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Biodiversity markets offer considerable promise but are accompanied by controversies. Here, we map the utilization of native species (NS) from Brazil's biodiversity across eleven industrial sectors: foodstuffs, beverages, textiles, clothing, leather, wood, pulp and paper, biofuels, pharmochemicals, rubber and furniture. We show that there exists a diverse range of NS use in industrial products (48%) and activities (73%). These economic activities represent potential annual exports of approximately USD $50 billion. However, we found that only 1% of the potential business, USD $500 million of annual exports, is consolidated and can be traced to such products. We show that biodiversity markets and larger annual revenues locate in municipalities away from places in which biodiversity products originate. Therefore, the biodiversity business in Brazil remains largely untapped. This prompts a critical examination of the role of biodiversity within the Brazilian industry and its alignment with the Brazilian Biodiversity Law and the Nagoya Protocol. Our study is a pioneering effort that provides strategic recommendations. We suggest that the responsibility for sustainable NS utilization predominantly falls on sectors dominated by major corporations, most notably pharmochemicals and biofuels. These industry sectors possess the potential to lead the transition towards responsible and sustainable biodiversity practices within Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a perspective on the potential of Chinese ecological agriculture to address sustainable human–environmental interactions. As Chinese agriculture is increasingly challenged by the constraints of population, resources and environment emerging from its modern development, it is imperative to explore a sustainable agricultural paradigm that could accommodate economic and socio-cultural needs within an already stressed natural resource base. The rise of ecological agriculture is suggested as a workable alternative that has the potential to mitigate negative impacts of modern conventional agriculture and at the same time, to overcome limitations of traditional agriculture in meeting the needs of China''s growing population. Ecological agriculture represents a site-specific manifestation of the application of ecological economics, among others, to agricultural practices. Some challenges being experienced in translating this rhetoric into practice are identified and discussed. Highlighted is the view that sustainable agricultural development is meaningful only when it is tailored to specific ecological, economic, political and socio-cultural settings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Composite indicators are widely used to represent sustainability or its underlying dimensions. Nonetheless, an alignment between the multiple choices made during their construction and the underlying conceptual framework is often lacking. This reduces the relevance of the composite indicator. This paper provides an overview of the theoretical implications of the choices made during the construction of strong sustainability indices, particularly focusing on reflecting environmental sustainability and the limited substitution capacity between different types of capitals. The theoretical perspective is complemented through an uncertainty analysis of the Strong Environmental Sustainability Index and the Sustainable Human Development Index in which the quantitative implications of choices made in the indicator selection, normalisation, weighting and aggregation processes are assessed. The results show that different choices significantly affect country scores. Given the conceptual implications of these choices in relation to strong sustainability, we conclude that the choices made during the construction of a composite indicator need to be aligned with the underlying conceptual framework. In a context in which a growing number of composite indicators is produced every year, it becomes of utmost importance to make sure that those that percolate to the decision-making process monitor what they are intended to monitor. • Choices in sustainability indices are not aligned with the conceptual framework. • The conceptual implications of different choices are described. • The practical implications of different choices are quantified using SESI and SHDI. • The results show that different choices significantly affect country scores. • The choices made need to be aligned with the underlying conceptual framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has committed to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Reaching this objective requires massive changes in the region. The biggest challenge is that the green transition happens without sacrificing economic progress and guaranteeing justice and inclusiveness. This pledge implies that every country be capable of addressing the trade-offs between targets while remaining committed towards the common decarbonisation goal. Our paper analyses the success with which countries are carrying out the energy transition. We propose an enhanced hyperbolic distance function and a stochastic frontier analysis approach to model the joint attainment of economic development, environmental sustainability, and energy equity. We apply our model to an unbalanced panel dataset of 29 European countries for the period 2005–2018. Our estimates show that the average performance of the economies has improved over time. The results also highlight the pivotal role of a sustainable economic development with clean energies for both slashing CO 2 emissions and fostering energy equity. Moreover, we find convergence in countries' performance, being this convergence slightly higher for the EU-15 countries compared to the rest. Finally, we show that a higher share of renewable energy sources helps countries that are lagging behind to reach their optimal performance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a first step to assess the financial risks associated with biodiversity loss, this paper develops a method to evaluate the exposure of the financial system to biodiversity-related - physical or transition - shocks. We apply it to the security portfolio held by French financial institutions at the end of 2019. Employing the ENCORE database, we assess physical risks by examining how the firms that issued the securities in the portfolio depend on ecosystem services to produce. Our results indicate that they significantly depend on water-related ecosystem services and that 42% of the value of securities held by French financial institutions were issued by firms highly or very highly dependent on at least one ecosystem service. Using the Global Biodiversity Score tool, we assess transition risks by quantifying the biodiversity footprint of the security portfolio and of the firms that issued the securities. We find that the portfolio footprint is equivalent to the loss of 130,000km2 of pristine nature and that 38.5% of the portfolio value comes from firms belonging to sectors in the top 10% of biodiversity footprints. This offers new methodological tools to address the relationship between finance and biodiversity from a financial stability perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate how farms' environmental and economic efficiency is shaped by Pillar I CAP subsidies over time and by spatial effects originating from subsidies received by neighbours. To reach this goal, we estimate a spatial stochastic frontier model including intra and inter province spatial effects and differentiate among environmental and economic outcomes to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of subsidies on both aspects. The results of the analysis indicate that on one hand, subsidies are helping farmers to achieve environmental sustainability especially after the 2013 reform, on the other, they are leading to increased economic inefficiency levels. Considering spatial effects originating from subsidies, we find positive and significant spillovers occurring among closest neighbours both from the economic and the environmental perspective. • We analyse the role of Pillar I subsidies on economic and environmental efficiency. • We differentiate among direct effects and spatial spillovers generating by peers. • The need to pursue environmental goals is harming Italian farmers economic efficiency. • Efficiency diffusion is favoured by spatial interactions with closest neighbours. • The negative link among economic and ecological efficiency is strengthening in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of meat from farmed animals is problematic both on ethical and environmental grounds. However, we are on the eve of the mass production of cultured (lab) meat. This alternative to conventional meat should be both more environmentally sustainable and cause less harm to animals, making it more socially acceptable. In this paper, we investigate how people judge investing in meat producers, an issue that has become more salient with the increasing importance of socially responsible investment. We conducted two experimental studies (N = 1301) aimed at answering whether people can separate associations towards meat when judging companies that produce them, resolving whether evaluations of meat producers as investment targets have a motivational or affective component, or not. Our findings show that people exhibit an aversion towards investment in both conventional (d conventional = −0.97) and cultured meat producers (d cultured = −0.26), consistent with the former. Concern for animal welfare exacerbates (d conventional = −1.34) or attenuates (d cultured = 0.31) this aversion unless people feel disgust-towards-animal-flesh, which has a similar adverse effect regardless of meat origin. Our findings suggest that for many, cultured meat producers might remain controversial investment targets. We speculate that similar paradoxical patterns could be observed in other economic decisions, making them socially consequential. • Little is known about how people perceive investments in meat producers. • This issue is becoming more salient prior to the mass production of cultured meat. • We compare conventional and cultured meat producers (against control stocks). • Two experiments show an aversion towards both (d conv. = −0.97, d cult. = −0.26). • These judgments appear to have a motivational (affective) component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary is a practice expert essay based on review of scientific papers on phosphorus scarcity that provides a resumé of arguments relating to adequacy of phosphate rock (PR) resources to supply future requirements and an explanation as to why, although we cannot know how much will be available in future, we can say that the static lifetime is much more likely to be of the order of hundreds or even thousands of years rather than decades. Once the knowable facts are established, a case can be made for moving towards increased phosphate recycling and loss-reduction, based on the current inefficient use and the consequential harm done to the environment. Whilst these concerns are understandable, given that phosphate resources are finite and unsubstitutable, it is important to derive a true perspective in order that the most efficient use of financial and human resources can be deployed by governments. An assertion in 2010 that phosphorus mining would begin to be resource-constrained within decades proved false, but continues to be referred to by those advocating resource governance. Such assertions, when proved not to be accurate, run the risk of validating a 'cornucopian' view of mineral resource adequacy and diminish the tenets of ecological economics which, among other things, prescribe a move towards a circular economy, by cutting losses in the supply chain and increasing recycling. The phosphate supply industry has generally been less concerned about potential resource constrains than the academic community. It is true that, apart from a few larger state-owned producers, this lack of concern partly results from the industry's shorter-term economically-driven perspective which tends towards the cornucopian view. This short-term perspective of the commercial industry is at odds with the long-term mitigation of the impacts of mining that is a feature of ecological economics. In the phosphate industry mining and chemical processing has certainly led to major negative environmental legacies and impacts being deferred to future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rebound Effects (RE) are systemic responses that are relentlessly hindering the achievement of sustainability actions' intended effects. Despite the wide recognition of RE, the limited understanding of the underlying causal structures sustaining their occurrence hampers the ability to anticipate, prevent, and tackle them. To explore how feedback thinking can explain the occurrence of RE, this paper describes the structure of 26 rebound mechanisms based on qualitative system dynamics (SD) modelling using causal loop diagrams (CLD). Apart from a comprehensive catalogue of mechanisms, the elicitation of two generic rebound mechanisms reveals that RE are either the result of (1) reinforcing loops acting against quick fixes to control local resource consumption or (2) balancing reactions in the opposite direction of attempts to control local resource consumption leading to escalation behaviour. Four contributions highlight how this research supports a systemic view on RE, the natural evolutionary step required to understand and manage its occurrence. [Display omitted] • A systemic view on rebound effects (RE) makes explicit the causality of rebound mechanisms • Feedback-driven structures unconver the fundamental structures of rebound mechanisms • The catalogue of mechanisms represents the state-of-the-art of existing categorisations • The mechanisms' structures make evident leverage points to prevent RE [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to guide the transformation of undergraduate economics education, anchored in integrated human flourishing and ecological sustainability. The framework moves beyond the dominant focus on utility and profit maximization to encompass holistic goals of universal human development, social equity, and ecological sustainability within planetary boundaries. It outlines current economic problems and links them to key competencies critical to addressing these issues. Accordingly, educational themes and corresponding anchor topics are developed that align with the key competencies to equip students with pluralistic, transdisciplinary perspectives and solution-oriented skills for catalyzing a just economy that sustains the web of life. The framework is based on the multidimensional concept of prosperity and includes three interrelated dimensions: ecological sustainability, social inclusion and equality, and quality of life. To implement this framework, guiding principles and targeted learning outcomes for economics are defined that emphasize systems thinking, personal development, transdisciplinarity, and collective agency for transformative change. The goal is to provide a coherent structure to transform undergraduate economics education and empower students to become agents of social change who can critique and reorient the current economic system towards justice and ecological stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we critically assess common perceptions of work to inform current debates on work in ecological economics. Work is usually conceived as (1) a productive activity (2) that satisfies consumer demand, (3) is conducive to health and well-being, and (4) ensures social inclusion and personal development. Drawing on the burgeoning literature of postwork or critiques of work, we argue that work may rather be understood as a biophysically intense, consumption-causing, heteronomous institution with ambivalent health impacts that stabilises societies in environmentally and socially unsustainable ways. Therefore, work should be radically reduced and organised differently so that it is no longer the main mechanism for livelihood provisioning and social inclusion. Based on our fourfold critique of work developed in this paper, we sketch out a postwork research agenda for ecological economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper emphasizes the need for considering ethical aspects in developing a sustainable economy that meets the challenges of the historic overuse of the planet in the Anthropocene. The paper argues that a sustainable economy is, at its core, an ethical challenge and requires a new ethical underpinning which considers the ethical dimension of sustainability and insights from sustainability ethics. The tradition of Western economic thought, and specifically the modern conception of the capitalist market economy, are based on rather narrow ethical foundations which are not sufficient to support a sustainable economy. Traditional economic conceptions have mostly focused on the wellbeing of current individuals and societies. There have been no broader systematic economic conceptions that fully integrate the wellbeing of nature, other species, and future beings. A sustainable economy requires a significantly expanded and redefined ethical underpinning that integrates two aspects: First, a broader ethical foundation that systematically considers nature, non-human beings, future beings, and people around the world. Second, a re-definition of individual wellbeing and societal welfare beyond rational utility maximization, efficiency, and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The role of sustainability initiatives and niche groups in transitions towards sustainability has received a good deal of attention. However, little is known about the people who make up these groups. This paper discusses their psychological wellbeing – a concept that comprises six elements: self-acceptance, personal growth and development, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and positive relations with others. In the study we performed 46 semi-structured interviews with people from 11 sustainability initiatives in five countries across Europe. We find that the groups offer a platform to build and maintain social relations with other, often like-minded, people. While these relations often serve an important motivational function to stay engaged, they are not free of challenges. The interviews show that sustainability initiatives can also provide fertile ground for personal growth and other dimensions of psychological wellbeing. Environmental mastery – and specifically the capacity to cope with global environmental problems beyond individual control – is a major challenge for people engaged in sustainability initiatives. Overall, the data suggests strong links between social engagement and psychological wellbeing. From a theoretical perspective, this paper enriches the transition literature by exploring the role of psychological wellbeing among people engaged in niches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper uses a critical framework integrating Capability, Feminist and Critical Pedagogic theories to challenge the reductive focus within sustainability discourses on the physical environment, and education's typical 'development' focus on economic growth. The paper presents three main arguments. First, it argues for holistic or ecological concepts of both 'development' and ESD, focusing on enlightened political participation, emancipation and social transformation as the basis of ecological sustainability. Second, it challenges the limitation of such agendas to wealthy countries while 'development education' thinking applied to poorer countries is almost entirely economic. Third, it explores the political educational mandate that flows from this position. The three arguments are developed by examining successes and shortcomings in emancipatory educational projects in South Africa, Latin America and the Arab world. These projects, previously documented, are analysed using comparative 'glocalization' tools to reveal context-specific ways that innovative vertical and horizontal collaboration has created responsive new forms of educationally-mediated politically sustainable 'development' – focusing on equality, particularly gender. The analysis shows that educating for ecologically sustainable development based on enlightened and equal political participation has no less a place in 'developing' countries than it does in richer ones although constraints, and therefore means, may be situationally distinctive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Transdisciplinary research has been introduced as an approach to integrate different bodies of knowledge to learn and to develop solutions towards socio-ecological transformations. In these concepts, broad stakeholder involvement is intended to promote knowledge integration, consensus formation and activation of local actors to initiate and advance learning and change processes. In doing so, however, transdisciplinary processes enter societal battlegrounds and meet conflicting interest and knowledge claims. Thus, building on the discussion on transdisciplinarity in the context of sustainability-related research, the paper seeks to understand when and why which types of conflicts emerge in sustainability-related transdisciplinary research, how they affect knowledge integration, and how they can be resolved. It develops a categorization of conflicts including differing values, conflicting interests, dissimilar claims of legitimacy, and diverse knowledge claims. They are applied empirically in the analysis of a project on regional adaptation to climate change in Northwestern Germany. It studies processes and outcomes with regard to the societal impact of the project and discusses experiences of conflicts and relevant solutions. The paper finds that societally relevant transdisciplinary research processes need to be prepared for conflict resolution and overcoming resistance and blockages in cases when consensus formation and mutual agreement is not attainable. Highlights • Analyses types of conflicts in sustainability-related transdisciplinary research • Finds that conflicts are rarely addressed in this literature • Identifies conflicts from differing values, interests, claims of legitimacy, and knowledge claims • Studies conflicts in an adaptation case in Northwestern Germany • Finds conflicts between values and legitimacy claims in the case study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary standards and certification schemes aim to play an important role in the creation of a more sustainable production of agricultural commodities in the South. In this paper, we contend that most studies on the sustainability of these certifications take the objectives of voluntary standard-setting and certifying arrangements as the reference point, thereby implicitly accepting a problem definition that is not necessarily aligned with the needs, interests and preferences of the smallholder producers in a developing context. Based on the results of a four years research project on coffee and palm oil smallholders and certifications in Indonesia, this paper questions the transformative capacity of the standards and certifications regarding a more sustainable agricultural production. This capacity is located at the interface of the global demands, which are channeled down from the top of the value chain, and the local context where local producers take their decisions. Based on the empirical research it is argued that voluntary standards and certifications pave the way for a more sustainable agricultural production, but are not necessarily the right way forward to a more systemic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adds to the food, health and sustainability literature by examining the content, merits, and limitations of a frame-based approach to assist consumers on the path to a healthy and sustainable diet, focusing on reducing conventional meat consumption. The paper combined literature on frames with literature on meat consumption. It showed that meat eating was connected to the frames that guide consumer choices through sensory-based associations (savory, satisfying) and conceptual interpretations of meals and social situations. It also showed that the science-based health and sustainability arguments in favor of a diet change do not sufficiently reach consumers or are too difficult for them to comprehend. To reach consumers, therefore, it is crucial to develop bridging frames that work as push factors away from routine meat eating, or pull factors that encourage the consumption of primarily plant-based protein and special meat types. These frames (recipes, point-of-sale information) should build on the familiar culinary principles of variety, balance, and moderation, offer a moderate amount of novelty, and enable consumers to make positive sensory associations and coherent interpretations of healthy and sustainable protein dishes. A potential limitation of a frame-based approach is that it requires much attention to detail and context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avoiding whinges from various and potentially conflicting stakeholders is a major challenge for sustainable development and for the identification of sustainability scenarios or policies for biodiversity and ecosystem services. It turns out that independently complying with whinge thresholds and constraints of these stakeholders is not sufficient because dynamic ecological-economic interactions and uncertainties occur. Thus more demanding no whinge standards are needed. In this paper, we first argue that these new boundaries can be endogenously exhibited with the mathematical concepts of viability kernel and viable controls. Second, it is shown how these no whinge kernels have components, such as harvesting of resources, that should remain within safe corridor while some other components, in particular biodiversity, have only lower conservation limits. Thus, using radar charts, we show how this no whinge kernels can take the shape of a tree that we name viability tree. These trees of viability capture the idea that the unbounded renewal potential of biodiversity combined with a bounded use of the different ecosystem services are crucial ingredients for the sustainability of socio-ecosystems and the design of no whinge policies reconciling the different stakeholders involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how resilience capacity mediates or moderates the relationship between weather shocks and household food security based on two waves of farm household survey and satellite-based weather data in northern Ghana and applying econometric models. Results show that resilience capacity moderate or mediates the negative effects of heat stress and drought on food security. However, the mediating role of resilience capacity in the shock-food security nexus is more stable and stronger than its moderating role. A standard deviation (SD) increase in heat stress reduces household food consumption by 0.71 SD, but resilience capacity effectively moderates this effect by approximately 0.61 SD. For drought, household food consumption is reduced by 0.67 SD, but resilience capacity effectively dampens this negative effect by approximately 0.60 SD. The mediation results, on the other hand, indicate that 537% of the total effect of heat stress on household calorie consumption is explained by the indirect effect through resilience capacity. Similarly, resilience capacity mediates about 74% of the total effect of heat stress on household food consumption. These results suggest that strategies that help improve resilience capacity, such as the adoption of sustainable intensification practices, are critical in enhancing food security in northern Ghana. • Weather shocks, proxied by heat stress and drought, are found to reduce food security. • Heat stress cause stronger adverse effects on food security than drought does. • Resilience capacity mediates substantial shares of the total effects of heat stress and drought. • The shock-dampening effect of resilience capacity is stable for heat stress than for drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual, interdisciplinary paper will start with an introduction to the new-networked knowledge-based global economy and the importance of intellectual and, specifically, human, capital. Next, an advanced definition of human and other forms of capital using information, energy and entropy will be introduced. This will be followed by a discussion of the premises framing the study of economics and will focus on the role of law in the economy. Afterwards, the paper will suggest the addition of a new model of humans that should serve as the base for the concept of law, the homo sustainabiliticus. Ensuing this discussion and consistent with the newly proposed definition of capital, a proposal for a new currency (“new gold”) will be offered. This proposal suggests viewing usable, renewable energy, knowledge and data as the most important assets for the 21st century and is seen as the building block for the new sustainabilistic economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents prominent biological metaphors in ecological economics and argues that the discipline is founded on an untested assumption, essentially an analogy: The economy-as-an-organism. A transdisciplinary approach is taken to test the scientific usefulness of this analogy, and eight propositions are put forth and examined. Results show that: 1) This analogy bears all the characteristics of scientifically useful analogies, as documented in the relevant literature. 2) World Bank data from 165 countries from 1960 to 2013 show that empirically verifiable laws that apply to all organisms apply analogously to all economies – supporting the ecological economics view that economies and organisms are metabolically analogous. 3) Empirical results affirm those of a mature GDP-energy literature, despite employing very different assumptions and perspectives – thus validating the analogy's scientific potential. 4) The analogy offers a new perspective on economies, correctly predicts their "characteristics," and generates new testable hypotheses, hallmarks of scientific analogies. 5) New perspectives and predictions relate to sustainability and are particularly relevant to researchers interested in this field – thus satisfying the "goal relevance" characteristic of scientific analogies. All results of this exploratory and conceptual paper suggest that our analogy is scientifically useful and worthy of additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces the methodology of partially ordered sets to evaluate sustainable human development indicators. It shows its importance to the integration of human and environmental indicators, clarifying the limitations of composite indicators and emphasising the need to move towards higher levels of conceptual consistency and solid informational pluralism, incorporating richer social and environmental spaces towards an analytical structure that avoids subjective, arbitrary and potential obscure choices of variables in the analysis of sustainable human development. The paper uses Hasse diagrams and sensitivity analyses to evaluate the evidence offered by the new pressure-adjusted human development index (PHDI). The results indicate that the introduction of CO 2 and material pressure indicators produce an excessive number of incomparabilities and affect the role of GNIpc in the determination of countries' partial rankings. • The use of partially ordered sets improves the conceptual coherence of sustainable human development indicators. • Evidence-based analysis leads to an identification of incomparabilities among different sustainability dimensions. • Hasse diagrams show that countries should be classified into 15 human development groups. • The integration of environmental and human indicators produces too many incomparabilities distorting the new PHDI [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real capital investments are important for a transition to a more sustainable economy and for the continuous process of creative destruction and economic development. At the same time investments have negative environmental effects. In this paper we analyze to what extent the current investments in real capital (i.e., buildings, machinery and infrastructures) in Sweden are sustainable in regard of the most important resources used in investments and in terms of CO 2 emissions. This is evaluated based on Sweden's share of a sustainable use of these resources and our share of the remaining carbon budget for achieving the Paris agreement. In the analysis we have used best publicly available data and methods to indicatively establish sustainable levels of resource use and emissions. We find that 1 million invested SEK (US$ 110,000) generate 15–75 tonnes of CO 2 emissions and use 80–260 MWh of energy, and on average 4.8 tonnes of iron, 0.2 tonnes of aluminum, 260 tonnes of gravel and sand and 6 tonnes of timber. Our analysis shows that within 50 years current investment would use up Sweden's CO 2 budget available for achieving the Paris agreement, leaving no room for emissions from consumption. The use of timber, gravel and sand is above Sweden's share of a global yearly sustainable production. The current use of iron and aluminum can be maintained for 20–50 years, but approaches the sustainability criteria with a 200 year perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the late 1990s, China initiated the Conversion of Croplands to Forest Program (CCFP) and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) based on the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) principle. Positive socioeconomic outcomes of the programs are essential for the long-term success of eco-environment conservation. However, there is lack of understanding of their longer-term (over 10 years) impacts on rural livelihoods. In this paper, we examine income distribution and inequality of rural households under CCFP and EWFP in rural Anhui, China after 12 years of program implementation. Results show that CCFP-participating households have higher income inequality than non-participants, while the EWFP does not have a significant effect. Local off-farm work and out-migration with remittances are the two principal income sources and both add to inequality. A regression-based decomposition of inequality shows that the CCFP indirectly alters livelihoods by increasing out-migration with remittances, but it also adds to inequality from shifting livelihoods to non-agricultural activities. Meanwhile, EWFP payments positively affect agricultural incomes and contribute 16% to agricultural income inequality. Finally, human capital, natural capital and physical capital all play important roles in generating income and inequality, but the factors affecting inequality from agricultural and non-agricultural activities are different. Highlights • We examine rural household income distribution under two concurrent PES programs. • CCFP positively affects non-farm income via out-migration followed by remittances. • EWFP positively affects agricultural income and adds slightly to inequality. • Factors affecting agricultural and non-agricultural income distributions differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In order to devise scientific and sustainable development strategy, it is vital to assess the quality of economic growth. As a useful complement to traditional economic indicators, GPI's most reputed virtue is its great improvement in evaluating environmental and social costs. In this paper we estimate the GPI for all 31 provinces in mainland China from 1997 to 2016. GPI estimation is highly sensitive to income inequality, climate change damage, and depletion of non-renewables. We address contestable methodological assumptions associated with the three items which have been usually ignored in empirical studies. We use the Atkinson index in place of the Gini index as a measure of income inequality. We avoid the problematic duplicated counting of climate change damage and the unjustified cost escalation factor in depletion of non-renewables. Our results show that: first, GPI per capita has recently declined in some provinces, unveiling a threat to social welfare and sustainability; second, the "relative threshold effect"—the progress of social welfare promotion is slower than the expansion of economic scale—has been found in many provinces; third, resource consumption and environmental pollution, especially water pollution and carbon emissions, would generate substantial welfare losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper offers a review of selected topics in the empirical literature on structural change and sustainability. We focus on aspects of structural change that directly affect emissions and energy intensity: changes of the sectoral composition of economies, trade and international fragmentation of production, technological change and innovation, and demand. We identify several empirical facts. First, only a few countries have experienced a decoupling between growth and emissions, due to proportionately faster growth rather than greater energy efficiency. Second, the long-term shift from manufacturing to services has not led, in all cases, to the de-materialisation of economies and a lower environmental burden. Exploitation of energy efficiency increases depends on the ability of the service sectors to incorporate technical changes to reduce energy intensity. Third, global trade and energy and emissions intensity trends support the 'pollution haven' hypothesis, which predicts displacement of the environmental burden from developed to emerging countries. The pursuit by developing countries of a long-term strategy of 'trading jobs for emissions' is likely to exacerbate the asymmetry related to emissions intensities between developed and less developed economies. The review should inform debate on environmental policy within the broader context of innovation and development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The debate about the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability involves many dimensions as well as much diversity in terminology. While it is often summarized in terms of dichotomous pro- and anti-growth positions, several studies indicate that additional views exist, and that these may differ between experts and the general public. The objective of this paper is to identify and analyze segments of the scientific and general population with distinct views in this respect. To this end, we bring together two data sets: one from a nationally representative survey of the general public of Spain (N = 1004) and another from an international survey of researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds (N = 814). Using latent class analysis, we identify three similar segments in the two samples, labeled as Green growth , Agrowth and Degrowth. Overall, clusters are more consistent, better distinguishable on all constituent dimensions and more polarized in the scientific than public opinion survey. In addition, we find that diverging views on social issues are more strongly associated with distinct clusters in the public opinion sample, and on environmental issues in the scientific opinion sample. Highlights • We conducted a cluster analysis of opinions in the growth-vs-environment debate. • It included samples of scientists and the general public. • We find three comparable clusters in both samples. • There is more polarization in scientific compared to public opinion. • Clusters in scientific opinion are better distinguishable on all main dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Those living in marginal conditions can be vulnerable to changes in ecosystem services. Assessing vulnerability to ecosystem service change at disaggregated and community-relevant spatial scales is virtually absent in the literature. In this paper we develop a method to spatially assess communities' vulnerability to ecosystem service change by estimating trends in ecosystem service supply and demand interactions over time. We apply this method to analyze supply and demand dynamics around water security for 3873 settlements in the Miyun Reservoir watershed near Beijing, China. Community settlements were identified with high-resolution satellite imagery, allowing for a disaggregated assessment of supply and demand dynamics at a very fine spatial scale. Settlement-level demand trends are calculated with commonly available government statistics. Supply trends are estimated with land use data and common ecosystem service modeling software. Notably, our calculation of settlement-level ES supply is spatially aware, taking into account upstream communities' water needs. Our results reveal patterns of community vulnerability across the landscape and suggest ways to identify mechanisms that underlie communities' vulnerability risk. By analyzing trends over two periods, we are able to identify clusters that appear to adopt more sustainable management practices over time, and places where vulnerability to ES changes seems to persist. Highlights • Ecosystem service benefits are realized through supply and demand dynamics. • We develop methods to disaggregate supply and demand to a local "settlement" level. • We temporally analyze the provisioning of water among 3873 settlements. • Local clusters of settlements emerge as stable, questionable, or vulnerable. • Changes in status over time provides policy insight into supply and demand dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper analyses 143 cases about the implementation of various and often interlinked, integrative, Resource Efficiency Measures (REMs). These REMs have been brought in a framework distinguishing on the one hand a cluster of supply side measures, demand side measures and life cycle measures with a synergistic mode of operation. They further have been related to clear classes or Business Model Changes (BMCs) that can support their implementation, notably changes in the supply chain (SC), internal processes (IP), customer interface (CI), financial model (FM) and the value proposition (VP). The BMCs were further characterised in terms of typical Implementation Barriers (IBs) that were reported in the cases, i.e. institutional, market, organisational, behavioural and technological barriers. Our study could not confirm some common theoretical wisdom, such as that firms mainly focus on 'simple' REMs like cleaner production and green products. Indeed, we could not confirm that REMs with a high scope and degree of change, often perceived as complex to implement, faced more Implementation Barriers than others. In general most Implementation Barriers play a role in all types of REMs and BMCs, although also some weak patterns were found. Internal processes BMCs were mainly hampered by institutional and technological factors. Value proposition and Financial model BMCs faced mainly behavioural and market barriers. Customer interface BMCs encountered additionally organisational barriers, while supply chain BMCs face a mix of all classes of barriers distinguished in this study. This is one of the first studies on business models and resource-efficiency looking at a large set of cases which is a step forward from the single case studies that dominate current literature. Yet, follow-up research should overcome weaknesses in our approach, such as a possible bias towards success cases and be more quantitative in analysing the effort it takes to overcome IBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Global trends in production and consumption and the associated use of natural resources are far from sustainable. There is a growing recognition of the need to tackle overexploitation of resources, including materials, land, water and carbon. However, transformations to a more resource-efficient economy and society are complex. This paper elaborates three possible scenarios for a resource-efficient economy in Europe. We describe three scenarios and characterize the key differences between them. The basis of the three scenarios - Global Cooperation, Europe Goes Ahead and Civil Society Leads - is very different governance models, worldviews and actors who drive the process. Each scenario encompasses a number of challenges, which are also described. A resource-efficient economy could be advanced through top-down agreements, through market-based mechanisms driving technological solutions, and through bottom-up behavioural changes and community based initiatives focusing on both efficiency and sufficiency. In reality, a combination of these approaches is likely to be required for the achievement of ambitious resource-efficiency targets in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Various environmental footprint concepts have already been developed and applied in sustainability research. However, these analyses tend to remain restricted to historical observation samples. At least in comparison with related research activities in other environmental policy domains (like, e.g., climate policy), it seems that applications of integrated assessment tools represent rather seldom exceptions within the resource policy domain. Our paper is, therefore, intended to strengthen the related evidence base. We present recent projections from the dynamic Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) simulation model GINFORS (Global Inter-Industry Forecasting System), which provide an outlook on global development trends until the year 2050. Our detailed material footprint and climate policy assessment indicates that a global agreement on a policy mix will allow a clear turnaround towards climate protection and a sustainable use of natural resources without deteriorating economic performance. If the EU decides unilaterally to lead the way, then this turnaround could also be achieved for the EU while the EU would also benefit economically from this pioneering role. A third pathway towards a resource efficient and low-carbon Europe quantifies the environmental and economic impacts of a strong transitional change induced by European citizens' commitments to far-reaching sufficiency objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the impact of climate change on the bio-economic performance of Bay of Biscay mixed fisheries and explores the capacity of alternative management strategies to cope with these impacts. A dynamic multi-species, multi-class, multi-fleet model is developed and calibrated using available biological, economic and environmental information for French fleets. Fishing and economic data have been collected within the European Data Collection Framework. Climate represented by the sea surface temperature is assumed to affect species recruitment. Three management strategies are compared in terms of bio-economic outcomes: the Status-Quo (SQ), a Multi-species Maximum Sustainable Yield (MMSY) strategy and a Multi-species Maximum Economic Yield (MMEY) strategy. These strategies are ranked with respect to two contrasted scenarios regarding the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) driving climate change. Results show that the SQ strategy is not sustainable and is characterized by a major decline of the key commercial species. By contrast, the MMSY strategy improves the ecological state and economic performance of the fishery. The MMEY strategy yields even greater bio-economic improvements. Bio-economic benefits are however altered by the effects of climate change. Under the MMEY strategy, fleets with more diversified catch structures perform better facing climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a sustainability perspective, city-level CO 2 emissions require reconsiderations. Correspondingly, the economy-environment-society nexus should be incorporated into city-scale CO 2 accounting. Therefore, in this study, the semi-closed IO model is integrated with a HEM to calculate CO 2 emissions arising from the social consumption pattern and income distribution, and to explore economic drivers behind CO 2 variations. This method is applied to a case study of Beijing. Result demonstrate that Beijing in 2012 witnessed something different from that in 2005: (1) CO 2 emissions centred in the internal linkages of a broader class of consumption terms with high economic output, mainly driven by interprovincial exports; (2) imports increasingly helped decarbonize the mixed, net forward and backward CO 2 linkages of consumption items; and (3) income-driven CO 2 emissions excluding demand-side parts persisted, which were more obvious on the supply side where households have more economy-wide effects. Besides, urban households played an essential role in household-wide CO 2 reductions. This paper ended with corresponding conclusions, policy implications and directions for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on research designed to learn about how people prioritize outcomes of the management of marine ecosystems. Using Q methodology, we asked residents to sort outcomes such as food security, trustworthy governance, harvest and recreational opportunities, education, and employment in terms of their importance to community well-being. We also asked them to discuss the strategies they used when faced with difficult tradeoffs, and their feelings throughout the sorting process. We identified four strategies that people used for resolving trade-offs and four social discourses that informed participants' sorts: the strategies for prioritization reflect aspects of people's ethical standpoint, as well as whether they are employing short or long-term thinking; the discourses reflect concerns regarding state-based governance, local autonomy, and people's desire to be engaged and connected with the marine environment. Our findings shed light on how people in natural resource dependent areas think about environmental governance and negotiate among multiple priorities. Our findings also offer explanations for why people agree or disagree with policies and management actions, especially in cases where people's preferences appear inconsistent with their stated values. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for natural resource management and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing globalisation and climate change are challenging the sustainability of our societies. It is now clear that climate change and its devastating impacts cannot be resolved by new technology or governance alone. They require a broader, cultural shift. As a result, the role of human beings' ‘inner dimensions’ and related transformations is attracting increased attention from researchers. Recent advances in neuroscience suggest for instance that mindfulness can open new pathways towards sustainability. However, the role of mindfulness in climate adaptation has been largely ignored. This paper is the first exploratory empirical investigation into linking individuals' intrinsic mindfulness (as opposed to outside mindfulness interventions) to pro- and reactive climate adaptation. Based on a survey of citizens at risk from severe climate events, we explore if, and how individual mindfulness is correlated with climate adaptation at different scales. The results show that individual mindfulness coincides with higher motivation to take climate adaptation actions or to support them, especially actions that are ‘other-focused’ or support pro-environmental behaviour. Mindfulness may also corroborate the acknowledgement of climate change and associated risk perception, and it may steer people away from fatalistic attitudes. We conclude with a call for more research into the relationship between human beings' inner dimensions and climate adaptation in the wider public domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a novel methodological approach for better understanding how different capital assets can be organized, transformed, and used in different combinations to reduce livelihood sensitivity to climatic stresses – an area that requires greater research attention in the context of adaptation policy. Research was conducted in the northeastern floodplain communities of Bangladesh, regarded as one of the most climate sensitive, resource poor, and highly understudied areas of the country. This wetland-dominated ecosystem is home to diverse resources user groups (e.g., farmer and fisher) who are subjected to regular seasonal flooding, excessive rainfall, drought, and flash floods. Working in 12 adjacent villages of two significant wetlands (Hakaluki haor and Tanguar haor ), qualitative and quantitative data were collected through 15 focus groups ( n  = 15), 35 key informant interviews, and 356 household surveys to better understand how community members adapt in response to their livelihood sensitivity to the climatic stresses. Results indicate that community members organize and transform capital assets in diverse ways to escape climate-induced “poverty traps”. Findings also reveal that interventions from external agencies (e.g., government, non-governmental organizations and market institutions) are an important key to livelihood sustainability for many households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper starts with a brief criticism of macroeconomic analyses of different schools of thought for their focus on economic growth and maximisation of output. This applies to the traditional Keynesian approach, which has focused on the achievement of sufficient aggregate demand to underpin full employment and full capacity utilisation, down-playing aggregate supply constraints. This also applies to the neoclassical approach, including the current New Consensus Macroeconomics approach, which asserts the dominant role of aggregate supply in the long run, and where growth is set by the so-called ‘natural rate of growth’, with no concerns over environmental and ecological issues. The paper then proposes a different approach to macroeconomic analysis. It explicitly acknowledges that economic growth is a double-edged sword. Growth can help to alleviate persistent levels of high unemployment, but it can also lead to potentially catastrophic environmental problems. Building on the Monetary Circuit theory and the Demand-led growth theory, the paper offers an analysis of the interconnections and interdependence of the economic, biophysical and social worlds and by doing it hopes to provide the building blocks for the establishment of post-Keynesian ecological macroeconomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to understand and trace the emergence of Southern standards in global agricultural value chains. While the trend towards private standards established by developed country or ‘Northern’ actors has received significant attention in the literature, recently an emergent counter-trend can be observed which manifests in the development of standards by Southern producer country actors. This may be attributed to the perceived lack of legitimacy of global standards, especially from a Southern perspective. The paper therefore applies a legitimacy perspective to analyse the emergence of new Southern standards in Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil, Brazilian soy and South African fruit production. The analysis reveals that Southern standards both target different audiences to obtain legitimacy and rely on different sources of legitimacy as compared to established Northern standards. This is done explicitly in order to create cognitive and moral distance to Northern standards and ultimately to reclaim the issue areas occupied by Northern standards. The paper discusses and reflects on the implications of the emergence of Southern standards for sustainability governance and concludes with the identification of future research opportunities on Southern standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a complex appraisal method. It is conducted for supporting decision-making and policy in a broad environmental, economic and social context, and transcends a purely technical/scientific evaluation. This paper focusses on the systematisation of knowledge on technical/scientific sustainability evaluation, by addressing critical decision-making elements focussed on by domain experts. We make a distinction between integrated assessment and SA. Our systemic approach outlines how to move from integrated assessment to SA. The fundamental differences involved concern three levels: ontological, methodological and epistemological. We present a novel methodological framework for SA, based on a literature meta-review of multi-scale and multi-purpose appraisal methodologies, models and indicators. SA is essentially a structured procedure encompassing different field-specific analytical methods and models, for specific applications and decision contexts. External inputs to the methodology are “values” considered in the analysis and boundaries defined, including the relevant sustainability framework. Internal methodological elements comprise approach to be adopted (e.g. “what-if” vs. “what-to”), scenario design and analytical models and measurable indicators for an operational analysis. Methods to quantify uncertainty are key ingredients of the assessment framework. The paper highlights the relevance of and policy challenges for SA development, with due attention for applicability in real-world decision contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dynamic agent-based model of land use and agricultural production under environmental boundaries, finite available resources and endogenous technical change. In particular, we model a spatially explicit smallholder farming system populated by boundedly-rational agents competing and innovating to fulfill an exogenous demand for food, while coping with a changing environment shaped by their production choices. Given the strong technological and environmental uncertainty, agents learn and adaptively employ heuristics which guide their decisions on engaging in innovation and imitation activities, hiring workers, acquiring new farms, deforesting virgin areas and abandoning unproductive lands. Such activities in turn impact farm productivity, food production, food prices and land use. We firstly show that the model can replicate key stylized facts of the agricultural sector. We then extensively explore its properties across several scenarios featuring different institutional and behavioral settings. Finally, we simulate the model across different applications considering deforestation and land abandonment; human-induced soil degradation; and climate impacts. AgriLOVE offers a flexible simulation environment to study the endogenous emergence of different agricultural production regimes from the interaction of spatially dispersed farms subject to resource constraints, spatial influence and climate change. • A novel, scalable ABM model of the agricultural sector with environmental boundaries. • Evolutionary technical change and spatial diffusion of knowledge. • Deforestation activities lower aggregate productivity and increase land concentration. • Climate shocks generate hysteresis and non-trivial spatial propagation effects. • Without policy support, low probability of transition to sustainable farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is a complex system in which the economic principles of production are directly intertwined with its biological and ecological characteristics. The paper investigates synergetic potentials of multiple-criteria and multiple-perspective evaluation of agricultural activity through a study of the dairy sector in Slovenia. Socio-economic and emergy evaluation was performed on nine farm types, formulated to represent the diversity of the country's dairy sector. The results indicate larger discrepancies in the performance of the farm types when defined by socio-economic or emergy based indicators. Standard socio-economic evaluation favours larger conventional systems that are cost efficient and financially independent. Emergy analysis however, favours less productive organic farms, which show greater ability to exploit free local resources and produce less stress on the local environment. Socio-economic and emergy indicators show that small conventional farm types are the poorest performers overall. Analysis of emergy flows reveals for all farm types a high dependency on the wider socio-economic system, suggesting that within the current economic system agriculture itself has little ability to affect its sustainability. The paper suggests a complementarity in the evaluation approaches. Their joint application can improve the quality of the decision-making process in various stages of planning in agriculture and land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes our usage of and experience with the method of participatory systems mapping. The method, developed for the purpose of facilitating knowledge brokerage, builds on participatory modelling approaches and applications and was used in several events involving both researchers and policy makers. The paper presents and discusses examples of how different types of participatory interaction with causal loop diagrams (‘system maps’) produced different insights on issues related to sustainable consumption and enabled participatory reflection and sharing of knowledge. Together, these insights support a systemic understanding of the issues and thus the method provides instruments for coping with complexity when formulating policies for sustainable consumption. Furthermore the paper discusses the ability of the method — and its limits — to connect mental models of participants through structured discussion and thus bridge boundaries between different communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's economies those who sustain the burden of resource use, those using resources and those providing resources are not necessarily identical. With this separation come three fundamental but interrelated decision-making perspectives on the sustainability assessment of resource use. These three perspectives correspond to the three assessment questions if, how, and where resources should be used. Most sustainability assessment approaches do not make their underlying assessment perspectives explicit. The goal of this paper is to provide structure and organisation to existing approaches. This structuring suggests that any discussion on the appropriateness and validity of different assessment approaches and their results must take into account the underlying assessment perspective. The three questions if, how, and where resources should be used correspond to the requirements of a sustainable resource use. While existing assessments do address the three questions in isolation, it is all the more important that the limitations and implications of focusing on a single perspective are spelled out. As the main contribution, the paper distinguishes the rationale of each assessment perspective and develops on their interlinkages and thus provides the context and structure for a more informed and fruitful debate on the assessment of sustainable resource use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the effects on the economy of a feed-in tariff policy mechanism aimed to foster investments in renewable energy production capacity. To this purpose, we employ an enriched version of the agent-based Eurace macroeconomic model, where we have included an energy sector with a fossil-fuel power producer as well as a renewable-energy based one. Both power producers take pricing and capacity investment decisions based on the price of imported fossil fuel and the feed-in tariff government policy. Results show that the feed-in tariff policy is effective in fostering the sustainability transition of the energy sector and that it increases the level of investments with a positive impact on the unemployment rates. Moreover, we observe that its financing costs do not impact government finances, which actually improve following the better economic conditions. For high policy intensity, however, we observe an increasing GDP share of the investment sector in the economy, due to the building-up of renewable production capacity, with a resulting crowding out of consumption, higher interest rates and prices. The final outcome on household well-being therefore depends on what extent the chosen value judgment recognizes the importance of an economically and ecologically sustainable growth path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we survey the literature applying viability theory to the sustainable management of renewable resources. After a refresher on the main concepts of viability theory, we provide a general map of the contributions and next discuss them by area of application, including ecosystems and population biology, climate change, forestry and others. We conclude by pointing out issues that deserve more attention and should be part of a research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss how merit good arguments may contribute to discussions about sustainability. To this end, we clarify how merit good arguments deviate from individual preferences and relate the justification for deviations from individual preferences to two conceptions of well-being: an informed preference satisfaction and a perfectionist conception. Building on this framework, we analyze how merit good arguments can be helpful for discussing sustainability as justice, what challenges merit good arguments pose to future generations, and whether they can serve as a normative justification for green nudges. The analysis yields two main insights. First, a reflection on the concept of merit goods is helpful in sorting out the different justifications that sustainability interventions may rely on. In particular, it allows separating the challenges of redistribution, internalization of externalities and increasing individual consumption of particular (merit) goods such as health care or education more clearly. Second, the precise notion of merit goods by itself, however, only offers a limited contribution and does not represent a blank check to justify deviations from individual preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the theoretical framework of productive analysis, the paper proposes an evaluation of regional sustainable well-being (SWB) in terms of efficiency. By means of an Activity Analysis Model (AA) (Färe et al., 1996), desirable and undesirable outcomes of development have been simultaneously used to evaluate the sustainable well-being of Italian regions. Data on equal and sustainable well-being provided by the Italian Statistical Office for the year 2010 has been used. The analysis reveals that only four regions achieve sustainable well-being, balancing socio-economic and environmental outcomes and resources. Finally, the study points out the advantages of AA for policy purposes by comparing it to a composite indicator of SWB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present arguments and empirical evidence that highlights one key aspect of the study of the relationship between environmental proactivity and economic performance in firms: The effect of complementarities with other innovation-related resources. According to the literature, environmental proactivity—defined as the tendency to go beyond compliance with basic requirements established by law or institutionalized adoption of environmental practices in industry—enables firms to improve both economic and environmental outcomes. Within the framework of the resource-based view and the dynamic capabilities approach, we find that this win-win situation is far more likely when environmental proactivity is adopted in conjunction with a proactive innovation strategy. By analyzing panel data with 336 observations (42 Spanish industrial firms over an eight-year period), we demonstrate that environmental proactivity generates complementarities with technological proactivity that are sustainable and especially profitable in dynamic environments. More precisely, empirical evidence reveals that complementarities between environmental and technological proactivity are sustainable in groups of firms subject to high external pressure (such as that generated in the European Union Emissions Trading System context). Complementarities are also greater for companies during a financial crisis, a period characterized by high uncertainty and dynamism of the environment. This particularly advantageous win-win situation generated by environmental proactivity justifies its interpretation as a dynamic capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing focus on environmentally sustainable seafood, which creates a potential for segmentation in the seafood market. Several recent studies demonstrate that consumers prefer ecolabeled wild seafood over unlabeled seafood. In addition, there is increasing evidence of a preference for wild fish relative to farmed fish, despite the rapid increase of aquaculture production. Recently, ecolabels have also been introduced for farmed fish. An interesting question is whether the preference for wild fish is primarily related to the perceived lack of environmental sustainability in aquaculture, or whether it is a perceived quality difference. In this paper, a choice experiment is used to investigate these issues in Germany for salmon using the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) ecolabel for farmed salmon and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel for wild salmon. Using a mixed logit model, the random parameter specification indicates substantial variation in consumer preferences beyond demographic variables. With respect to the main question, the ASC ecolabel not only makes up for the negative association of farmed salmon, but gives a similar price for the ASC labeled salmon as for MSC labeled wild salmon. This is an indication that environmental concerns and not quality differences are the major issue in segmenting the market between farmed and wild fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to conventional approaches the conceptualisation of sustainability as fair bequest makes it possible to consider a finite time horizon. Valuation is necessary to determine whether the bequest package that is passed on from one generation to the next is fair. Acknowledging the merits as well as the limitations of economic price theory, this paper differentiates between three classes of valuables: the essential , the useful and the unique . It is argued that a fair bequest package should contain items from each of the classes. Because the three classes are incommensurable, fairness of the bequest cannot be expressed by a single figure like a non-declining total value of the package. We then discuss which methods are appropriate for describing a bequest package with respect to its fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]