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A global standard method for measuring environmental loads in administrative divisions has not been officially established for environmental accounting at the local government level. As a consequence, environmental accounting has not been adopted by local governments as widely as private companies around the world. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is one aspect of research in the field of life-cycle assessment, whereby environmental loads throughout the life cycle of products and services are measured in a quantitative way. Research in which environmental loads are determined according to geographical location has become more and more important. This study therefore focused on administrative divisions in 42 countries, most of which are OECD members, and attempted to quantify the annual environmental loads emitted within each division in the year 2015, using the global-scale LCIA method. For this, this study leveraged the assessment theory Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 3 (LIME3). This method is able to calculate assessment results in monetary units while integrating the environmental loads of several impact categories, such as climate change and land use, based on environmental conditions and environmental science. Using statistical information that was reliable, verifiable, and comparable, this study calculated environmental loads in administrative divisions in 42 countries. The total environmental damage amount for the 42 countries was calculated to be 5.22 trillion USD. The top five amounts were land use (1.76 trillion USD), water consumption (1.36 trillion USD), forest resource consumption (0.70 trillion USD), climate change (0.52 trillion USD), and fossil fuel consumption (0.50 trillion USD). When the damage amounts were divided by the area or population of each division, the average amount per unit area for all Territorial level 2 (TL2) regions was calculated to be 67,300 USD/km2 (area-weighted average), and the average of amount per capita was calculated 1,250 USD/capita (population-weighted average). These damage amounts per unit area and per capita were placed on a world map according to impact category to visualize the regionality of environmental loads worldwide. The amount per unit area for most categories showed a trend similar to population distribution around the world, and the values for land use also showed a trend indicative of local agricultural activity in some countries. In particular, the amount per capita for climate change as well as the total of all categories showed a contrasting trend to the amount per unit area, and the value tended to be relatively lower in densely populated areas around the world. The variation coefficient for the damage amounts per unit area and per capita was calculated for each region in order to statistically capture the disparities of environmental loads according to impact category. The disparities of environmental loads that were deeply related to...
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS IN 42 COUNTRIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GLOBAL-SCALE LCIA METHOD “LIME3”. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 2020, 85, 67 -77.
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS IN 42 COUNTRIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GLOBAL-SCALE LCIA METHOD “LIME3”. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ). 2020; 85 (767):67-77.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS IN 42 COUNTRIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GLOBAL-SCALE LCIA METHOD “LIME3”." Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 85, no. 767: 67-77.
In recent years, Japanese businesses have been increasingly adopting the practice of environmental accounting, which is the reporting of the firm’s environmental impacts in monetary terms. However, whereas private companies can make use of the Environmental Accounting Guidelines 2005 published by the Ministry of the Environment, no official environmental accounting guidelines have been provided by the government of Japan for public agencies, such as local governments. Thus, this study focused on Japanese municipalities, and proposed a unified methodology based on the endpoint-type LCIA method LIME2 (Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 2) for calculating the effects of environmental conservation, which is one item used by administrative divisions in Japan for environmental accounting. In a previous study, we conducted an annual environmental impact assessment of Japanese municipalities nationwide within the framework of LIME2. This study integrates the knowledge gained from that study with the basic tenets of the Environmental Accounting Guidelines 2005, and furthermore contributes unique ideas on interpreting the assessment results. The Environmental Accounting Guidelines 2005 state that the effects of environmental conservation should be calculated by subtracting the environmental load of base period from the environmental load of the current period. Accordingly, in this study the environmental conservation effect of a given administrative division was determined by taking the difference in the environmental impact assessment results of that municipality between two different years. In addition, two principles were proposed for assessing the location of environmental loads related to administrative divisions: territorial occurrence and territorial benefit. This study furthermore proposed that environmental loads from all Japanese municipalities expressed in monetary terms in accordance with LIME2 shall be called the “damage amount on environmental assets,” and that local governments should take responsibility for reducing their damage amounts evenly. The assessment indicators for calculating environmental load were tentatively selected based on the inventories provided by LIME2 as well as the availability of statistical information at the municipal level. When the methodology was applied to the city of Yokohama, the total damage amounts for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 were calculated as 96.1, 99.6, 97.6, and 97.2 billion yen, respectively, with the total environmental conservation effect over 15 years calculated as -1.07 billion yen. Because some LIME2 assessment categories are related to certain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations—including Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), Goal 13 (Climate Action), and Goal 15 (Life On Land)—this study attempted to apply the assessment results of Yokohama to the framework of the SDGs. The results showed that the damage amounts related to Goals 9 and 15 decreased by 4.51 and 0.862 billion yen, respectively, and the damage amounts related to Goals 3, 12, and 13 increased by 5.58, 0.889, and 8.75 billion yen, respectively, over 15 years. These results indicate that the actual environmental loads of certain administrative divisions in Japan can be expressed in monetary terms, thereby providing primary knowledge necessary for developing standardized environmental accounting guidelines for Japanese municipalities.
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. A NEW PROPOSAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITY WITH THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2”. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 2020, 85, 225 -235.
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. A NEW PROPOSAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITY WITH THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2”. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ). 2020; 85 (769):225-235.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "A NEW PROPOSAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITY WITH THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2”." Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 85, no. 769: 225-235.
In the environmental accounting of local governments in Japan, it is considered important to introduce the concept of eco-efficiency into the assessment of each industry and administrative division. Therefore, in this study, eco-efficiency assessment by industry was conducted uniformly for all Japanese municipalities based on two indicators: economic value and environmental load. For these, the respective indicators were gross regional product (GRP) and amount of environmental damage, as defined in a previous study. That study quantified annual environmental loads in Japanese municipalities within the framework of the endpoint-type life cycle impact assessment method “LIME2 (Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 2)”. In this method, assessment results are calculated in monetary units called the “Eco-index Yen” (unit: Japanese yen) and environmental loads of several impact categories are integrated, such as “global warming” and “land use, ” based on environmental conditions and knowledge unique to Japan. Another indicator, eco-efficiency, was defined as a division of monetary units (GRP divided by amount of environmental damage), as calculated for wide regions and individual municipalities in Japan in order to discuss their situation from the perspective of economics and the environment. Based on reliable, verifiable, and comparable statistical information, each index value was calculated for all industries throughout Japan in 2015: GRP was 2.28 million yen/capita, environmental damage was 32.6 thousand yen/capita, and eco-efficiency was 69.8. The assessment results of all municipalities were placed on a map to visualize the regionality of eco-efficiency, which revealed industry trends nationwide. For example, the eco-efficiency of “manufacturing” showed a trend that reflected the major local products in each area. The eco-efficiency value tended to be higher in areas that had active automobile and electronic component industries because these products produced relatively large benefits compared with their environmental loads. Next, the study focused on 21 large municipalities, including government-designated cities, located in representative urban areas in Japan. The results showed that the eco-efficiency of many industries in most of the 21 municipalities exceeded the national average. This suggests that the eco-efficiency of each industry tends to be higher in more densely populated cities in Japan. This hypothesis is potentially important for discussing “centralization of city functions” from the perspective of industry structure. Verification of this hypothesis will be investigated in the future. Taken together, these results indicate that it has become possible to quantify the real situation of each industry throughout Japan for both individual municipalities and regions. No studies to date have quantified the eco-efficiency of each industry in all Japanese municipalities monetarily and uniformly—this study is the first to provide an example from each industry throughout Japan in the field of environmental science.
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. ECO-EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT BY INDUSTRY FOR JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES NATIONWIDE BASED ON GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 2020, 85, 745 -755.
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. ECO-EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT BY INDUSTRY FOR JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES NATIONWIDE BASED ON GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ). 2020; 85 (776):745-755.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "ECO-EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT BY INDUSTRY FOR JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES NATIONWIDE BASED ON GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE." Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 85, no. 776: 745-755.
In Japan, a unified system for measuring environmental loads in administrative areas has not been officially established. In a previous study, the authors focused on Japanese minimum administrative divisions (municipalities) and quantified the annual environmental loads attributable to each division in the year 2015 using the LCIA method. For this, the study leveraged the assessment theory of the Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 2 (LIME2). This method is able to calculate assessment results in monetary units via the so-called “Eco-index Yen” (unit: Japanese yen) while integrating the environmental loads of several impact categories, such as “Climate change” and “Land use”. Based on this, the present study sought to conduct the same assessment for each year from 2000 to 2015, and visualize the temporal changes in environmental loads within all Japanese municipalities by impact categories and by type of business. Using statistical information that was reliable, verifiable, and comparable, the total environmental damage amount for the whole of Japan was calculated to be 8.40, 8.47, 7.50, and 7.41 trillion yen in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015, respectively. This indicates that damage amounts were generally on a downward trend throughout the 16-year period. Focusing on impact categories, the damage amounts for five categories, “Photochemical ozone, ” “Resources consumption, ” “Acidification, ” “Atmosphere pollution, ” and “Waste (domestic), ” decreased every five-year period. Focusing on the type of business, the damage amounts for “Primary Industries (Agriculture, etc.)” and “Secondary Industries (Manufacturing, etc.)” decreased every five-year period, and the damage amount for “Tertiary Industries (Service industry, etc.)” began to decline in 2005. This suggests that damage amounts reflect the effects of environmental policies and the activities of industries over time around the country. Next, the temporal changes in damage amounts were placed on a map of Japan to visualize patterns across municipalities. In overall terms, declining damage was discerned across many municipalities between 2005 and 2010. This tendency was particularly pronounced in the “Climate change” and “Atmosphere pollution” impact categories and the “Construction” and “Manufacturing” industries. This likely reflects not only local environmental policy interventions, but also the global financial crisis that began in 2008. From these results, it became possible to visualize the change over time in environmental loads based on social factors related to each period in Japan. This study provides information that can be used for making decisions about environmental policies, as well as primary knowledge needed to develop standardized environmental accounting guidelines for Japanese municipalities.
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. ANNUAL NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2” (PART 2): VISUALIZATION OF TEMPORAL CHANGES. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 2020, 85, 523 -533.
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. ANNUAL NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2” (PART 2): VISUALIZATION OF TEMPORAL CHANGES. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ). 2020; 85 (773):523-533.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "ANNUAL NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2” (PART 2): VISUALIZATION OF TEMPORAL CHANGES." Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 85, no. 773: 523-533.
Governments at different levels need to appreciate the environmental impacts of socioeconomic activities within their boundaries. They also need to decide relevant environmental policies after carefully examining future pathways based on the relationship between the environment and the economy. This study focuses on Japanese basic administrative divisions (i.e., municipalities) and attempts to quantify the annual environmental efficiency of processes and socioeconomic activities within each of these divisions using life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) concepts. A key element of the LCIA is the integration of different environmental loads across various impact categories, such as global warming, air pollution, and land use, and their representation through a simple indicator. First, we conduct annual environmental impact assessments for all Japanese municipalities based on reliable, verifiable, and comparable statistical information. Next, we estimate the environmental efficiency of socioeconomic activities within each division by dividing the gross regional product (GRP) with the environmental damage amounts calculated through LIME2, an LCIA-based tool tailored for Japan. Assessment results for each municipality are visualized on maps of Japan in order to highlight the spatial distribution of the values for each indicator. The findings of this study can aid local, regional, and national governments in Japan to inform environmental policy design and decision-making at different spatial levels.
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4045 .
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (15):4045.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2019. "Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product." Sustainability 11, no. 15: 4045.
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.
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. Annual Nationwide Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impact and Gross Regional Product. 2019, 1 .
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. Annual Nationwide Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impact and Gross Regional Product. . 2019; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2019. "Annual Nationwide Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impact and Gross Regional Product." , no. : 1.
In Japan, a unified system to measure environmental loads in administrative areas has not been officially established for environmental accounting at the local government level. As a consequence, environmental accounting has not been adopted by local governments as widely as private companies. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is one aspect of research in the field of life-cycle assessment, whereby environmental loads throughout the life cycle of products and services are measured in a quantitative way. Research in which environmental loads are determined according to geographic location has become more and more important. This study therefore focused on Japanese minimum administrative divisions (municipalities) and attempted to quantify the annual environmental loads emitted within each division in the year 2015 using the LCIA method. For this, this study leveraged the assessment theory Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 2 (LIME2). This method is able to calculate assessment results in monetary units called the “Eco-index Yen” (unit: Japanese yen) while integrating the environmental loads of several impact categories, such as “Global warming” and “Land use”, based on environmental conditions and knowledge unique to Japan. Using statistical information that was reliable, verifiable, and comparable, the environmental damage amount for the whole of Japan was calculated to be 8.53 trillion yen. The top five amounts were “Global warming” (2.82 trillion yen), “Land use” (2.33 trillion yen), “Waste (domestic)” (1.24 trillion yen), “Biological toxicity” (0.63 trillion yen), and “Atmospheric pollution” (0.61 trillion yen). When the damage amounts were divided by the population of each municipality, the average amount per capita for all Japanese municipalities was calculated to be 67,100 yen per capita (population-weighted average). These damage amounts per capita were placed on a map of Japan according to type of impact category and type of business to visualize the regionality of environmental loads nationwide. The values for “Global warming” and “Land use” tended to be lower in the central parts of large urban areas, and the values for “Global warming” and “Atmospheric pollution” tended to be higher in areas where industries are concentrated. The values for “Primary industries” (which include agriculture) as well as “Manufacturing” were particularly indicative of local industrial activity. Tendencies related to population distribution and industrial activity were easy to see from the map. Next, standard deviation and variation coefficient for the damage amounts per capita were calculated for each region in order to statistically capture the disparities of environmental loads according to impact category and type of business. The disparities of environmental loads that were deeply related to housing, such as “Waste (domestic)” and “Land use”, tended to be...
Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. ANNUAL NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2”. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 2019, 84, 955 -965.
AMA StyleJunya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. ANNUAL NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2”. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ). 2019; 84 (764):955-965.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJunya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2019. "ANNUAL NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENDPOINT-TYPE LCIA METHOD “LIME2”." Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) 84, no. 764: 955-965.