Everything is relative and nothing is certain. Toward a theory and practice of comparative probabilistic LCA

Introduction It is widely recognized that LCA is in most cases relative and contains uncertainties due to choices and data. This paper analyses the combination of the two comparative uncertainties. Basic concepts We carefully define the idea of relativity and uncertainty within LCA. We finish off by giving an example of case where inappropriate handling of comparative uncertainties will lead to a misleading result for…

Principles to avoid policy paralysis

Global environmental change challenges are to their nature complex, and complexity seems to be somewhat of a buzzword in contemporary sustainability science. But too much focus on complex interactions can create a hurdle for appropriate policy decisions and even cause an uncertainty paralysis, signified by a failure to act even in the face of looming threats. Fret not, however, in a new article in the…

Quantified uncertainties in comparative Life Cycle Assessment: what can be concluded?

Interpretation of comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results can be challenging in the presence of uncertainty. To aid in interpreting such results under the goal of any comparative LCA, we aim to provide guidance to practitioners by gaining insights into uncertainty-statistics methods (USMs). We review five USMs—discernibility analysis, impact category relevance, overlap area of probability distributions, null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), and modified NHST–and provide…

Untangling social-ecological interactions: A methods portfolio approach to tackling contemporary sustainability challenges in fisheries

Meeting the objectives of sustainable fisheries management requires attention to the complex interactions between humans, institutions and ecosystems that give rise to fishery outcomes. Traditional approaches to studying fisheries often do not fully capture, nor focus on these complex interactions between people and ecosystems. Despite advances in the scope and scale of interactions encompassed by more holistic methods, for example ecosystem-based fisheries management approaches, no…

Pre-calculated LCI systems with uncertainties cannot be used in comparative LCA

Green Certificate Trading, Renewable Portfolio Standard and Tax Burden Reductions

The article is in Chinese with an English summary: The national-wide issuance and trading of green certificates has been initiated to improve the renewable energy integration and reduce the tax burden in the feed-in tariff scheme. To test the latter effects in green certificate trading, we construct the certificate pricing model to analyze the market equilibrium with or without renewable portfolio standard requirements, and compare…

The water and diamond paradox and green NNP as a welfare indicator

A classical structure that is used to analyze the water and diamond paradox provides an intuitive underpinning to the modern theory of welfare measurement in a growth context. John Law’s and Adam Smith’s concepts of value-in-use and value-in-exchange have modern aggregated counterparts. Complemented with Dupuit’s extension in terms of a utility function with a declining marginal utility, they are close to enough to provide the…

Life cycle assessment of Indonesian canned crab (Portunus pelagicus)

Indonesia is an archipelagic country with abundant marine wealth that makes it the world’s second largest producer of fish after China. While most of Indonesia’s capture marine fisheries (80%) are consumed domestically, around 90% of blue swimming crab (BSC) products are exported, mainly in cans. This makes up almost half of all BSC products on the global market, with the United States and the European…

Comparative Politics and Environmental Taxation: Theory and Quasi-Experimental Evidence

Ecological Economics: Paradigm or Perspective