In theory, and under some quite strong assumptions, there exists a tight quantitative relationship among the following four fundamental economic concepts: (1) “wealth”; (2) “income”; (3)“sustainability”; (4) “accounting”. These four basic concepts are placed in quotation marks here because a necessary first step will be to carefully and rigorously define what exactly is meant by each concept. I...

Sustainability recognizes the interdependence of ecological, social, and economic systems, and nowhere is the concept of sustainability more critical than in developing nations, whose economies rely heavily on natural resources. Software for life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming increasingly effective in evaluating the potential environmental and resource impacts of design and supply chain de...

As an EU policy agenda, the ―knowledge-based bio-economy‖ (KBBE) emphasizes bio-technoscience as the means to reconcile environmental and economic sustainability. This frames the sustainability problem as an inefficiency to be overcome through a techno-knowledge fix. Here ecological sustainability means a benign eco-efficient productivity using resources which are renewable, reproducible and th...

Availability of and access to useful energy is a crucial factor for maintaining and improving human well-being. Looming scarcities and increasing awareness of environmental, economic, and social impacts of conventional sources of non-renewable energy have focused attention on renewable energy sources, including biomass. The complex interactions of social, economic, and ecological factors among ...

Sustainability has been the focus of intense discussions over the past two decades, with topics surrounding the entire product life cycle. In the manufacturing phase, research has often focused solely on environmental impact assessment or environmental impact and cost analysis in its assessment of sustainability. Few efforts have investigated sustainable production decision making that addresse...

2.1 Mobility – Change for the Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.2 How to Measure and Compare Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.3 Traffic Volume in Passenger Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.4 Buying and Consumer Be...

Introduction Natural plant dyes and dyeing processes have the potential to impact the triple bottom line of niche markets in both positive and negative ways. The triple bottom line is a framework to measure environmental, social, and economic impacts on sustainability (Elkington 1998). Sustainability is defined as ‘the principle ensuring that our actions today do not limit the range of economic...

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress witho...

The vague, yet undoubtedly desirable, notion of sustainability has been discussed and debated by many natural and social scientists. We argue that mainstream conceptions of sustainability, and the related concept of sustainable development, are mired in a “pre-analytic vision” that naturalizes capitalist social relations, closes off important questions regarding economic growth, and thus limits...

After a critical review of conventional approaches to sustainability, this paper contrasts orthodox (neoclassical) economic theory with a political economy approach, arguing that such an approach focusing on the historically specific organizational form of production and the inherent characteristics of the capitalist mode of production is crucial for exploring the preconditions, the content and...