Handbook of Sustainable Development

Second Edition

2nd edition

9781782544692 Edward Elgar Publishing

Edited by Giles Atkinson, Professor of Environmental Policy, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Simon Dietz, Co-Director, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Director, ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, and Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Eric Neumayer, Professor of Environment and Development, Department of Geography and Environment and Associate, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science and Matthew Agarwala, Senior Research Associate, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), University of East Anglia and Doctoral Researcher, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Publication Date: 2014 ISBN: 978 1 78254 469 2 Extent: 624 pp

This timely and important Handbook takes stock of progress made in our understanding of what sustainable development actually is and how it can be measured and achieved.

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Critical Acclaim

Contributors

Contents

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This timely and important Handbook takes stock of progress made in our understanding of what sustainable development actually is and how it can be measured and achieved.

This fully updated and revised second edition captures recent developments in the field, including 14 new chapters by internationally renowned authors from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. The authors explain that the gap between public commitments to sustainable development and real-world action towards achieving it is still significant, but not insurmountable, and that opportunities do exist to reduce that margin. Contributors synthesize the established knowledge and clearly present cutting-edge concepts from the frontier of sustainability research with direct relevance to theory and practice. Topics covered include: the fundamentals of sustainability; equity within and between generations; the capital approach; green growth; measurements and indicators of sustainability; climate change and wellbeing.

This accessible, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to exploring the theory and practice of sustainable development will prove an invaluable reference tool for researchers, students, academics and practitioners with an interest in the field of sustainable development.

Critical Acclaim

‘This Handbook demonstrates the well-established body of thinking on sustainable development which now exists, and its tighter focus today on limits to current economic growth patterns. But while there have been lots of big global debates on planetary boundaries, and thresholds for critical resources, there has been little progress on the ground and in getting the politics right. Contributing authors show that many of the models we use to understand and manage relations between planet, people and profit are hopelessly mis-specified. But better tools exist, such as sustainability indicators, national environmental accounts, and the ecological footprint to help bridge this gap.’
– Camilla Toulmin, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK

‘The Handbook of Sustainable Development comprehensively explores our understanding of ‘sustainable development’ in a
holistic and multidisciplinary approach. . . Overall the Handbook of Sustainable Development is well-written and interesting, and
thus it is highly recommended.’
– Daniel Gaita´n-Cremaschi, European Review of Agricultural Economics

‘There is now wide recognition that current patterns of economic development are already putting great strains on resources, environment and the climate and that, if continued, the consequences could undermine or reverse past development gains and, possibly, lead to catastrophe. In other words our current paths are unsustainable. This Handbook provides a very thorough, thoughtful and valuable contribution to our understanding of the possible meanings of sustainable development, how it can be understood and calibrated, and characteristics of and choices around alternative paths. This is a subject that should be at the centre of the study of development and encompasses many disciplines. And it should be a subject that commands the attention of all those who think carefully about our future well-being; they will find this Handbook fascinating and essential reading.’
– Lord Nicholas Stern, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

‘The second edition of the Handbook of Sustainable Development illustrates how sustainable development has blossomed into an entirely new problem set for twenty-first century environment dilemmas. It cals into question conceptions of national and international prosperity long employed by elected officials and government analysts, and presents a cascade of methods for integrating the value of non-human nature into policy decisions over unconventional timelines. ... the Handbook could easily serve as handy introduction for academics and practitioners unfamiliar with the economics of sustainable development at the national and international scale.’
–Claudia E. Henninger and Robert Boyer, Journal of Cleaner Productio

Contributors

Contributors: W.N. Adger, S. Afionis, J. Agyeman, M. Agarwala, J.A. Allan, G.B. Asheim, G. Atkinson, R.M. Auty, E.B. Barbier, A. Bowen, C. Carraro, M.A. Cole, G. Cranston, S. Dietz, L. Dupuy, O. Edenhofer, P. Ekins, S. Fankhauser, T.J. Foxon, A. Galli, G. Gosnell, A. Gouldson, R. Green, K. Hamilton, G. Heal, C. Hepburn, J. Hodbod, T. Jackson, S. Kadner, B. Kristrӧm, G.-M. Lange, P. Lawn, A. Lucchesi, G. Luderer, J.A. McGregor, G. McNicoll, J.C. Morales, Y. Mulugetta, E. Naikal, E. Neumayer, B.G. Norton, D. Pearce, A. Randall, Y. Rydin, G. Schwerhoff, R. Sullivan, A. Thompson, C.A. Tisdell, J.C.J.M. van den Bergh, J. Vogler, C. von Stechow, M. Wackernagel, A. Winkels, G. Yohe, Z. Zhang

Contents

Contents:

Preface

1. Introduction
Giles Atkinson, Simon Dietz, Eric Neumayer and Matthew Agarwala

PART I: FUNDAMENTALS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2. Comprehensive Wealth Accounting and Sustainable Development
Kirk Hamilton and Esther Naikal

3. Sustainable Development in Ecological Economics
Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh

4. Strong Sustainability and Critical Natural Capital
Paul Ekins

5. Ecosystems as Assets
Edward B. Barbier

6. Ecological and Social Resilience
W. Neil Adger and Jennifer Hodbod

PART II EQUITY ACROSS GENERATIONS
7. Ethics and Sustainable Development: The Virtues of an Adaptive Approach to Environmental Choice
Bryan G. Norton and Allen Thompson

8. Equitable Intergenerational Preferences and Sustainability
Geir B. Asheim

9. Evaluating Impacts in the Distant Future: Cost–benefit Analyses, Discounting, and the Alternatives
Cameron Hepburn and Greer Gosnell

10. Weak Sustainability, Conservation, and Precaution
Alan Randall

PART III EQUITY WITHIN GENERATIONS
11. Distribution, Sustainability and Environmental Policy
Geoffrey Heal and Bengt Kristrӧm

12. Environmental Justice and Sustainability
Julian Agyeman

13. Vulnerability, Poverty and Sustaining Well-being
W. Neil Adger and Alexandra Winkels

14. Human Wellbeing and Sustainability: Interdependent and Intertwined
J. Allister McGregor

PART IV: GROWTH, CONSUMPTION AND NATURAL CAPITAL
15. Green Growth
Alex Bowen

16. Economic Growth and the Environment
Matthew A. Cole and Andrea Lucchesi

17. The Resource Curse and Sustainable Development
Richard M. Auty

18. Sustainable Consumption
Tim Jackson

19. Population and Sustainability
Geoffrey McNicoll

20. Technological Lock-in and the Role of Innovation
Timothy J. Foxon

PART V: PROGRESS IN MEASURING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
21. Environmental Accounting
Glenn-Marie Lange

22. Genuine Saving as an Indicator of Sustainability
Kirk Hamilton and Esther Naikal

23. Measuring Sustainable Economic Welfare
Philip Lawn

24. Ecological Footprint Accounts
Mathis Wackernagel, Gemma Cranston, Juan Carlos Morales and Alessandro Galli

PART VI: THE INTERNATIONAL SETTING
25. International Trade and Sustainable Development
Louis Dupuy and Matthew Agarwala

26. International Environmental Cooperation
Carlo Carraro

27. The International Politics of Sustainable Development
John Vogler

28. Financing for Sustainable Development
Samuel Fankhauser and David Pearce

PART VII: DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY
29. Climate Change Adaptation: A Risk-management Approach
Gary W. Yohe

30. Linking Climate Change Mitigation Research to Sustainable Development
Ottmar Edenhofer, Susanne Kadner, Christoph von Stechow, Gregor Schwerhoff and Gunnar Luderer

31. Sustainable Development of Water Resources
Matthew Agarwala and Tony Allan

32. Sustainable Agriculture
Clement A. Tisdell

33. Sustainable Energy Policy
Richard Green, Yacob Mulugetta and ZhongXiang Zhang

34. Sustainable Cities and Local Sustainability
Yvonne Rydin

35. Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and the Governance of Business
Andy Gouldson, Rory Sullivan and Stavros Afionis

Index