Hybrid Ecological Footprint of Taipei

Abstract

The Ecological Footprint (EF) has been effectively used at the global, national and regional levels, but the local EF accounting methods are lacking. The hybrid EF has been developed to calculate the local EF. It combines a “top-down” approach to determining national EF (five components other than Carbon Footprint, CF) with a “bottom-up” approach to determining local CF (food, housing, transportation). The use of the hybrid EF is cost-effective. The hybrid EF reflects the local context and can be used to measure the progress of local sustainable development and as a basis for environmental responsibility. This study uses statistical databases for Taiwan and Taipei to calculate the hybrid EF of Taipei in 2018. The hybrid EF of Taipei was 4.797 global hectares (gha) in that year, of which the top-down national EF was 0.613 gha and the bottom-up local CF was 4.184 gha. The hybrid EF is lower than Taiwan’s EF (6.460 gha), but the local CF is higher than Taiwan’s CF (3.890 gha), reflecting the urban nature and characteristics of Taipei, which has a high density, high income and high consumption expenditure. With respect to the local CF of Taipei, food is associated with the largest component of CF (2.806 gha), and transportation is associated with the second largest component thereof (1.133 gha). Housing is associated with the smallest component (0.245 gha). Based on these results, five refinements of hybrid EF accounting and two application dimensions are proposed. First, whether the hybrid EF captures the lifestyle of the real situation in Taipei warrants further investigation. Second, the components of national EF that are associated with food should be used to accommodate regional differences by applying a scaling factor. Third, Taiwan’s CF in 2018 accounted for 60.2% of its national EF, but Taipei’s CF accounted for 87.2% of its hybrid EF. Fourth, Taipei’s CF associated with housing is low (0.245 gha/person), while the values for eastern European cities are high (3.140 gha/person). Fifth, Taipei citizens have a fairly high CF associated with private vehicles, warranting a follow-up review of urban sustainable transportation policies.