Search

Given that a fixed national emission reduction target could be achieved by imposing emission quotas among multiple decision-making units under administration, a novel nonlinear programming approach is proposed in this paper to obtain an optimal emission quota allocation in a least-cost way. Marginal emission abatement cost curves are simulated based on the environmental performance and marginal emission abatement costs measured in a set of parametric directional output distance functions with multi-inputs and multi-outputs. Further, the proposed model is applied to empirically investigate the optimal carbon emission quota allocation for China’s building construction industry among thirty-three provinces in three different regions. The results indicate that the relatively developed eastern region in China has higher marginal emission abatement cost and can be imposed with more emission quotas, while the central and western regions can undertake more emission reduction. Approximately 74 million RMB can be saved by implementing the optimal emission allocation (proposed in this paper) as compared to a uniform emission quota allocation. The findings are of great theoretical, methodological, and practical significance for policymakers and social science researchers in terms of climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 50 countries and international organisations worldwide are currently working on strategies and policies to promote a transition to a bioeconomy. This economic system centres on a sustainable use of bio- and renewable resources to guarantee sustainability. Although many contributions have been made to the field of bioeconomy, most focus on a science perspective (e.g. chemistry, engineering, technology, biomedicine or biology). Despite the significant importance of social and economic issues for a bioeconomy transition, studies from a social science perspective are largely lacking. This paper presents a systematic review of academic contributions to the field of bioeconomy from a social science standpoint. The results reveal the need for an in-depth analysis of the challenges and opportunities that the bioeconomy faces in social and economic terms. Image 1 • Significant gaps in bioeconomy contributions from a social science perspective. • Lack of multidimensional studies on socioeconomic impacts. • Mixed and refined methodologies are required, especially, empirical studies. • Academic studies on the bioeconomy require a major focus on opportunities and risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the literature in the intersection of renewable energies and politics adopting a multidisciplinary social sciences perspective. We begin by analyzing the recent literature dealing with renewable energies and politics, illustrating the analysis with bibliometric data. The search protocol revealed 853 contributions dated from 1998. Then we focus on the 186 contributions approached from a social sciences perspective, establishing a taxonomy to classify the contributions into the main issues covered. We identify contributions dealing with governance, with public acceptance, with markets and prices, and with political or policy determinants of renewable energies. In an empirical application we show that more democratic countries tend to invest more in renewable energies, taking into account other determinants (e.g. income, energy dependence, pollution emissions) of this investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As commonly accepted, the stakes of sustainable development (SD) are altogether highly serious, complex, and diverse, spanning from changing living standards to the very future of mankind. Although it has long been argued that such complexity warrants radical change in the way “good” knowledge is conceived of and produced, it appears that much of sustainability research – including its grounding in social sciences – has yet to extend beyond the institutionalized precepts of natural science with regard to validity and credibility. In this context, this paper argues that crucial insights can be developed by opening social sciences’ theorizing process to undervalued forms of knowledge including art in general, and science-fiction literature in particular. To support this argument, current non-scientific productions of knowledge are reviewed in light of alternate conceptions of epistemological value. The potential of science fiction as thought experiments and inspiration for both problematizing and theory building in the social sciences is explored. In particular, certain science-fiction texts are thoroughly examined to illustrate how current problems pertaining to firm theories and management practice may be “discovered” (or made visible) only through science-fiction hindsight . Ultimately, the research shows how this hidden potential may be employed by social research to radically stimulate theoretical imagination and benefit sustainability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the carbon market literature from 1992 to 2011 using bibliometric techniques based on the database of Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). Of 5809 publications, 82% were journal articles. Our analysis documents that carbon market publications are expanding rapidly. Based on the contribution of countries and their h-index, the US has published most and been most influential in this area, followed by the UK, Canada, Germany and China. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (120), US Forestry Service (70) and University of Maryland (68) were the most productive research institutes. The most common subject category, Environment Sciences (1551), experienced an exponential increase with an average growth rate of about 50%, and the most productive journal was Energy Policy (469). According to the analysis of keywords, the hotspots related to carbon markets were “global warming” and “carbon tax” in the 1990's, but “climate change” and the “clean development mechanism” superceded them in the most recent decade. The most cited article published in Science in carbon market research is presented. This analysis is not only helpful for policymakers and others to understand trends in the field, but may also influence researchers' selection of future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This review concerns the methodological challenges that industrial ecology faces in integrating natural and social sciences. Network analysis can be seen as the most promising method to mediate between industrial ecology's overall systems approach and the complex structures found in society. It is a well established method across scientific disciplines, including the social sciences. It has been successfully applied in industrial ecology, in which localized phenomena of industrial symbiosis have been a key focus, and where metrics from both the social and natural sciences are used to understand socio-metabolic structures. In this paper we classify such studies as Social-Material Network Analyses and we discuss the body of work, drawing on network analyses from various disciplines. A challenge is the hierarchical nature of industrial networks and how it can be addressed socially. We discuss the opportunities and limitations of metric-driven network analysis and offer a review of methodological options for Social-Material Network Analyses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While economic and environmental aspects of civil engineering have attracted the greatest attention among contemporary academy, its social side has frequently been set aside. However, the social impact that infrastructures have is huge and its analysis and understanding are fundamental. At the same time, social aspects such as culture or human behaviour can have significant effects during the different stages of the lifecycle of infrastructures. Therefore, a better understanding of the connections between civil engineering and society can help to better adapt infrastructures to their contexts, as well as minimise their negative impacts; as a result, this understanding can bring about infrastructures that are more socially sustainable. The scarce studies that have assessed the connection between society and civil engineering have considered this relationship as unidirectional. The real scenario is not so simple. The analysis of this relationship needs to be interdisciplinary, and it is in this context that this paper addresses the analysis of infrastructures and of social sciences from a sociotechnical point of view. We draw on the interrelationships found to propose a conceptual framework with the main objective of providing both practitioners and academics with tools to carry out more sustainable and context-adapted decisions. We classify the fields of civil engineering and social sciences into several different subfields, namely six for infrastructures (transport, water, energy, environment, urban planning and buildings) and twelve for social sciences (culture and history, behaviour and mind, communication and interaction, socioeconomics, juridical sciences, life and health, politics, social problems, social groups, ethics and philosophy, arts and education and innovation). Afterwards, we review the existing literature at the intersection between the various categories. We conclude proposing a framework that can support decisions and actions made at different levels and working areas. The framework includes guidelines for a more holistic consideration of the interaction between infrastructures and society in key activities whereby an improved understanding of the effect of this relationship is often required. The guidelines provide a description of different key areas and can be applied to a wide variety of actions ranging from the development of university curricula to the social impact assessment of projects. Image 1 • The dual relationship between civil engineering and social sciences is studied. • Politics and vulnerability are the most studied social areas in civil engineering. • Transport is the most studied civil engineering area from a social perspective. • Infrastructure projects should consider social aspects during all their lifecycles. • A framework and future research directions are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]