E4-emergy evaluation of South Korea's sustainability progression since signing the Kyoto Protocol
Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Since signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1998, the South Korean government has
promoted a series of climate policy instruments by implementing five comprehensive
measure plans. “Have these plans been making any meaningful changes in the
sustainability of South Korea?” To assess the progression of sustainability since the
country began to develop those policy measures, this study adopted a conceptual
framework for determining sustainability, which is called the ‘E4’ (economy, energy,
environment, & equity) approach. To test whether each of the four aspects of E4
sustainability has been improving or declining, a specific method named ‘E4-Emergy
evaluation’ was devised. E4-Emergy evaluation is based on emergy (spelled with an
“m”) an accounting system that is expected to better assess a country’s sustainability
in terms of its economy, energy, environment, and equity than can be obtained from
the conventional energy accounts. Results of the evaluation were classified into each
of the four ‘E’ sustainability categories. The indices and indicators synthesized from
the results are compared with key well-known sustainability indicators that are
produced from conventional energy accounting methods. In addition, the results of the
E4-Emergy evaluation of South Korea were compared with those of 9 countries that
have comparable emergy studies. After the evaluation and comparison, a number of
policy implications are identified.