Accepted Manuscript

Environmental accounting: in between raw data and information use for

management practices

Gengyuan Liu, Xinan Yin, Walter Pengue, Enrico Benetto, Donald Huisingh, Hans
Schnitzer, Yutao Wang, Marco Casazza

PII: S0959-6526(18)31842-0

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.194

Reference: JCLP 13340

To appear in: Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 30 March 2018

Accepted Date: 16 June 2018

Please cite this article as: Gengyuan Liu, Xinan Yin, Walter Pengue, Enrico Benetto, Donald
Huisingh, Hans Schnitzer, Yutao Wang, Marco Casazza, Environmental accounting: in between
raw data and information use for management practices, Journal of Cleaner Production (2018), doi:
10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.194

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Environmental accounting: in between raw data and information use for

management practices

Gengyuan Liu a, b, *, Xinan Yin a, b, Walter Pengue c, Enrico Benetto d, Donald Huisingh e, Hans

Schnitzer f, Yutao Wang g, Marco Casazza h

a. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of

Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

b. Beijing Engineering Research Center for Watershed Environmental Restoration & Integrated

Ecological Regulation, Beijing 100875, China

c. Grupo de Ecología del Paisaje y Medio Ambiente, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
d. Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Environmental Research and Innovation

(ERIN) Department, 5 avenue des Hauts Fourneaux, L-4362 Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg
e. Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, University of TN, Knoxville, TN
f. CityLAB - Innovations for urban quality of life, Reininghausstrasse 11a, 8020 Graz, Austria
g. Department of Industrial System and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
h. University ‘Parthenope’ of Naples, Department of Science and Technology, Centro Direzionale,

Isola C4, 80143, Naples, Italy

Abstract

Scholars in environmental accounting have developed many methods, capable to

transform raw environmental and socio-economic data into useful information, both to

protect natural ecosystems and to define the most appropriate policy and planning

options to meet the existing sustainable development goals. Due to the high number of

existing research challenges and needs, Beijing Normal University organized a World

Summit on Environmental Accounting and Management on “Designing A Prosperous

and Sustainable Future”, which was held in Beijing on July 4-6, 2016. The main topic

* Corresponding Author.

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of the conference was the inclusion of system-wide effects into on-site environmental

impacts, considering an integrated environmental accounting and management

framework. The outcomes of this international summit, partially represented by the

papers published in this Special Volume, provide an opportunity to assess the most

recent progresses in biophysical and socioeconomic accounting, as well as in modeling

the impacts of anthropogenic activities on environmental and socioeconomic systems.

This SV includes cutting-edge papers, that focused on promoting the theories, ideas and

practices involved in ecological accounting and management. All the works are aimed

to develop broader perspectives, which can be applied to ecosystem protection, as well

as on planning and policy-making in view of a transition toward more sustainable and

equitable societies, as indicated through the Sustainable Development Goals.

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Environmental Management; Sustainable

Development Goals; Environmental Data; Socio-Economic Data; Accounting methods

1. Introduction

At the end of 19th Century, the development of several new branches of sciences

supported the birth of a new vision of the world. Thermodynamics and statistical

mechanics, chemistry (with the year 1860 conference in Karlsruhe) and ecology were

among the key emerging disciplines, which enabled the disclosure of new narratives

about our planet and the biosphere. Close to the Second World War, interdisciplinary

enquiries tried, for the first time, to find deeper connections among chemistry, physics

and biology. This is the case of the book “What is life?” by E. Schrödinger (1944). The

same attention was given to the intersections between physics and social sciences, as

suggested in the posthumous paper, published in year 1942, by the Italian physicist

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Ettore Majorana (Majorana and Mantegna, 2006). The focus on resources limitation,

pollution and the environment developed a few decades later. The publication of “Silent

Spring” (Carson, 1962), “Patient Earth” (Harte and Socolow, 1971) and “The limits to

Growth” (Meadows et al., 1972) were among the signs of such a shift of attention.

Systems ecology views, with the outstanding works by H. T. Odum (1924-2002),

created a fertile background for further research, trying to develop a holistic view, in

order to integrate the biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of human society.

New interdisciplinary integration attempts, which are of interest for environmental

accounting, were represented by ecophysics and evolutionary physics. In particular,

starting from the 1970s, the study of physical conditions for life stability on planets

were studied. In particular, they were developed on the basis of non-equilibrium

thermodynamics and quantum mechanics, considering planet-star relations (e.g.:

Sertorio, 1991; Sertorio and Renda, 2009). Then, allometric scaling laws for different

living species were connected to the stability of different living species, also

considering the differences among them, with a specific focus on humans (e.g.:

Gorshkov, 1995). The interactions among humans, technologies and the environment,

as well as economy, was discussed from a physical perspective (e.g.: Casazza, 2012;

Sertorio and Renda, 2018), as well as from a socio-ecological perspective (e.g.: Odum,

2007; Singh et al., 2012; Lockie et al., 2013; Park and Guille-Escuret, 2017). Finally,

the ecosystem dynamics was re-discussed, introducing the use of goal functions (also

called orientors) instead of state functions (Tiezzi, 2006).

Three main facts are evident: Since the 1950s, humans have been the main cause

of global environmental transformation, crossing the existing planetary boundaries,

which constitute a safe space for humanity (Steffen et al., 2015); Biophysical and socio-

economical processes cannot be understood and described separately, due to their

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mutual influences; Maintaining a “business-as-usual” style, ecosystem services and the

biosphere will continue to decline (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000; Crutzen, 2002; Palmer

et al., 2004; Steffen et al., 2007; Lewis and Maslin, 2015; Drutschinin et al., 2015).

Consequently, evidence-based policies and actions should be adequately developed.

The present situation stimulated a growing convergence between Earth systems

analysis (Schnellnhuber et al., 2004) and sustainability scientists (Kates et al., 2001).

In parallel, the quest for solutions stimulated the development of cleaner productions,

circular economy, as well as newly emerging disciplines, like biomimicry. However,

despite the huge amount of work already done, Folke et al. (2011) argued that it would

be necessary to further integrate natural and social dimensions through new

perspectives. Any narrative in this context requires a knowledge, which is generated by

the elaboration of quantitative and qualitative field data. This is why socio-economic

systems dynamics should be supported, first, by statistically reliable data, that can be

used in numerical simulation, as well as for supporting appropriate decision making

options.

In between data and narrative, which transform data into useful information,

environmental accounting plays a crucial role. Broadly paralleling anatomy and

physiology, environmental accounting can unveil the structures and functions of

processes and society at different levels. This is why the word ‘metabolism’, which

unveils the co-existence of concept assumes the multi-dimensional nature of accounting

process, is often used (Lomas and Giampietro, 2017). Many different approaches, with

respect to environmental accounting and management, came into light since the 1990s.

They often developed as separate methods, having different conceptualizations behind

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them .

Environmental accounting conceptualizations and narratives are not separate. This is

why, for example, in the case of LCA, the system characteristics, as well as impact

categories, accounting methods, data quality requirements and report phase are defined

during the scoping phase (EU-JRC, 2010). This is particularly true in the case of

sustainability, where different interpretations co-exist (Patterson et al., 2017). In

particular, ecological interpretations (e.g.: Grimm et al., 2005; Schlüter et al., 2014;

Rounsevell et al., 2012) evolved from the idea of steady state (now disputed), to

thresholds (as in the case of planetary boundaries) and carrying capacity, showing the

connections of ecological and socio-economic processes, which are embedded in a

global bio-physical system. In parallel, economic interpretations (e.g.: Coscieme et al.,

2013; Filatova et al., 2013; Hinkel et al., 2014) tried to modify the vision of

environmental costs as externalities with respect to economic activities. This allows to

approach to the principle of intergenerational equity, integrating economic well-being

with the preservation of the environment. Thermodynamic and ecological-economic

interpretations (e.g.: Jørgensen et al., 2016; Wallace, 2016) described the socio-

ecological dynamics on the basis of existing bio-physical constrains and on the use of

statistical mechanics and thermodynamic language. The role of citizens, policy-makers

and experts was discussed, considering the necessity of integrating all the existing

views for developing sustainable public policies (Bäckstrand, 2003; Barr, 2016). In

parallel, environmental accounting techniques were developed to include spatial

representation of biophysical flows and resources use to identify appropriate planning

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options (e.g.: Zhang et al., 2007; Pulselli, 2010; Borriello, 2013).

The importance, in environmental accounting practices, of having a shared

methodological and conceptual framework is a known fact. However, some limitations

are still relevant in the development of accounting methods and practices. In particular:

The links between local and global levels are often missed; Information flows are often

neglected, even if they contribute to shaping the behavior of bio-system at all scales, is

usually neglected (Young et al., 2006; Brown and Ulgiati, 2010; Pretty, 2011; UN-

FCCC, 2015; Nielsen, 2016). Consequently, environmental accounting and

management tools need to address these challenges: (1) use a multicriteria, multiscale,

multipurpose framework, capable to integrate hierarchies, as well as the local and

global visions; (2) adapt an assessed metrological approach for environmental

accounting purposes; (3) integrate information into metabolic dynamics.

Beijing Normal University organized a World Summit on Environmental

Accounting and Management, which was held in Beijing on July 4-6, 2016, on

“Designing A Prosperous and Sustainable Future”. The main purpose was to discuss

about the integration of system-wide effects into on-site environmental impacts, within

the framework of environmental accounting and management. This international

summit aimed to provide an opportunity to academic and decision-making

professionals to discuss recent progress in biophysical and socioeconomic accounting

as well as in modeling the impacts of anthropogenic activities on environmental and

socioeconomic systems). Among the outcomes, this Special Volume (SV) of the

Journal of Cleaner Production (JCLP) is now published.

This paper has the purpose of giving a framework to the collected results, which

include cutting-edge papers focused on promoting the theories, ideas and practices

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involved in ecological accounting and management. Moreover, results are discussed to

identify the future challenges, which will support a better integration of the process,

which starts from field data collection and develops into useful narratives for

accelerating the transition to sustainable (and socially equitable) post fossil-carbon

societies.

2. Objectives of this special volume

Table 1 lists the Environmental Accounting and Management methods, which are

proposed in this SV, in terms of four criteria: (1) the method’s Purpose, (2) Key

concepts; (3) Analytical methods used for measuring indirect effects; (4)

Corresponding papers. Each of them will be presented later in this work using these and

other criteria. In particular, the main findings will be defined, showing the research

topics, that need urgent attention in near future.

Table 1. Structure of SV and Comparison of the Environmental Accounting and Management

Methods.

Environmental Analytical
Accounting and Method’s Methods Used Corresponding
Key Concepts
Management Purpose for Measuring Papers
Methods Indirect Effects
Zheng et al.
(2017); Song et al.
Environmental Flow diagrams (2017); Liu et al.
flow accounting depict and (2017); Hou et al.
Environmental flow Flow analysis;
and identify the quantify flows of (2017);; Yan et al.
analysis node analysis
main influencing environmental (2017); Yin et al.
factor factors (2017); Chang et
al. (2017); Yin et
al. (2018)
Flow diagrams
depict and
quantify flows of
Holistic Huang et al.
energy, mass and
appreciation of the (2017); Corelli et
Emergy, information in
Sustainability of al. (2017); Yang et
Transformity, systems. From
Emergy Analysis Coupled al. (2017); Zhang
Maximum Power these data,
Economic and et al. (2017a);
Principle ‘indirect’ emergy
Ecological Spagnolo et al.
inputs are
systems (2017)
calculated in the
transformity
metric.

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Environmental Analytical
Accounting and Method’s Methods Used Corresponding
Key Concepts
Management Purpose for Measuring Papers
Methods Indirect Effects
Yang and Shi
(2017); Aghbashlo
Quantifies Direct Two main
et al. (2017); Han
Energy and Indirect Embodied Energy, methods: (1)
et al. (2017);
Analysis/Exergy Energy Inputs of Net Energy， Process Method,
Munguia et al.
Analysis Economic Embodied Exergy (2) Input- Output
(2017); Zhang et
Production Analysis
al. (2017b); Lun et
al. (2017)
Two approaches: Wang and Lin
Quantifies the
(1) Mainly Process (2017); Tang et al.
Effects of Human Global Warming
Carbon Footprinting Method, (2) Some (2017); Zhang et
Activity on Global Equivalents
Input- Output al. (2017c); Wu et
Warming
Analysis al. (2017)
Environmental
Consequences Ecological Ecological
Qiao et al. (2017);
(resources used, Network Analysis; Multiplier (eg,
Ecological Network Su et al. (2017);
pollutants Structure direct and indirect
Analysis Zhang et al.
produced) of Analysis; Utility water per $ output
(2018a, b)
Economic Analysis of a sector)
Production
Two approaches:
(1) Mainly
‘Process Method’,
Chang et al.
Environmental “Cradle-to-Grave” (2) Some use of
(2017); Yao et al.
Life Cycle Assessment Consequences of Environmental the ‘Hybrid
(2018); Yang et al.
making a product impact Method’ that
(2018)
combines the
Process Method
with I-O Analysis
Li et al. (2017a, b,
Two approaches: c); Fei et al.
Standards defined
(1) (2017); Yin and
Environmental by
Environmental Mainly Process Xu (2017); Guo et
Inventory the Global
Inventory Analysis Method, (2) Some al. (2017); Zhang
establishment Footprint
Input- Output et al. (2018c); Jiao
Network
Analysis et al. (2017); Tang
et al. (2017)
Chifari et al.
(2017); Wang et al.
Resolve problems (2017); Li et al.
of system (2017); Qiu et al.
Simulate the
uncertainties and Interval stochastic (2017).; Ding et al.
Multi-criteria spatial distribution
difficulties of chance- (2017a); Xu et al.
Optimization and and temporal
trade-offs between constrained robust (2017); He et al.
Management change of
the system programming (2017); Ding et al.
pollution
economy as well (2017b); Wang et
as system stability al. (2018); Zhang
et al. (2018d); Cai
et al. (2018)

3. Present knowledge and challenges for environmental accounting

The global scientific production on environmental accounting, limitedly to

research and review papers, counts up to 371 works, according to Web of Science

(WOS), starting from year 1991, and 781 works, according to Scopus (Sc), going back

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to year 1976. Table 2 displays the top 15 WOS categories and Sc subject areas,

including also the number of papers associated to each category or subject area.

Table 2. Top 15 WOS categories and Sc subject areas, adding also the number of papers associated to
each category or subject area.

WOS Category Paper count (WOS) Scopus subject area Paper count (Scopus)
Business, Management
Environmental Sciences 161 372
and Accounting
Environmental Studies 84 Environmental Science 356
Economics,
Ecology 77 Econometrics and 243
Finance
Economics 67 Social Sciences 211
Engineering
65 Energy 89
Environmental
Business Finance 60 Engineering 86
Green Sustainable Agricultural and
59 73
Science Technology Biological Sciences
Management 26 Decision Sciences 68
Earth and Planetary
Business 21 33
Sciences
Energy Fuels 12 Arts and Humanities 11
Biodiversity
11 Medicine 11
Conservation
Ethics 9 Chemical Engineering 9
Biochemistry, Genetics
Planning Development 8 8
and Molecular Biology
Forestry 7 Mathematics 5
Agriculture
5 Chemistry 4
Multidisciplinary

Table 3 illustrates the top 15 source titles according to WOS and Sc, together with

the number of papers published in each journal. Finally, Table 4 lists the top 15

Countries, whose Authors published a work in the field of environmental accounting,

combined with the number of published papers associated to each listed Country. Data

are given both from WOS and Sc.

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Table 3. Top 15 source titles according to WOS and Sc, and number of papers published in each journal.

Journal Paper count (WOS) Journal Paper count (Scopus)

Social and
Journal of Cleaner
37 Environmental 54
Production
Accountability Journal
Ecological Economics 34 Ecological Economics 38
Journal of Cleaner
Ecological Modelling 27 38
Production
Accounting Auditing Critical Perspectives on
20 30
Accountability Journal Accounting
Accounting Auditing
Journal of Industrial
10 and Accountability 27
Ecology
Journal
Critical Perspectives on
9 Ecological Modelling 26
Accounting
Ecological Indicators 9 Accounting Forum 19
Environmental Resource Accounting Auditing
9 12
Economics Accountability Journal
Accounting
Business Strategy and
Organizations and 8 12
The Environment
Society
Sustainability
Journal of Business
8 Accounting Management 12
Ethics
and Policy Journal
Journal of
Environmental 8 Ecological Indicators 11
Management
Sustainability
Environmental and
Accounting Management 8 11
Resource Economics
and Policy Journal
Environmental Journal of Industrial
6 11
Management Ecology
Accounting
Sustainability 5 Organizations and 9
Society
Journal of
Agriculture Ecosystems Environmental
4 9
Environment Accounting and
Management

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Table 4. Top 15 Countries, whose Authors published a paper about environmental accounting. Authors’

Countries are ranked against the number of published papers according to WOS and Sc.

Authors’ Countriy Paper count (WOS) Authors’ Countriy Paper count (Scopus)
USA 88 USA 148
Italy 66 England 123
England 39 Italy 94
Australia 36 Australia 93
Germany 24 Spain 46
Spain 24 Brazil 37
Brazil 21 New Zealand 34
Peoples R China 21 Canada 31
Canada 20 Peoples R China 30
New Zealand 17 Germany 29
Scotland 16 France 18
Netherlands 15 Netherlands 18
Sweden 12 Japan 17
France 11 South Africa 17
Norway 11 Sweden 17

Contrasting to the statement by Russel et al. (2017), who declared that “there is

little or no environment in environmental accounting, and certainly no ecology”,

environmental studies, environmental sciences and ecology represent the three top

categories of published papers in environmental accounting. The areas of “Business,

Management and Accounting”, as well as “Social sciences” should be added too,

according to Scopus classification. USA, Italy and England represent the three top

producing Countries in this field. Top journal titles include: Journal of Cleaner

Production; Ecological Economics; Ecological Modelling; Social and Environmental

Accountability Journal.

The integration of biophysical and socioeconomic variables across different

accounting methods represents one of the major challenges for the future of this

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discipline. In year 2014, The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)

(seea.un.org) Central Framework (European Commission, Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development, United Nations, & World Bank, 2014) was published

for the first time. Using SEEA as a starting point, Banerjee et al. (2016) suggested to

include its use into economic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models,

indicating implicitly, in the last part of their work, some important factors in the

application of any accounting method: the need of enhanced analytical power; the need

of avoiding strong assumption in the integration of economic-environmental inputs;

need of timeliness in developing appropriate advices for evidence-based policies.

This is not the only case of integration between the two dimensions of human

socio-ecological systems (here, ‘human’ is specified, since socio-ecology also focuses

on other social animals and, particularly, primates). In fact, paralleling Life Cycle

Assessment (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) focuses on the social

dimension of sustainability. S-LCA has been developed since 2004 with the aim to

integrate social criteria into LCA.

With respect to other approaches, H.T. Odum and followers were able to develop

an accounting approach, known under the name of “emergy accounting”, which uses a

unified metrological approach (the use of solar equivalent joules, [sej]) to quantify both

biophysical and socio-economic variables. Moreover, an updated version of emergy

datasets at Country level, known as National Environmental Accounting Database

(NEAD), is now available online (www.emergy-nead.com/home). The improvements

contained in NEAD version 2 are described through a paper by Pan et al. (2017). Quite

interestingly, WOS detects 938 papers (research or reviews, starting from 1991) about

emergy, while Scopus records (starting earlier, in 1960), are 1,161. However, adding

“environmental accounting”, as well as the connector “AND”, to see how many papers

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about emergy were classified as environmental accounting papers, only 95 (WOS) (i.e.:

10%) and 89 (Scopus) papers (i.e.: 7%) were found. This partially explains the

statement by Russel et al. (2017). Moreover, this result indicates that the apparent

fragmentation of research products might be also related to the difficulties in detecting

the available material through bibliographical researches.

Similar results are obtained in the case of another method: The Multi-scale

integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM). MuSIASEM

theoretical foundations were recently detailed in a paper by Giampietro et al. (2009).

WOS detects 37 papers focused on this method, while Scopus finds 35 papers about

MuSIASEM. Instead, adding the words “environmental accounting”, as done in the

case of emergy, only 1 paper appears, both in the case of WOS and in the case of Scopus.

Thus, the results shown in Tables 2, 3 and 4 are defective in numbers, due to potential

matching errors in the classification processes.

With respect to sustainability and its goals, which were described in the United

Nations global sustainable development agenda (UN, 2015), Bebbington and Unerman

(2018) individuated three challenges for the future: a better use of accounting

technologies, used to collect and analyze available data, which should be available in a

coherent form; a better integration on the three pillars of sustainability; the need re-

examining the available theoretical frameworks and methods under the light of

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the need of engaging with new fields of

interdisciplinary investigation and theorization, integrating different scientific domains.

Another paper by Bebbington et al. (2017) unveiled two other challenges within the

same framework: the inclusion of more holistic visions into accounting process; the

need of conceptualizing ‘engagement’, to transform data into appropriate narratives for

sustainability.

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The importance of measuring is, then, stressed in a paper by Lindenmayer et al.

(2015). In particular, the following steps are recommended: take a survey of existing

monitoring programs and their outcomes; define the ecosystem targets of

environmental monitoring; develop appropriate conceptual models, which also include

the use of systematic syntheses, which are necessary to improve the transparency of

results; find and measure the environmental variables, which drive each ecosystem’s

dynamics and which should be monitored. The component related to data

(characteristics and quality) is crucial to improve the overall level of environmental and

social accounting inputs. Big data, data openness and transparency are also relevant

topics nowadays (Song et al., 2017). Due to the multi-dimensional nature of

environmental and social processes, a paradigm shift would be relevant with respect to

data acquisition. Some contaminations might derive from environmental forensics,

where the concept of ‘scene analysis’, the use of hierarchical monitoring techniques

and the spatio-temporal data representation are parts of the developed expertise within

this domain (Agosto et al., 2008; Wolf and Ashe, 2009; Lega and Persechino, 2014;

Errico et al., 2015; Gargiulo et al., 2016; Lega and Teta, 2016; Di Fiore et al., 2017).

Environmental accounting is the practice which transforms raw data into

information. Consequently, the choice of a narrative, which depends on the definition

of goals and scope, is crucial. A recent book by Curran (2017) focalized on the

interconnection between the first and the interpretation phases with respect to LCA.

With this respect, strategic rationality is relevant to integrate the biophysical and socio-

economic narratives through appropriate belief systems, while participative processes

should be enhanced to facilitate organizational learning (Heggen et al., 2018). However,

strategic rationality is not the only way to develop narratives. In fact, aesthetic

rationality, a value-oriented rationality that serves to encourage sustainable behavior in

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organizations (Shrivastava et al., 2017), can also be applied. In order to “move beyond

this binary logic” and to “capture the emotionally charged, value-laden processes”

(Poldner et al., 2017), aesthetic practices can improve the knowledge translation of the

outcomes derived from accounting processes into empowering actions toward

sustainability (Shrivastava, 2014; Casazza et al., 2017; Crichton and Shrivastava, 2017;

Shrivastava and Guimarães-Costa, 2017; Shrivastava and Persson, 2018). Derived from

this analysis, a list of challenges and research needs is given in Table 5.

Table 5. List of challenges and needs to improve the use of environmental accounting, as a component
in between raw data acquisition and information use for management purposes.

Challenges Desired actions and needs

Better integration of biophysical and socio-

economic dimensions; Improvement of data

entry for existing published papers in official

databases (specifically: WOS and Scopus);

engagement with new fields of interdisciplinary

Multi-dimensional integration investigation and theorization, integrating

different scientific domains; Re-examination of

available theoretical frameworks and methods

under the light of Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs); Better integration, based on the

three pillars of sustainability

Survey of existing monitoring programs; define

ecosystem targets of environmental monitoring;

find and measure the environmental variables,

Data acquisition and management
which drive each ecosystem’s dynamics;

conceptual shift from existing measures to

hierarchical and multi-dimensional scene

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analysis; big data management, data openness

and transparency

Develop appropriate conceptual analytical and

synthesis models to improve the transparency

of results; Avoid strong assumptions in the

integration of economic-environmental inputs;

Coherent form of analytical process outcome;

Analytical processes
the need of engaging with new fields of

interdisciplinary investigation and theorization,

integrating different scientific domains.; the

inclusion of more holistic visions into

accounting process;

Timeliness in developing appropriate advices

for evidence-based policies; ‘Engagement’

conceptualization, to transform data into

appropriate narratives for sustainability;

Integration of strategic rationality into

biophysical and socio-economic narratives

Synthesis and narratives
through appropriate belief system; Use of

aesthetic rationality, aesthetic inquiry and

creativity to support knowledge-translation

processes (i.e.: from numbers to motivations

and attitudes) and to empower communities

toward sustainability

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4. Papers published in the Special Volume

Applying the classification of Table 1 and considering the major research challenges

(Table 5), published papers are introduced in the following sub-sections and, then, a

general discussion is given in the last part of section 4.

4.1 Environmental flows analysis

Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of environmental

elements flows required to sustain ecosystems, as well as the human livelihoods and

wellbeing, that depend on these ecosystems. Eight published papers deal with this

approach.

Zheng et al. (2017) focused on a target ecosystem, studying the drivers of

precipitation patterns and dynamics. In particular, they explored the atmospheric

precipitation spatiotemporal variations and the causes behind them in the Pearl River

basin (China). Mann-Kendall statistical test, Sen’s slope and inverse distance weighted

(IDW) interpolation methods, as well as the correlations between precipitation

concentration index and elevation are used to detect the existing spatio-temporal

patterns. Finally, the random forest algorithm (RF) is applied to identify the

contributions of seven associated circulation influencing factors on the CI. Taking

China and Japan as cases, Chang et al. (2018) analyzed the industrial sectoral drivers

of air-pollutant emission (in particular, SO2 and NOx), integrating the biophysical

dimension (emission data) with the economic one. Results, then, are used to develop

evidence-based strategies for further abating the existing emissions.

Song et al. (2017) worked at the integration of economic and ecologic perspectives,

focusing on payments for Ecosystem Services (ES). The authors proposed a new multi-

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scale accounting framework, which was tested at provincial and urban levels in China,

based on year 2010 data, demonstrating its validity to deal with cross-regional payment

issues as well as in providing a good management instrument for decision-makers. Also

Yan et al. (2017) worked on a new conceptual framework, i.e. a new Tendency-Pattern-

Service (TPS) one. However, they applied it to analyze the spatio-temporal drivers of

landscape evolution in order to inform the management policies, using Taking

Baiyangdian Lake as a case study. The same area was chosen as target for the study by

Tang et al. (2018), who applied a two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality

model to study the distribution of pollutants and determine the drivers of water quality

variability, as well as to simulate different scenarios depending on different measured

environmental conditions. Yin et al. (2018) applied stochastic linear programming to

assess different scenarios of scenarios of riverine flows, where a hydroelectric power

plant is located, and electricity prices variability, in order to evaluate the combined

effects of compensations to hydropower producers, while guaranteeing the protection

of the river, through maintaining the minimum environmental flows. Consequently, this

study applies a combined bio-physical and economic approach to a topic relevant for

policy-makers (i.e.: hydroelectric power production and pricing).

An urban scale model of water metabolism was developed by Liu et al. (2017). In

particular, they represented the connectivity between landscape patterns and eco-

metabolic processes, using simple geometrical concepts (points, lines and areas). Then,

the model provided a new tool for urban planners to improve landscape connectivity

and develop better infrastructure layouts within urban ecosystem to build sustainable

cities. Instead, a process-scale study was developed by Hou et al. (2017), in order to

evaluate the toxicity and inhibition efficiency of lignocellulose-derived compounds on

two kinds of bacteria used in the production of bioethanol. In this case, a Quantitative

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Structure-Activity Relationship method was applied.

4.2 Emergy Analysis

Emergy is an important environmental accounting method, whose theoretical and

conceptual bases are grounded in thermodynamics, general system theory and systems

ecology. Five papers within the SV are published, using this method.

The first group of papers deal with an assessment of different technological

processes. Spagnolo et al. (2017) focused on the sustainability of historically-relevant

colored-glass production process in the island of Murano, close to Venice (Italy).

Newly derived Unit Emergy Values (UEVs), not previously available in the literature,

for some chemicals used for artistic glass production (i.e.: potassium nitrate; potassium

chloride; sodium tetraborate decahydrate; minium; sodium nitrate; calcium fluoride)

are available in the paper. The importance of this paper is that environmental

accounting is applied to an artistic production, which is economically relevant.

Moreover, the environmental impacts on ecosystem services are also considered to

develop informed policies aimed at preserving this multi-centennial production, as well

as the environmental quality of the area of Venice lagoon. Another important aspect of

production processes, i.e.: end of life, is considered for the first time in the paper by

Corcelli et al. (2017), dealing with the treatment of crystalline silicon PV panels. The

authors also explored the implications of methodological assumptions, showing that PV

panel treatment can generate large environmental benefits. Based on emergy analysis,

Yang et al. (2017) focused on the sustainability of a decentralized sewage treatment

plant located in Qingdao, China. This work is relevant both for its integration between

the biophysical and economic dimensions and for its application to wastewater

treatment, also considering the applicability of the studied plant in remote areas or

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developing countries.

Different development strategies at regional scale were analyzed by Zhang et al.

(2018a), who used an improved cellular automata (CA) model specifically built for this

research. The focus of the study was the sustainability of land resources management

options, which has a great relevance in terms of ecological security and sustainability,

as well as for policy-making and planning. Instead, analyzing trade data at international

level, i.e. those of China with South Africa, Sudan, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and

Morocco, Huang et al. (2017) quantified the exchange of natural capital and ecosystem

services among partners (including resources that support know-how and technology

exchange), identifying also the possible benefits and compensation measures, that may

increase trade balance and equity. This study, besides developing a complementary tool

to economic evaluation, enabled a more comprehensive understanding of trade beyond

the monetary terms.

4.3 Energy/Exergy Analysis

Energy flows accounting enables to understand the dynamics of Countries’

development stages and living standards of communities, mainly based on the first law

thermodynamics. In parallel, exergy accounting is applied to identify the major sources

of loss and areas for improving the performance of the system based on the second law

thermodynamics. Six papers, published in this SV, deal with these topics.

The first three processes deal with the analysis of processes. Aghbashlo et al. (2017)

applied standard exergy and extended exergy accounting (EEA) approaches to evaluate

the performance of a wind power plant located in the northern region of Iran. Overall,

the EEA theory was found to be much more accurate to measure the sustainability and

productivity of wind-driven power plants compared with the standard exergy analysis.

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The developed EEA-based thermodynamic framework concept could be employed for

decision making on the implementation of renewable energy plants under different

climate conditions, such as in the case of wind driven power plants with respect to their

sustainability and productivity aspects. Zhang et al. (2017a) assessed water

consumption of coal-fired power plants (CPPs) in China, considering four different

technological cooling options: closed-cycle cooling; once-through cooling; air cooling;

seawater cooling. The results, being relevant for energy and water policies, imply that

the development of CPPs needs to explicitly consider their impacts on regional water

resources. Integrating the economic and biophysical dimensions, Han et al. (2017)

investigated the roles of industrial organizing levels, considering economic and natural

resource endowments in the development of ecological economic efficiency. Data are

referred to China. An original assessing method for industrial organizing levels was

developed for this study, focused on ecological economic efficiency as a function of

resource usage and pollution emission efficiencies. This relationship was defined by

the artificial neural network based regression method.

Concerning of energy efficiency, Munguia et al. (2017) analyzed the data associated

to an UNEP energy efficiency program, developing specific auditing instruments to

acquire first-hand information about Mexican make-up artists (known as maquiladoras,

in Spanish). These tools showed their efficacy in supporting the identification of best

managerial options both from the economic side and from an energy efficiency

perspective. Thus, this work novelty is primarily related to new methods for mixed

energy and economic data gathering.

Yang and Shi (2017) simulated two future urbanization scenarios in China, based on

linear and logistic growth models. The authors developed a forecast of long-term

(2020–2030) energy consumption of urban and rural residents in three economic sectors:

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transport, construction, and residential. Quite obviously, considering that the study is

applied to China, the policy and environmental impacts of these forecasts are relevant

for energy, emissions and climate change impacts and sustainability. Tree growth

models and carbon stock models were applied by Lun et al. (2017) to discuss carbon

dynamics of living trees. Consequently, carbon budgets of forest litter and soil were

estimated by balancing its carbon inputs and carbon emissions (using the YASSO

model). These models are important both in understanding the relevance of forests

within the context of Ecosystem Services (ESs) and for developing appropriate

planning actions in the forestry sector.

4.4 Carbon Footprint

Trying to define ‘carbon footprint’ on the basis of previous literature definitions,

Wiedmann and Minx (2008) defined ‘carbon footprint’ on the basis of previous

literature definitions: “The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive total amount

of carbon dioxide emissions that is directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is

accumulated over the life stages of a product”. Two papers deal with this accounting

method.

Wang and Lin (2017) applied VAR and STIRPAT models, integrating economic,

energy and environmental factors, to investigate the major influencing components

with respect to CO2 emissions in China’s commercial sector over the period 1980-2014.

These findings have important implications for policy-makers to enact CO2 emission

reduction policies. The Chinese industrial structure was analyzed by Zhang et al.

(2018b). The authors proposed a dynamic factorization model to compare the effects of

industrial structure on the reduction of carbon emissions during the five Five-Year Plan

(FYP) periods. Results show that the impact varies with the ratio of sectors within the

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economic structure. These findings are again significant for the government in

formulating environment and economy policy and planning.

4.5 Ecological Network Analysis

As written by Platt et al. (1981), in order to understand the relations among

aggregated compartments of an ecosystem, networks of flows can be used. This is why

several analytical tools were assembled, to form what is known today under the name

of Ecological Network Analysis (ENA) (Ulanowicz, 2004). Four papers in this SV deal

with ENA.

Qiao et al. (2017) developed a descriptive model of urban ventilation network,

aimed at exploring the relation among urban morphology, building height and urban

ventilation conditions. Test data were extracted using Landsat Thematic Mapper. The

joint use of remote sensing techniques and this model allows to improve the urban

design. This is important, if the impacts of winds are considered with respect to

pollutants transport dynamics.

Different aspects of trade networks are considered in the other three papers. Su et

al. (2017) simulated and compared the energy supply security among different cities in

China, based on years 1997–2012 data. Implications for primary sources of energy

production were also derived, supporting meaningful indications to policy-makers.

Zhang et al. (2017b) modelled the carbon metabolism of global trade system.

Considering both the direct and indirect CO2 flows and their temporal variability, this

research revealed the important role of indirect flows in this dynamical representation,

providing an empirical basis for adjusting and optimizing global trade network flows.

Finally, Zhang et al. (2018c) second paper on the same topic, specifically focused on

temporal variability of CO2 flows during the same study period.

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3.6 Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) considers all the environmental implications,

including the impacts throughout the whole life cycle of a product, starting from raw

materials to its end-of-life, which includes recycling and final disposal (ISO, 2006).

Three papers in this SV deal with LCA. This section provides insights about LCA

applications to the energy sector.

Chang et al. (2017) applied LCA to estimate the energy consumption and emissions

of geothermal heat pump (GHP). The study considered a university building in China

as specific case. In the analysis, a hybrid Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) modeling approach

was used with the aim of providing indication of possible design and operational

improvements. LCI was also applied by Yang et al. (2018) to evaluate a new Chinese

offshore wind power project. Yao et al. (2018) analyzed the life cycle of methanol as

fuel, providing a description of costs and benefits of increasing methanol use in China.

4.7 Environmental Inventory Analysis

The analysis of environmental inventories, which archive multiple environmental

measures, is applied to assess man-environment relations. Data outcomes, then, are

reviewed and can be used for planning, environmental decision-making and also

conflict resolution. The availability and quality of data are crucial for environmental

accounting. Following, seven papers focused on inventories analysis are collected, as

an example of different case studies.

The authors of a first group of five papers worked on inventory data analysis. Li et

al. (2017a) analyzed the inventory of PM2.5 concentrations Beijing, assessing the

impacts of aerosol pollution on public health, as well as the associated economic losses

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as a function of willingness to pay. Zhang et al. (2017) modelled the origin and

contributions of different sources and emission categories to the PM2.5 concentration

in the central six districts of Beijing during year 2014. Yin and Xu (2017) studied the

comparative differences of meteorological influences on PM10/PM2.5-bound PAHs

distributions, as well as their potential sources and health risks. Jiao et al. (2017)

identified the drivers of changes in different sectorial industrial SO2 emissions. Li et al.

(2017b) developed a model, based on data analysis and quality evaluation, to assess the

environmental effectiveness of the recently strengthened air pollution regulations in

China.

A second group, constituted by two papers, worked on inventory building and data

quality assessment. Li et al. (2017c) developed a complete and transparent GHG

inventory of Beijing to support governmental officials in identifying their priorities for

reducing GHG emissions. The authors investigated and calculated emission sources

defined by the, assessing also the accuracy of data. Guo et al. (2017) conducted a meta-

analysis on a 35 years database of CH4 emission related to rice production in China,

showing that more field experiments should be conducted to improve the quality of

available data.

Another paper, written by Fei et al. (2017), developed a method for inventory spatial

data representation through GIS. The obtained results were used to define a more

accurate database land use change patterns. Finally, Tang et al. (2017) established a

model for data optimization, combining it with input-output analysis and multi-

objective programming. Through this mixed approach, they analyzed the maximum

volume of embodied emissions reduction as a function of costs.

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4.8 Multi-criteria Optimization and Management

Multi- criteria optimization methods ae applied to decision making through the

mathematical optimization of problems involving more objective functions, which

should be optimized simultaneously. The total number of papers included in this group

is eleven.

The majority of papers (i.e.: twelve) contained in this SV apply multicriteria

optimization to water management issues, which is also relevant with respect to SDGs.

Wang et al. (2017) established a System Dynamics (SD) model for the water resources

carrying capacity (WRCC) in Beijing city. Within the model, population, economy,

water supply and demand, as well as environmental water-related pressures trends were

considered. Li et al. (2017d) investigated the pros and cons of installing a sewage outfall

on the Luoyuan Bay sea area. The work was based on a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making

(MCDM) tool, where nine indicators, divided in two broad areas (marine environment

and built infrastructure), were analyzed accordingly. Ding et al. (2017a) developed a

stochastic model analyzing different management options for flood diversion

management under multiple uncertainties. The paper by Xu et al. (2017), which is based

on water footprint accounting, set up an optimal water allocation model for different

industrial sectors. Zhang et al. (2018d) presented a real-time control (RTC) simulator

applied to the management of stormwater storage tanks. He et al. (2017) discussed a

framework for performing parameter uncertainty analysis in the management of

hydropower generation. Results, then, were applied to Nuozhadu hydropower station,

Lancang River (Southern China). The paper by Ding et al. (2017b) dealt with the

prediction of water pollution diffusion, considering the spatial and temporal evolution

of pollutants concentration. The study was applied to understand the potential accident

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risks for Heshangshan drinking water source area. Cai et al. (2018) analyzed the

construction costs and environmental benefits of four alternative Low Impact

Development (LID) technologies applied to urban stormwater management. The model

included the analysis of environmental and economic variables, whose uncertainties

were also discussed.

Other environmental management problems were discussed by the remaining three

papers within this group. Chifari et al. (2017) approached to the problem of solid waste

management in the metropolitan area of Napoli (Italy) using metabolic network theory

and multiscale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM).

Consequently, they addressed the following problems: (i) metropolitan self-sufficiency

of urban waste final disposal; (ii) recycling; (iii) environmental and economic impacts.

Finally, two papers deal with the topic of land use. The first one, by Qiu et al. (2017)

used two multi-criteria analysis approaches to compare the suitability of land use to

livestock production in the metropolitan area of Hangzhou (China). The second one, by

Wang et al. (2018), analyzed Dongying city ecosystem services variability as a function

of land-use/land-cover change (LUCC).

4.8 Discussion

Considering the 45 papers published in this SV, the number of works dealing with

each challenge, as well as the corresponding research needs identified in section 3, are

summarized in Table 6.

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Table 6. Number of papers dealing with the research needs associated to four challenges. The challenges
were identified through a bibliographical analysis about environmental accounting and management (see
section 2 of this paper).

Number of
Challenge Research needs
papers
Biophysical and socio-economic data 19
Multi-dimensional Bibliographical database entry improvement 0
integration New fields of interdisciplinary investigation 5
New theoretical framework 5
Define the target ecosystem 5
Assess the existing available databases 10
Multi-dimensional hierarchical monitoring (scene
Data management 7
analysis)
Measure the drivers of observed (ecosystem) dynamics 12
Big data, data quality, data openness and transparency 0
Link with SDGs 20
Analytical model development 42
Synthesis model development 2
Environmental
Interdisciplinary investigation of new domains 12
accounting
Holistic vision in accounting process 12
Assumptions in integrating socio-economic and
5
biophysical data
Advices for evidence-based policies 41
Scoping and narratives Business strategic thinking 6
Aesthetic thinking and creativity 0

Figure 1 graphically represents the papers number subdivision with respect to

different identified research needs. It is possible to see that most of the published works

deal with the development of analytical models, especially if applied to supporting

evidence-based policies. This means that the majority of works focus more on

supporting public policies than private enterprises development. A second emerging

evidence, is that the papers contained in this volume pay attention to SDGs. The multi-

disciplinary nature of indicators (i.e.: biophysical and socio-economic) reflects an

ongoing evolution of environmental accounting. However, new fields of theoretical or

experimental investigation are presently lacking.

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Two factors received lower attention. The first is the importance of data. In particular,

the world of big data, which recently received a special attention within a special

volume of “Journal of Cleaner Production”, was not considered. With this respect, as

evidenced also by the bibliographical analysis, the number and openness of existing

available databases should be assessed. Data transparency and quality should be other

relevant topics, since the quality of outcomes strongly depends on models’ inputs. The

second point, which received lower attention is the narrative. Methods for appropriate

synthesis and communication of results, which are related both with scoping and with

the final phases of accounting process, should be further investigated. Researchers have

already demonstrated that the narrative of results could be also strengthened an

aesthetic rational approach and through the use of creativity, as claimed in several

recent studies.

SV papers distribution among identified challenges in environmental accounting

Biophysical and socio-economic data

Biblographical database entry improvement

6 0
19
New fields of interdisciplinary investigation
0
5 New theoretical framework
41 5
Define the target ecosystem
5
Assess the existing available databases

10 Multi-dimensional hierarchical monitoring (scene analysis)

Measure the drivers of observed (ecosystem) dynamics

7
5 Big data, data quality, data opennes and transparency

Link with SDG

12
12 Analytical model development

0 Synthesis model development

Interdisciplinary investigation of new domains

12
20 Holistic vision in accounting process
2
Assumptions in integrating socio-economic and biophysical data

Advices for evidence-based policies

42
Business strategic thinking

Aesthetic thinking and creativity

Figure 1. Graphical representation of papers’ number subdivision (white numbers inside the pie chart)
with respect to different identified research needs (as shown in the legend).

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A separate relevant topic, which was not discussed, is the importance of

bibliographical databases, which enable researchers to compare different case studies

and methods. The fragmented classification of existing works, as seen in section 3,

generated a loss of hundreds of papers with respect to the topic of environmental

accounting (this paper considered emergy accounting and MuSIASEM as examples).

Academia and scientific societies interested in environmental accounting should co-

work with reference database (such as WOS and Scopus) managers to re-check the

existing records. Meanwhile, authors too should care about their manuscript

classification, since many journals allow to identify the topics during the submission

process.

The integration of multiple dimensions of environmental accounting can provide a

solid basis for supporting policy makers in their actions of defining targets and actions

for a transition toward a more sustainable behavior of human societies (Franzese et al.,

2014). The variety of case studies discussed in the published papers demonstrate the

wide-range applicability of environmental accounting to management problems. In

particular, it is possible to identify four broad areas of application: ecosystem

conservation; planning (e.g.: urban planning); public policies; corporations and

enterprises management. As written by Lindenmayer (2017), environmental accounting

can overcome the problem of poor decisions, avoiding the risk of resource

mismanagement and potential collapse of impacted ecosystems. For such a purpose, in

order to support the preservation of ecosystem services, natural capital and ecosystem

services can be quantified in several ways (Hein et al., 2016). The application of

alternative scenarios, in parallel, can support the definition of more appropriate

planning strategies both for natural ecosystems and human activities (Zucaro et al.,

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2013; Picone et al., 2017). Environmental accounting can support different stages of

policy-making. In particular, Vardon et al. (2106) identified three steps: (1)

Development of agenda, where issues are identified through accounting; (2)

Implementation and evaluation phases, where accounting identifies critical areas and

success of actions taken; (3) Policy responses to foreseen environmental scenarios,

where accounting can identify and forecast potential trajectories and future impacts. In

parallel, environmental accounting can support a transition from accounting to

accountability. This fact is particularly relevant in the case of enterprises, which should

include environmental conservation among the goals, supporting the structural

transformation of existing economies (Saremi and Nezhad, 2014). With this respect,

scholarly perspectives indicate three reasons for choosing this option: the reduction of

a company’s socio-political risk; the increase of community acceptance; a higher

engagement with stakeholders, which can support also cleaner consumption (Holdaway,

2016).

5. Conclusions

The integration of environmental accounting and management tools and methods is

of paramount importance both to define the best available cleaner production options

and to support policymakers for accelerating the transition to equitable post fossil-

carbon societies. Under this framework, this SV contains articles that focused on

methods, technologies and management policies. Overall, the papers in this SV can be

classified into eight subjects, including: (a) Environmental flow analysis; (b) Emergy

Analysis; (c) Energy Analysis/Exergy Analysis; (d) Carbon Footprint; (e) Ecological

Network Analysis; (f) Life Cycle Assessment; (g) Environmental Inventory Analysis;

(h) Multi-criteria Optimization and Management. The paper topics and contents reflect

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the present research challenges in this field, according to the latest available literature

analyses. Many of the works reflect the interests for sustainability and SDGs. Moreover,

the application of findings to management solutions is especially directed toward

policy-makers. However, a greater attention should be payed to private companies too.

Multi-dimensional and fractal models, which reflect the existing hierarchy of Socio-

Ecological Systems (SES), worth to be further investigated. In particular, agents and

interactions should reflect the real nature of SES: open; dissipative; non-linear. The

validity of many physical principles, such as the least action one, should be also

considered.

General methods, which are capable to fully represent the whole hierarchy of human

energy, as well as the huge variety human means of interaction, represent a potential

future integrated approach to the axiomatization of sustainability study. This is, in our

opinion, the most promising fact, which will require many efforts. In fact, the ability of

describing and, possibly, forecasting the transformations of human sustainability as a

coherent structure would allow more efficient decision-making processes, from which,

in turn, better results in supporting the transition toward a more sustainable socio-

ecological lifestyle could be obtained.

Accounting methods should be integrated with the new reality of big data. However,

this would require further researches and discussions among peers, since data quality,

openness and transparency are crucial for improving the quality of results too.

Meanwhile, the development of appropriate narratives, which stems from a growing

attention to the preliminary phases of accounting, such as scoping in LCA, is worth of

attention, together with an improvement of synthesis and communication phases, which

represent the end of accounting process.

The latest environmental accounting methods used in this SV suggest that

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opportunities exist for many fields, for both environmental, business and regulation

reasons, to become more active and adventurous in environmental accounting and

management, and that the pressures on them to do so will increase. However, any

method need to be realistic and cost-effective. Thus, this discipline will likely evolve

through incremental changes to existing activities, rather than through the introduction

of completely new processes. Several topics, which are summarized below, will likely

become relevant in the near future:

 Multi-scale Environmental Accounting Frameworks

 Understanding and managing environmental costs

 Integrating environment into decisions with long-term implications on capital

expenditure and environmental support capability evaluation

 Understanding and managing life-cycle costs

 Tool-based decision making support for complex environmental systems

 Linking data held by different environmental and business functions.

Environmental accounting and management could also go beyond environmental

economics. A central objective is to be a significant driver of action and regulation,

through demonstrating the long-term implications of sustainability and creating a vision

of how this can be achieved. As already stressed before, research should point to what

was defined a “narrative” role of making sense of a complex world (McAuley et al.,

1997), as well as a “logico-scientific” role of developing an accurate representation of

reality.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No.

2016YFC0502800), Projects of Sino-America International Cooperation of National

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Natural Science Foundation (No. 51661125010), the Fund for Innovative Research

Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51721093),

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41471466, 71673029),

Interdiscipline Research Funds of Beijing Normal University and the 111 Project (No.

B17005).

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