ECO-EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT BY INDUSTRY FOR JAPANESE MUNICIPALITIES NATIONWIDE BASED ON GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

Abstract

 In the environmental accounting of local governments in Japan, it is considered important to introduce the concept of eco-efficiency into the assessment of each industry and administrative division. Therefore, in this study, eco-efficiency assessment by industry was conducted uniformly for all Japanese municipalities based on two indicators: economic value and environmental load. For these, the respective indicators were gross regional product (GRP) and amount of environmental damage, as defined in a previous study. That study quantified annual environmental loads in Japanese municipalities within the framework of the endpoint-type life cycle impact assessment method “LIME2 (Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 2)”. In this method, assessment results are calculated in monetary units called the “Eco-index Yen” (unit: Japanese yen) and environmental loads of several impact categories are integrated, such as “global warming” and “land use, ” based on environmental conditions and knowledge unique to Japan. Another indicator, eco-efficiency, was defined as a division of monetary units (GRP divided by amount of environmental damage), as calculated for wide regions and individual municipalities in Japan in order to discuss their situation from the perspective of economics and the environment.

 Based on reliable, verifiable, and comparable statistical information, each index value was calculated for all industries throughout Japan in 2015: GRP was 2.28 million yen/capita, environmental damage was 32.6 thousand yen/capita, and eco-efficiency was 69.8. The assessment results of all municipalities were placed on a map to visualize the regionality of eco-efficiency, which revealed industry trends nationwide. For example, the eco-efficiency of “manufacturing” showed a trend that reflected the major local products in each area. The eco-efficiency value tended to be higher in areas that had active automobile and electronic component industries because these products produced relatively large benefits compared with their environmental loads. Next, the study focused on 21 large municipalities, including government-designated cities, located in representative urban areas in Japan. The results showed that the eco-efficiency of many industries in most of the 21 municipalities exceeded the national average. This suggests that the eco-efficiency of each industry tends to be higher in more densely populated cities in Japan. This hypothesis is potentially important for discussing “centralization of city functions” from the perspective of industry structure. Verification of this hypothesis will be investigated in the future.

 Taken together, these results indicate that it has become possible to quantify the real situation of each industry throughout Japan for both individual municipalities and regions. No studies to date have quantified the eco-efficiency of each industry in all Japanese municipalities monetarily and uniformly—this study is the first to provide an example from each industry throughout Japan in the field of environmental science.