the optimal pathway, with its peak carbon emissions decreasing by 22.24 %, 11.11 % and 7.73 % from the “baseline scenario”, the “planning Scenario” and the “peak carbon scenario”, respectively. Therefore, there is a need for strict implementation of long-term carbon emission reduction targets on the one hand, and more flexible and innovative carbon emission reduction policies to stimulate carbon emission reduction potential on the other. This study provides a scientific basis for national low-carbon construction management, and it is necessary to strengthen multisectoral cooperation between the CI and its industrial chain in the future, accelerate the process of incorporating the carbon trading market into high-carbon industries such as construction materials, and achieve higher levels of sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107789"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental assessment of food loss and waste prevention and reduction solutions: Navigating the complexity of integrating stakeholders' decisions","authors":"María Jesús Muñoz-Torres,&nbsp;Idoya Ferrero-Ferrero,&nbsp;José Vicente Gisbert-Navarro,&nbsp;Juana María Rivera-Lirio","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107788","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107788","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The objective of this research is to analyze the inherent complexity associated with decision-making concerning food losses and waste prevention or reduction, considering a multi-stakeholder approach and the possibility of contradictory environmental impact results derived from different solutions. This research defines six scenarios with the support of expert knowledge to assess the environmental impact of food loss and waste prevention and reduction (FLWPR) solutions that cover food valorization, redistribution and consumer behavioral change. After applying life cycle assessment consistent with the Environmental Footprint methodology, the results are fine-tuned with three groups of stakeholders' preferences: decision-makers, experts and business students. Although the perceptions of the three groups are different across several impact categories, the proposed aggregated environmental impact indicator reveals minimal changes in the prioritization of scenarios among the three group of stakeholders and shows that it is possible to choose the best option while minimizing environmental impacts from an aggregated perspective. Analyzing the detailed results, the values of the impact categories show contradictory outcomes, i.e. when a specific solution is implemented, some impact categories worsen while others improve.</div><div>This requires deciding to what extent and which aspects the decision-makers are willing to sacrifice, as these choices can influence the decision on the best option. This study includes two novelties, the dual perspective, which combines technical information and stakeholder preferences, and the proposal of an assessment method that assigns the environmental load to the quantities of product consumed, instead of assigning it to the total quantity produced through a balancing process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107788"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment comparison between two switchgear designs: Eliminating SF6 gas under European legislation","authors":"Sara M. Pinto ,&nbsp;Joana R. Gouveia ,&nbsp;J. Atilano ,&nbsp;Rafaela C. Gonçalves ,&nbsp;Luís Tovar ,&nbsp;Pedro Cruz Lima ,&nbsp;Filipe Rocha ,&nbsp;Rafael Leite ,&nbsp;L. Oliveira","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107791","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107791","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Due to recent changes in European regulations and pressure to reduce emissions in the energy sector, secondary distribution boards have been going through structural and functional modifications by manufacturers to reduce and even eliminate the use of sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆). This inert gas has a high global warming potential and is commonly used in this equipment for insulation. The present study was carried out to compare the environmental performance of two switchgear models from a cradle-to-gate and use perspective. The new design (neoGEN model), which does not use SF₆, was compared with the previous model (FluoFix). The environmental performance of these models was compared through life cycle assessment methodology, using ReCiPe 2016 at the midpoint and endpoint level, analysing all categories included in this method. The assessment focused on the production stages located in Portugal but also included the transport to the final customer and the use stage (the release of SF₆). The results of the production stage show that the FluoFix model has 5 % more environmental impacts than neoGEN due to the copper and stainless steel used in the structure at an endpoint level. On a midpoint level, the results show some gains in the analysed categories, displaying a higher reduction in global warming potential (19 %) and stratospheric ozone depletion (64 %) categories. Finally, the assessment of the use stage considered scenarios in which the equipment would have a potential leakage between 7 % and 22 % (best case scenario) and between 15,7 % and 41 % (worst case scenario). This analysis demonstrated that in a scenario where leakages are minimal, the use of neoGEN shows a 74 % reduction in the global warming potential category. For future work, designers should focus on finding new materials that can replace or reduce copper and steel in the switchgear structure to reduce the environmental impact of this equipment and avoid the use of SF₆ gas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107791"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Generation and resource potential of waste PV modules considering technological iteration: A case study in China","authors":"Zishuo Wang ,&nbsp;Bo Li ,&nbsp;Xiaolong Song ,&nbsp;Xuning Zhuang ,&nbsp;Wenjie Wu ,&nbsp;Ang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107790","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107790","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The proper management of waste photovoltaic (PV) modules, an emerging solid waste, is the key to the “last mile” of the green and low-carbon development of the PV industry. This work simulated the lifespan distribution and installed capacity of PV modules by setting a three-stages technological iteration scenario and estimated the generation amount of waste PV modules in China. Under given failure scenarios, the resource potential of waste PV modules was further assessed. Results showed that waste PV modules will enter an explosive growth stage in China after 2030, and are expected to reach 126.37 GW or 6.31 million tons in 2041, then gradually decline until the next stage of large-scale conventional failure peak arrives. The cumulative resource potential during 2000–2050 is expected to reach 99.66 million tons. This work provides valuable information for China's waste PV modules management and recycling capacity building.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 107790"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}