Issue on Absolute Reductions in Material Throughput, Energy Use and Emissions

Four papers by Wuppertal Institute's scientists have been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, volume 132 (2016), which compiles papers on absolute reductions in material throughput, energy use and emissions.

"The nutritional footprint - integrated methodology using environmental and health indicators to indicate potential for absolute reduction of natural resource use in the field of food and nutrition" presents the tool of the Nutritional Footprint, which is based on the implementation of the concept of a sustainable diet in decision-making processes and supporting a resource-light society.

The paper "Transport reduction by crowdsourced deliveries a library case in Finland" presents a case study of applying crowdsourcing to library deliveries. Crowdsourced delivery means that citizens deliver goods to each other along their way, ideally with minimal detour.

In the article "Drivers and barriers to return and recycling of mobile phones. Case studies of communication and collection campaigns" the drivers and barriers to returning and recycling mobile phones and their consideration in existing communication and collection campaigns are analysed. Results show that economic incentives as well as education and communication play a very important role in initiating more sustainable behavioural patterns in the ICT sector, whereas the role of emotional factors is often underestimated.

A new household-level methodology for the transition towards sustainability is presented in the paper "Household-level transition methodology towards sustainable material footprints". The methodology includes measuring the resource use of households on a micro level, testing relevant measures towards a one-planet resource use, and developing mainstreaming options in co-operation with households and providers of services, products and infrastructures.

All are available for download via ScienceDirect.