A Theory of the Environment and Economic Systems A Unified Framework for Ecological Economic Analysis & Decision Support

About this book

A number of tools for environmental analysis and decision support have been developed over time, including life-cycle assessment, substance-flow analysis, environmental impact and risk assessment. Many of these tools have different economic systems - a product, a regional substance-flow, a factory or emission pattern - as their object. This work aims to reconcile and unify the many different tools for environmental analysis and decision support into one meta-tool. The subject of this study revolves around two problems: the attribution problem - which environmental problems are to be attributed to which economic activities; and the position problem - what is the relative position of a number of the various tools for environmental decision support? Both these problems can be resolved by the construction of a general framework and specific methodological steps within the framework. The main focus of the study is on the methodology.

Contents

Part 1 Introduction: the questions; the scientific context; outlook. Part 2 Economic systems: introduction; economic processes; on solving the first fundamental equation; towards concrete tools for environmental analysis and decision-support - inventory analysis. Part 3 The environment: introduction; environmental processes; clusters of environmental processes; environmental impacts; the environmental problem; towards concrete tools for environmental analysis and decision-support - impact analysis. Part 4 Conclusion: the answers; further reflections; summary of findings.

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