Eco-efficiency and Its Terminology

Eco-efficiency has been defined as a general goal of creating value while decreasing environmental impact. Leaving out the normative part of this concept, the empirical part refers to a ratio between environmental impact and economic cost or value. Two basic choices must be made in defining practica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of industrial ecology Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 43 - 46
Main Authors Huppes, Gjalt, Ishikawa, Masanobu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New Haven Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.10.2005
Subjects
Eco-efficiency
Ecology
Efficiency
Environment
Environmental economics
Environmental impact
Environmental management
Environmental policy
Industrial economics
Jargon
Natural environment
Studies
Terminology
Value creation
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Summary:Eco-efficiency has been defined as a general goal of creating value while decreasing environmental impact. Leaving out the normative part of this concept, the empirical part refers to a ratio between environmental impact and economic cost or value. Two basic choices must be made in defining practical eco-efficiency: which variable is in the denominator and which is in the numerator; and whether to specify environmental impact or improvement and value created or cost. Distinguishing between two situations, the general one of value creation and the specific one of environmental improvement efforts, and leaving the numerator-denominator choice to the user, as diverging practices have developed, four basic types of eco-efficiency result: environmental intensity and environmental productivity in the realm of value creation; and environmental improvement cost and environmental cost-effectiveness in the realm of environmental improvement measures. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
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ISSN:1088-1980
1530-9290
DOI:10.1162/108819805775247891