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Image of Journal of Applied Nonlinear Dynamics
ISSN:2325-6192 (print)
ISSN:2325-6206 (online)
Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management
António Mendes Lopes (editor), Jiazhong Zhang(editor)
António Mendes Lopes (editor)

University of Porto, Portugal

Email: aml@fe.up.pt

Jiazhong Zhang (editor)

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710049, China

Fax: +86 29 82668723 Email: jzzhang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Embodied Services of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Case Study of the EU Member Countries

Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 4(3) (2016) 269--286 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2016.09.003

Meirong Su$^{1}$, Ying Zheng$^{2}$, Stephan Pauleit$^{3}$, Yan Hao$^{2}$, Xuemei Yin$^{2}$, Gengyuan Liu$^{2}$, Yan Zhang$^{2}$

$^{1}$ School of Eco-environment and Architectural Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China

$^{2}$ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

$^{3}$ Strategic Landscape Planning and Management, Technical University of Munich, Freising 85354, Germany

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Abstract

Decreasing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is a globally agreed goal for mitigating climate change. Considering previous disputes between countries and the negative emotions subconsciously injected into those responsible for the management of the problem, it is useful to reconsider how to ensure that more countries actively contribute to climate change mitigation. Here, we propose a new concept of ‘embodied services of GHG emissions’ to express the underlying services associated with GHG emissions. Based on a developed assessment framework and indicators, we rank the 28 EU member countries in terms of embodied services of GHG emissions. Analyzing these countries’ results geospatially presented an archaeopteryx pattern, where countries on the two wings have the highest levels of embodied services while those on the back and tail have the lowest. The results are also analyzed for each country over time allowing efforts made by those countries to be displayed in different aspects. We believe that the proposed concept has effective resolution for both spatial and temporal scales. We anticipate that countries’ willingness to engage in climate change mitigation will be stimulated by targeting improvement of embodied services of GHG emissions as an additional, beneficial goal, which also embodies equality and incentivizing aspects.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Research Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0502806), the Fund for Innovative Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51421065), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41371482). Special thanks should also be given to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

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