About this Research Topic

Background

Since entering the Anthropocene, the rapid development of the social economy has caused an unprecedented impact on the Earth system. Therefore, it has become essential to understand the complex relationship between socioeconomic development and the natural environment. One of the methods, used to track the effect of human activities on the environment, is environmental footprint assessment. Since this method was introduced, environmental footprints indicators have been applied to measure the impact of human activities on various types of resources, such as water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.

Analysis of environmental footprints plays a vital role in quantifying the environmental impact of human activities on the Earth system and prioritizing actions that will advance the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Socioeconomic transitions, such as industrial transformation, energy transition, human migration, and dietary changes; may have a significant effect on environmental footprints. Therefore, identifying how socioeconomic factors affect the environmental footprints is crucial, to form policies that will mitigate the anthropogenic impact on the regional and global scale, thus helping accomplish SDGs.

For this Research Topic, we seek a range of empirical, theoretical, and review papers from a multidisciplinary perspective, focused on exploring the relationship between socioeconomic transition and environmental footprints. We invite potential authors to submit manuscripts that provide analysis on a variety of environmental footprints, with a particular focus on elements such as carbon, water, and nitrogen.

We welcome contributions that investigate environmental footprints at the global, national, regional, and product levels. They may explore the effects of demographic and economic growth and industrial and energy transition on environmental footprints. Papers may provide a retrospective analysis of past patterns or a prediction of environmental footprints evolution in socioeconomic scenarios. We are also interested in papers that approach this topic from different angles, such as the impact of human migration and dietary changes on environmental footprints. We consider contributions at any geographic scale and location.

Themes of interest for this Research Topic include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Analysis of a broad range of environmental footprints of social metabolism.
• Empirical evidence demonstrating how demographic and economic changes impact environmental footprints (e.g. changes in population structure, industrial structure, technology, education, etc.)
• New methodological development and application, including econometric tools, input-output analysis, life-cycle assessment, material flow analysis, scenario analysis, optimal decision making, and other empirical and theoretical models
• Systematic reviews of previous studies that summarize the state-of-art knowledge and propose future prospects for SDG realization

Keywords: socioeconomic transition, environmental footprints, modelling, environmental sustainability assessment

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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