Version 1
: Received: 6 April 2019 / Approved: 8 April 2019 / Online: 8 April 2019 (10:35:03 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 11 June 2019 / Approved: 12 June 2019 / Online: 12 June 2019 (05:54:02 CEST)
Yamasaki, J.; Ikaga, T.; Itsubo, N. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability2019, 11, 4045.
Yamasaki, J.; Ikaga, T.; Itsubo, N. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4045.
Yamasaki, J.; Ikaga, T.; Itsubo, N. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability2019, 11, 4045.
Yamasaki, J.; Ikaga, T.; Itsubo, N. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4045.
Abstract
It is important for enterprises to decide their environmental policies after carefully examining their future paths based on the relationship between the environment and the economy. This study focused on Japanese minimum administrative divisions (municipalities) and attempted to quantify the annual environmental efficiency of production activities within each division according to the theory of life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA). This study leverages the assessment theory LIME2, which is an endpoint-type LCIA method developed in 2010 that integrates environmental loads for certain impact categories, such as global warming and land use into a simple indicator by monetary unit. First, annual environmental impact assessments were conducted for all Japanese municipalities based on statistical information that was reliable, verifiable, and comparable. Next, the environmental efficiency of productivity for each division was conceptualized by dividing the gross domestic product by the environmental damage amounts as calculated above. Assessment results for each municipality were placed on a map of Japan in order to visualize the regionality of each indicator. The findings revealed in this study will aid public administrators in their decision-making process with respect to environmental policies.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
