The successor states of the former Soviet Union present a unique opportunity to study the changes in the socio-metabolic profile of a cohort of nations which underwent a radical and contemporaneous shift in economic system. That change was from being regions within an economically integrated,...

type="main" xml:lang="en" <title type="main">Summary</title> <p>This article examines the development of material consumption in three transition economies during the years 1990–2002. We compare the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland and benchmark their material consumption against average values for the 15 member states...</p>

A novel toolkit has been developed, using an original approach to develop its components, for the purpose of evaluating ‘soft’ outcomes and processes that have previously been generally considered ‘intangible’: those which are specifically values based. This represents a step-wise,...

The concepts of sustainable development, quality of life, wellbeing, green growth,<i> etc.</i>, and their assessment by various kinds of indicators (within the “Beyond GDP”, or later known as the “GDP and Beyond” movement) have become important features of the professional life of many...

Anthropogenic material and energy flows are considered to be the major cause of many environmental problems humans face today. In order to measure material and energy flows, and to mitigate related problems, the technique of material flow and energy flow analysis has been conceived. The aim of...

The EU recently emphasised the need to speed up the pace of reforms to improve the state of the environment both in Europe and internationally. This becomes in particular challenging, as the "Lisbon Strategy" defines the general goal of an annual economic growth rate of 3%. Decoupling of...