The Trap of Success: A Paradox of Scale for Sharing Economy and Degrowth

Over the recent years, the sharing economy has been discussed as a community-based solution for a more sustainable future. Supported by the development of information technologies and defined by a large range of activities based on the access of underutilized resources over ownership, the sharing economy has been framed as a socio-economic model that is able to increase social bonding and collaboration and to reduce the inefficient allocation of resources. Within this framework, the sharing economy seems to align with the ideas of degrowth, broadly defined as a downscaling of production and consumption activities oriented to increase environmental quality and social collaboration. Despite the connections existing between them, no previous studies investigate the two concepts together. By considering the evidence provided by previous literature, this paper maps the links and similarities existing between sharing economy and degrowth and analyzes the discrepancies existing between the promises of the sharing economy and the impacts generated by practices. A paradox of scale, where the sharing activities fail to deliver as a consequence of success is also discussed together with future research directions. This paper contributes to the existing debate around alternative economic models and can support the design of sustainable practices

The energy metabolism of countries: energy efficiency and use in the period that followed the global financial crisis

This paper discusses how the deceleration of economic growth, that followed the financial crisis of 2008, influenced the energy efficiency, allocation and use of 18 European countries. By using a Multi-scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), the relationships between energy requirements, economic trends and population are investigated for the years 2008 and 2015. The analyses are performed for the entire society (Level N), for the household and the paid sectors (Level N-1) and for the agricultural, the industrial and the service activities (Level N-2). Results show that two main groups of countries performed the largest energy reductions, namely: the country most affected by the global financial crisis, such as Greece, Romania and Spain, where the total energy throughput decreased by −19.6%, −15.8% and −12.1%, respectively; and the countries, such as Ireland and United Kingdom, that experienced the largest energy intensity reductions (−38.7% and −19.2%), together with the highest GDP increases (+44.8% and +10.2%). By providing an overview of the relationships existing between socio-economic and energy variables, this paper contributes to the debate around growth and efficiency and can support the design of policies oriented to promote the achievement of a more sustainable and competitive economy

Tracking the Interlinkages across SDGs: The Case of Hill Centered Education Network in Bogota, Colombia

The main objective of this paper is to use the successful example of the Hill Centered Education Network in Bogota, Colombia, to discuss the role that education and bottom-up initiatives can have in the integrated implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Founded in 2015 by a team of three organisations, the Bogota Hill Network includes today more than 100 schools, 21 non-governmental organisations and three governmental agencies. Oriented to promote ecological conservation through education, the network uses the natural ecosystems of the city as a learning environment where collaborative projects are created and implemented. By involving a large number of pupils with different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, the initiative has been able to promote equality and inclusion while developing environmental stewardship of students and communities. The achievements of the projects, together with the main opportunities and challenges, are used in this paper to map the interlinkages across targets and goals and to discuss the role of education in the development of integrated partnerships across a wide range of sustainability dimensions. From a policy perspective, the discussion of the bottom-up initiatives and the identification of successful examples can support the design of policies and the replication of sustainability initiatives

Climate Vulnerability of the Supply-Chain: Literature and Methodological review

The increasing complexity of the present economic system and the strong interdependencies existing between production activities taking place in different world areas make modern societies vulnerable to crisis. The global supply-chain is a paradigmatic example of economic structures on which the impacts of unexpected events propagate rapidly through the system. Climate change, which affects societies all over the world, is one of the most important factors influencing the efficiency of the present economic networks. During the last decades a large set of studies have been oriented to investigate the direct impacts generated on specific geographical areas or productions. However, a smaller number of analyses have been oriented to quantify the cascading economic effects generated all over the world. The great complexity of the global economic system, coupled with methodological and data gaps makes it difficult to estimate the domino effects of unexpected events. A clear understanding of the possible consequences generated all over the world is, however, a fundamental step to build socio-economic resilience and to plan effective adaptation strategies. Within this context, the main objective of the present report is to provide an overview of the main studies, methodologies and databases used to investigate the climate vulnerability of the global supply chain. This information can be useful to i) support further studies, ii) to build consistent quantification methodologies, and iii) to fill the possible data gap.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Mapping the distribution of Well-Being in Europe beyond national borders

Well-being is a concept difficult to define and eventually harder to quantify. The idea of providing descriptions and metrics to evaluate well-being goes back to Aristotle (1095 bc) and from there an increasingly large number of studies attempted to quantify well-being of individuals and societies. Well-being is generally perceived as a description of the state of human life which always captured the attention of sociologists, economists, psychologist, politicians and citizens, making it a largely debated interdisciplinary topic. In particular in recent times, characterized by even increasing concerns related to the economic and the environmental situation, an increasing attention has been devoted to determining integrated descriptions to include all the aspects of human life. In addition, a large attention, demonstrated by the increasing literature on the topic, has also been devoted to the contribution of politics and societal organization in the progress toward well-being. The first part of this report tries to review the existing literature on well-being. Two main broad wellbeing approaches will be considered, the subjective and the objective approaches. For every one of them, the main definitions, the most important theoretical perspectives and the most relevant metrics and quantifications will be reported. The major contribution is to provide a synthesis of the vast literature that exists on the concept of well-being. In addition, by presenting the most recent well-being approach based on the integration between the objective and the subjective ones, an overview of the future directions of well-being investigations is also provided.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

Environmental taxes: Drivers behind the revenue collected

This paper investigates the determinants of environmental taxes revenue. While the effects of environmental taxations are well discussed across academic and political debate, less analysis have been specifically devoted to investigate the factors influencing the revenue variations. By using an Index Decomposition Techniques, the present paper separates the contribution of economic factors from the contribution provided by taxation rates and regulations. The data pertain to the period 2004–2016 and 25 European Member States are included in the analysis. Results show that stricter environmental taxation rates and regulations has been the main factor influencing the revenue increase just for 5 of the 25 countries considered in this paper. For the other Member States, economic growth and the role played in the European economic panorama have been the main drivers of variations. By providing a comparative analysis of the factors influencing the environmental taxes revenue of European areas, this paper contributes to identify how regulations and economic factors have influenced the sustainability paths of countries and can be used to support the design of policies across the EU

From the Celtic Tiger to the Celtic Phoenix: the metabolic profile of Ireland and the main drivers of energy change

In this paper, the metabolic profile of Ireland and the main drivers of energy variations are analysed for the period 1998–2014. By considering the years that extend from the Celtic Tiger to the Celtic Phoenix, the socio-economic and energy variables are analysed during periods of economic growth and recession. The main objective is to investigate how demographic and economic trends have influenced the energy used across different levels of analysis. The potential implications of economic growth and population structure are also discussed. The main results show that the standard of living has been the main factor influencing the energy consumption increase. In addition, the reduction of the economic energy intensity, driven by structural changes and implementation of energy efficiency action plans, has contributed to reduce the energy used in relation to gross domestic product and human time. Being characterised by one of the largest financial crashes and one of the quickest economic recovery, together with one of the highest population increase across European Union countries, Ireland represents an interesting case study to investigate the relationships existing between socio-economic and energy variables. The results can support the design of policies oriented to achieve sustainable energy strategies

Cost Effectiveness Analysis of the Emission Abatement in the Shipping Sector

Maritime transport is generally considered environmental friendly compared with other transportation means. Nevertheless, shipping emissions give an important contribution to the global anthropogenic pollution and are a significant source of damage to environment and human health. Contrary to land bases sources, few regulations exist and shipping emissions are expected to grow as a consequence of increasing transport volume. For this reason, both technological improvement and international legislation are urgently needed. This report summarizes the NOx SOx and CO2 abated technologies and provide an overview of the costs and benefits related to potential emissions reductions. Investigating the cost effectiveness of specific emission measure, this report provides important information for transport sustainability. However, to break the connection between maritime transport and environmental damage, stricter emission regulation and powerful economic instruments are also needed.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit

Can Grasslands in Photovoltaic Parks Play a Role in Conserving Soil Arthropod Biodiversity?

Under the increasing global energy demand, the new European Union Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 encourages combinations of energy production systems compatible with biodiversity conservation; however, in photovoltaic parks, panels shadowing the effects on soil health and biodiversity are still unknown. This study (location: Northern Italy) aimed to evaluate the effect of ground-mounted photovoltaic (GMPV) systems on soil arthropod biodiversity, considering two parks with different vegetation management: site 1-grassland mowed with tractor; site 2-grassland managed with sheep and donkeys. Three conditions were identified in each park: under photovoltaic panel (row), between the panel rows (inter-row), and around the photovoltaic plant (control). The soil pH and organic matter (SOM), soil arthropod community, biodiversity, and soil quality index (e.g., QBS-ar index) were characterised. Differences between the two GMPVs were mainly driven by the SOM content (higher values where grazing animals were present). No differences were observed in site 1, even if a high heterogeneity of results was observed for the soil biodiversity parameters under the panels. In site 2, SOM and pH, as well as arthropods biodiversity and QBS-ar, showed low values in the row. Soil fauna assemblages were also affected by ground-mounted panels, where Acarina, Collembola, Hymenoptera, and Hemiptera showed the lowest density in the row. This study suggests that ground-mounted solar panels had significant effects on below-ground soil fauna, and was more marked depending on the system management. Furthermore, the results obtained for the inter-row were similar to the control, suggesting that the area between the panel rows could be considered a good hotspot for soil biodiversity

Maritime Transport - Report 1: Review of the Measurement of External Costs of Transportation in Theory and Practice

In the last years public concerns regarding the environmental impacts of maritime transport have been increasing. This is due to the fact that, despite the better environmental performance of this mode of transport with respect to other modes, its overall impacts will be out weighted by the expected increase in the volume of ship movements. In order to define effective measures to internalise the external costs of maritime transport it is necessary to assess these costs and find adequate methodologies to evaluate them. Besides external costs estimation, it is important to understand the degree of internalization of such costs, so as to give some insights on how to apply policy instruments that should be informed by efficiency and equity principles. This report summarizes the state of the art in evaluation of transport externalities. Different transport modes have been considered through a comprehensive review of theoretical and empirical studies, by carrying out both EU funded research and national studies. the analytical approach adopted to assess environmental costs (with particular reference to those relating to air emissions) in order to be applicable to maritime transport have to be adjusted to consider the following aspects. 1. The existing literature on climate change external costs focus on shadow price of CO2. However, in maritime transport other GHGs, such as NOx, are relevant. As a consequence, a shadow price for NOx needs to be defined; 2.Health effects of ship emissions depend on exposure to pollutants. Of course this occurs only for activities at ports, whilst health effects of other activities (like cruising) could turn to be negligible to the absence of exposure. Dose response function should consider this aspect.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit