[SE08] Ecological footprint
Key message
In 2014, the ecological footprint of Slovenia was 4.68 gha/inhabitant. For such a lifestyle 2.78 Earths are required to provide the regenerative capacity consumed by residents of Slovenia. This places Slovenia in the average of the EU countries. The carbon footprint accounts for 60% of Slovenia´s total ecological footprint and comes mainly from the residential building (36%) and personal transportation. In order to effectively reduce this share pointing towards energy efficiency, residential building is one of the key hotsports and entry points for footprint reduction.
Definition
This indicator shows the ecological footprint, biocapacity and environmental deficit in Slovenia, some European countries, the USA and the United Arab Emirates. The ecological footprint, biocapacity and environmental deficit are expressed in a standardised unit of biologically productive area, i.e. global hectare (gha) per capita.
An ecological footprint is a land area required by a population to sustain its way of life. Carbon dioxide emissions and ocean surface area are part of the footprint. An ecological footprint compares biologically productive areas with all available areas, including the sea. The complexity of the ecological footprint and aspects that are taken into account in its calculation are presented in the figure below.
Source: GFN, Footprint for Nations, 2011
Biocapacity represents the area of land or sea that is required for the production of food, fibres and wood and for absorption of carbon dioxide and is capable of self-regeneration. Considering that each global hectare generates an equal amount of biological value, productivity of a global hectare equals the average productivity of the entire global biologically productive area. In this calculation, only the current productivity of the biosphere is taken into account (without its reduction from potential degradation, which will be reflected in reduced biocapacity in the future).
Environmental deficit is a value calculated as the difference between the ecological footprint and biocapacity or biological capacity. By using the ecological footprint calculation, we can estimate how many planets would be required for the survival of the current global population when the current quality of life, current development of technology and bioproductive capacity of the earth are taken into account.
Ecological footprint is an indicator of sustainable development. The European Commission presented it to the European Parliament within the framework of revising the sustainable development strategy (June 2005), primarily with the intention of emphasising its importance in monitoring the environmental component of development. Since ecological footprint does not consider water, which is used excessively by the entire global population, as a renewable natural resource, the need to calculate a water footprint emerged in 2002. Ecological and water footprints represent part of the information essential to planning sustainable development. Therefore, they can be used as indicators that complement each other as they reflect the sustainability of global consumption, thus essentially affecting the value of natural capital.
Charts
GFN, Technical Report: The Ecological Footprint of Slovenia, 2018.
| Buid-up land [gha per capita] | Carbon [gha per capita] | Crop land [gha per capita] | Fishing Ground [gha per capita] | Forest Products [gha per capita] | Grazing Land [gha per capita] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 0.02 | 2.13 | 0.63 | 0.03 | 0.33 | 0.17 |
| 1995 | 0.03 | 2.99 | 0.75 | 0.04 | 0.56 | 0.15 |
| 2000 | 0.03 | 2.97 | 0.73 | 0.04 | 0.61 | 0.21 |
| 2005 | 0.03 | 3.82 | 0.77 | 0.04 | 0.61 | 0.15 |
| 2010 | 0.02 | 3.64 | 0.68 | 0.05 | 0.56 | 0.20 |
| 2012 | 0.02 | 3.35 | 0.63 | 0.05 | 0.65 | 0.18 |
| 2013 | 0.02 | 3.17 | 0.59 | 0.05 | 0.73 | 0.18 |
| 2014 | 0.02 | 2.84 | 0.66 | 0.05 | 0.93 | 0.18 |
GFN, Footprint for Nations, 2018.
| Grazing land [gha per capita] | Forest Land [gha per capita] | Build-up land [gha per capita] | Cropland [gha per capita] | Fishing Ground [gha per capita] | Carbon Footprint [gha per capita] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food | 0.10 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.36 | 0.02 | 0.14 |
| Housing | 0.01 | 0.50 | 0.02 | 0.09 | 0.01 | 1.18 |
| Personal Transportation | 0.01 | 0.09 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.65 |
| Goods | 0.04 | 0.15 | 0.02 | 0.08 | 0.01 | 0.34 |
| Services | 0.02 | 0.14 | 0.02 | 0.08 | 0.01 | 0.48 |
GFN, Footprint for Nations, 2018.
| 2005 [gha per capita] | 2006 [gha per capita] | 2007 [gha per capita] | 2010 [gha per capita] | 2012 [gha per capita] | 2013 [gha per capita] | 2014 [gha per capita] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 3.36 | 3.27 | 3.13 | 2.90 | 2.32 | 2.71 | 2.80 |
| Hungary | 4.34 | 4.13 | 3.57 | 3.13 | 2.94 | 3.27 | 3.60 |
| Bulgaria | 3.72 | 4.14 | 4.02 | 3.80 | 3.38 | 3.19 | 3.17 |
| Slovakia | 4.73 | 4.60 | 5.20 | 4.58 | 4.20 | 4.46 | 4.20 |
| Poland | 4.40 | 4.48 | 4.92 | 4.82 | 4.46 | 4.31 | 4.44 |
| Lithuania | 4.63 | 4.80 | 5.13 | 4.93 | 5.38 | 5.12 | 5.80 |
| United Kingdom | 6.13 | 6.22 | 6.24 | 5.38 | 4.90 | 4.93 | 4.80 |
| France | 5.44 | 5.45 | 5.57 | 5.25 | 4.96 | 4.82 | 4.70 |
| italy | 5.81 | 5.86 | 5.78 | 5.33 | 4.62 | 4.42 | 4.29 |
| Germany | 5.20 | 5.45 | 5.46 | 5.43 | 5.16 | 5.18 | 5.05 |
| Slovenia | 5.43 | 5.71 | 6.03 | 5.15 | 4.88 | 4.74 | 4.68 |
| Austria | 5.43 | 5.71 | 6.03 | 5.15 | 4.88 | 4.74 | 4.68 |
| Spain | 5.75 | 5.91 | 5.98 | 4.50 | 3.80 | 3.99 | 3.81 |
| Greece | 6.13 | 6.28 | 6.56 | 6.26 | 4.51 | 4.12 | 4.29 |
| Latvia | 5.22 | 5.74 | 6.39 | 4.22 | 4.84 | 5.15 | 5.63 |
| Czech republic | 6.14 | 6.42 | 6.44 | 6.21 | 5.32 | 5.49 | 5.60 |
| Sweden | 8.46 | 5.54 | 6.99 | 6.73 | 6.28 | 6.15 | 6.59 |
| Netherlands | 6.77 | 7.03 | 7.05 | 6.51 | 6.35 | 5.65 | 5.92 |
| Finland | 7.88 | 7.30 | 7.35 | 6.55 | 6.20 | 5.85 | 6.09 |
| Ireland | 5.90 | 6.37 | 6.11 | 5.03 | 4.51 | 6.33 | 4.71 |
| Estonia | 7.31 | 8.02 | 7.85 | 6.08 | 6.95 | 6.10 | 6.97 |
| Belgium | 7.64 | 7.65 | 7.68 | 7.16 | 7.21 | 7.08 | 6.71 |
| USA | 7.64 | 7.65 | 7.68 | 7.16 | 7.21 | 7.08 | 8.37 |
| Denmark | 8.24 | 7.94 | 7.95 | 6.78 | 6.24 | 6.38 | 7.13 |
| United Arab Emirates | 11.87 | 12.25 | 11.96 | 9.87 | 9.18 | 9.53 | 9.75 |
Goals
- To protect the Earth's biocapacity in order to preserve the quality and diversity of life, while limiting the use of natural resources;
- to reduce the environmental deficit of the planet and consequently pressures on the environment;
- to prevent and reduce environmental pollution and to encourage sustainable production and consumption in order to decouple economic growth from pressures on the environment (transport, energy, construction, use of natural resources);
- to use resources more efficiently and to reduce the environmental intensity of consumption per inhabitant.