Sustainable indicators
footprints as examples
Alon Shepon
outline
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Indicators in general
Ecological footprint
Water footprint
Carbon footprint
definition
• Measurement tools to quantitatively assess the
appropriation of ecosystem services, resources, and
establish the environmental load.
• We encountered LCA, MFA, EIOLCA, Net energy
Analysis.
• We will examine three other frameworks to assess
sustainability
Ecological footprint analysis
1. Land type is divided into 6 types, grazing (meat, wool), crop (food
fodder, oil etc), forest (timber, fuel, rubber), build-up (transportation,
industry), fish, burning fossil fuel.
ecological
footprint
Yield
factor
produc
tion
6
EF 

L 1
PL
Equivalence
factor
YF L EQF L
YL
yield
6
biocapacity
BC 
A
L 1
L
YF L EQF L
Land
available
Yield factor (YF) calculation
YF L 
A
i
A
i
A i, W 
A i, N 
i, W
Pi
YW
Pi
YN
Area to produce product i with world
yield
i, N
Area to produce product i with national
yield
The equivalence convert land
type into world average
biologically productive area:
global hectare
EQF(gha/ha) 2005
Primary Cropland 2.64
Forest 1.33
Grazing Land 0.50
Marine 0.40
Carbon 1.33
Built-up Land 2.64
Trade - the footprint of consumption is basically the products and services produced for
local consumption minus the import
EF c  EF p  EF e  EF i
Overshoot
Earth Overshoot Day marks the
day when humanity begins living
beyond its ecological means:
[ world biocapacity / world Ecological Footprint ] x 365 = Ecological Debt Day
Water footprint of a product
► the volume of fresh water used to produce the product,
summed over the various steps of the production chain.
► when and where the water was used:
a water footprint includes a temporal and spatial dimension.
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
Water footprint of a product
Blue water footprint
► volume of surface or groundwater consumed
(not returned immeditely to catchment)
Blue = BlueWaterEvap+BlueWaterIncop+LostRetunFlow
Green water footprint
► volume of rainwater consumed
Green = GreenwaterEvap+GreenwaterIncop
Grey water footprint
► volume of polluted water, the amount of water needed to dilute to standard
acceptable level:
L
C max  C nat
Assessing the water footprint
of crop and animal products
Water footprint of a crop
• Crop water use (m3/ha) / Crop yield (ton/ha)
Water footprint of an animal
• Sum of water for feed, drinking and servicing
Water footprint of a crop or livestock product
• Distribute the water footprint of the root product over its derived
products
Crop water requirement
1. Calculate reference crop evapotranspiration ET0 (mm/day)
2. Calculate crop evapotranspiration Etc (mm/day)
Etc = ET0  Kc where Kc = crop coefficient
3. Calculate crop water requirement CWR (m3/ha)
CWR = Σ Etc [accumulate over growing period]
Green water use by crop =
min (Etc , Peff)
Blue water use by crop =
max(Etc - Peff, 0)
Water footprint of biofuels from different crops [litre/litre]
[Gerbens-Leenes, Hoekstra & Van der Meer, 2009]
Production chain
cotton
Hulling/
extraction
Cotton seed
0.63
0.18
Cotton plant
Harvesting
Seed-cotton
0.16
0.47
Cotton seed oil
0.51
0.33
Cotton seed
cake
0.10
0.20
Cotton linters
Cotton seed oil,
refined
1.07
1.00
Ginning
0.05
0.10
0.35
0.82
Cotton lint
1.00
1.00
Cotton, not
carded or combed
Garnetted stock
Carding/
Spinning
Cotton, carded or
combed (yarn)
0.95
0.99
Knitting/
weaving
0.95
0.99
Grey fabric
Wet processing
1.00
1.00
Fabric
Legend
Finishing
0 .35
0 .82
Product fraction
Value fraction
45% 41% 14%
2.6 *1011 m3 water
3.5% from all crops
1.00
1.00
Final textile
0.05
0.10
Yarn waste
Water footprint of a nation
► total amount of water that is used to produce the goods and
services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation.
National water footprint =water footprint within country
+ virtual water import– virtual water export
Regional virtual water balances
(only agricultural trade)
Arrows show trade flows >10 Gm3/yr
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
Water footprint per capita
30 0 0
D omestic water c onsumption
Industrial goods
Agric ultural goods
20 0 0
3
W a te r fo o tprin t (m /c a p /y r)
25 0 0
15 0 0
Global average water footprint
10 0 0
500
[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]
USA
Italy
Thailand
N igeria
R us s ia
M ex ic o
B raz il
Indones ia
P ak is tan
J apan
India
C hina
0
Carbon footprint analysis
The total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and
indirectly to support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent
tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)
Sum up
• Footprints are indicators of sustainability, valuable tools
for policy and decision making
• Reduce a complex analysis into a scalar figure
• Their simplicity is their Achilles heel
• Other sustainable indicators exist; alternatively a
combination can reveal a broader picture
• Research is needed to acquire new methodologies and
improve existing indicators
More info
• www.footprintnetwork.org – full of info on the ecological
footprint including annual reports and the science behind.
• Our ecological footprint, reducing the Human’s impact on
earth, M. Wackernagel and W. Reed, 1996
• Water footprint -
http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home