ALBERT

Description: The continuous increase in freshwater consumption threatens water availability worldwide, especially in dry and arid regions. In this paper, we evaluate the sustainability of water use in Spain, a Mediterranean country that suffers from a permanent imbalance between water availability and water use. Our method, based on the input–output (IO) model, calculates the total water requirements of the Spanish production system. According to input–output assumptions, however, factors (i.e., labor and capital) and resources (such as natural goods or human capital) are not fully employed (not completely used), and therefore any expansion in demand is thought to always be automatically covered by production activities. This assumption seems unrealistic in water-scarce regions since it implies the following: (i) water resources are not quantitatively limited, and (ii) demand inflows can be fully produced and completely covered by the corresponding water requirements (i.e., the IO model assumes that water is always underused). To address this weakness in input–output water applications, we present a method that combines input–output analysis and sustainability criteria by incorporating physical environmental measurements that take into account thresholds in water usage. In particular, the Water Exploitation Index (WEI) evaluates whether water availability is sufficient to satisfy changes in demand in a sustainable or unsustainable way. Application of this index to Spanish water usage shows that services and manufacturing are linked to an unsustainable use of water.

Description: This paper analyzes the impact of the fall in household consumption after an economic crisis in Spain on greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, household consumption is differentiated by the age of the main provider by using a conversion matrix that relates consumption groups to activity sectors. A multisectoral model was used to quantify and compare the environmental impact caused by the consumption of each age group, indicating that the older the age of the main household provider, the smaller the reduction in GHG emissions associated with their consumption. The results facilitate an analysis of how the greenhouse gas emissions of the different sectors of the Spanish economy, associated with the population under study, varied before and after the 2008 crisis, and confirm that the sectors with the greatest reduction in emissions were, in this order, extractive industries, construction, manufacturing industry, wholesale and retail trade and transport and storage. This is relevant for decision making in the field of environmental policies in crises, akin to the one the world is currently experiencing.