Social-environmental index: Combining social and biophysical indicators reveals limits to growth

The negative impact of the dominant socio-economic paradigm on the
biosphere, on the climate, and on societies themselves are acute. Yet, the
success of countries is measured by indicators known to be limited because
they target a socially attractive but environmentally unsustainable model
of society. A myriad of indicators have been proposed to address this lack
of relevant measurements that assess the real social achievements of
countries. At the same time, the impacts of human societies on life and
climate have become increasingly well monitored and have shown the
ecological deadlock of the dominant development model. Although social and
environmental thresholds have been highlighted, combined indices that
allow countries to track their trajectories toward greater social justice
without exceeding biophysical thresholds are still lacking. A combined
Socio-Environmental Index (SEI) is constructed here to fill this gap. The
relationship between SEI and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population
density, and Sustainable Development Index (SDI) is then analyzed. This
allows for a re-examination of the Easterlin paradox from a social and
environmental perspective. In addition, considering population density
allows to test the influence of population on the country's
sustainability success. It is shown that combining social and
environmental thresholds into a combined index is not only feasible but
provides a useful complementary tool to detailed and specific social or
environmental indicators. SEI highlights and quantifies the limits,
already exceeded in many countries, beyond which economic development is
clearly related to a decline in social achievements and a crossing of
biophysical thresholds. Unlike GDP, population density and population
growth were not found as being related to the current unsustainable
development model. Therefore, the results call for degrowth in the
environmental impact of high-income countries which may result in social
improvements and yield room of maneuver for the development of social
foundations in other countries. All of these transformations require new
narratives, goals, and measurement tools which can be partly provided by
SEI.

主导社会经济范式（socio-economic paradigm）对生物圈、气候及社会自身的负面影响已十分严峻。然而，国家的成功仍由已知存在局限的指标衡量——这些指标所指向的社会模式虽具有社会吸引力，却在环境层面不可持续。为解决这种缺乏评估国家真实社会成就相关测量工具的问题，众多指标被提出。与此同时，人类社会对生命与气候的影响监测日益完善，揭示了主导发展模式的生态僵局（ecological deadlock）。尽管社会与环境阈值已得到关注，但仍缺乏能让各国在不突破生物物理阈值（biophysical thresholds）的前提下，追踪其迈向更高社会正义轨迹的综合指数。本文构建了综合社会环境指数（Socio-Environmental Index, SEI）以填补这一空白，随后分析了SEI与国内生产总值（Gross Domestic Product, GDP）、人口密度及可持续发展指数（Sustainable Development Index, SDI）之间的关系。这使得我们能够从社会与环境视角重新审视伊斯特林悖论（Easterlin paradox）；此外，通过考虑人口密度，可测试人口对国家可持续发展成效的影响。研究表明，将社会与环境阈值整合至综合指数不仅可行，还能为具体且详细的社会或环境指标提供实用的补充工具。SEI凸显并量化了许多国家已突破的极限：一旦越过该极限，经济发展便与社会成就下降及生物物理阈值的突破显著相关。与GDP不同，人口密度及人口增长未被发现与当前不可持续的发展模式存在关联。因此，研究结果呼吁高收入国家降低环境影响——这可能带来社会改善，并为其他国家发展社会基础留出回旋余地。所有这些转变都需要新的叙事、目标及测量工具，而SEI可部分满足这一需求。