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Environmental Impact and Sustainability

Environmental Impact and Sustainability is a research topic within Environmental Engineering. Science Explorer counts 40k research works in it since 1952. 33.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impact analysis, with a particular emphasis on carbon and water footprints, embodied energy, input-output analysis, decomposition analysis, and sustainability assessment. It explores the global trade implications, greenhouse gas emissions, and the challenges and opportunities for carbon neutrality in various regions. The papers also address the socioeconomic drivers of emissions and the potential impacts of industrial structure on energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Environmental Impact
  • Carbon Footprint
  • Water Footprint
  • Embodied Energy
  • Input-Output Analysis
  • Decomposition Analysis
  • Sustainability Assessment
  • Global Trade
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Research works
40k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
13k
per year above
Top-10% rate
33.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+49%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Environmental Impact and Sustainability research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.9k and 752 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 4.9k works
  2. 2 United States 752 works
  3. 3 Türkiye 426 works
  4. 4 Germany 403 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 403 works
  6. 6 Italy 397 works
  7. 7 India 375 works
  8. 8 Spain 287 works
  9. 9 France 251 works
  10. 10 Brazil 241 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 58.2%United States: 8.9%Türkiye: 5.0%Germany: 4.8%6 others listed: 23.1%58%largest
China4,918 · 58.2%United States752 · 8.9%Türkiye426 · 5.0%Germany403 · 4.8%6 others listed1,954 · 23.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Environmental Impact and Sustainability research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Tsinghua University publishes the most Environmental Impact and Sustainability research, followed by North China Electric Power University and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Tsinghua University China 95 works
  2. 2 North China Electric Power University China 83 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 68 works
  4. 4 China University of Mining and Technology China 63 works
  5. 5 Beijing Normal University China 58 works
  6. 6 Chongqing University China 57 works
  7. 7 Beijing Institute of Technology China 50 works
  8. 8 Xiamen University China 47 works
  9. 9 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 45 works
  10. 10 Hohai University China 44 works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental Impact and Sustainability?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Environmental Impact and Sustainability include İbrahim Dinçer, W. W. Cooper and Philippe Ciais.

  1. 1 İbrahim Dinçer 5.9k citations
  2. 2 W. W. Cooper 4.6k citations
  3. 3 Philippe Ciais 4k citations
  4. 4 Frank W. Geels 3.1k citations
  5. 5 Pete Smith 3k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Environmental Impact and Sustainability research done?

The largest centres of Environmental Impact and Sustainability research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bengbu and Yangling.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 1.2k works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 313 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 267 works
  4. 4 Wuhan China 214 works
  5. 5 Guangzhou China 170 works
  6. 6 Chengdu China 150 works
  7. 7 Xi'an China 150 works
  8. 8 Jinan China 139 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 135 works
  10. 10 Chongqing China 133 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BengbuCN · 29.5 works9.6×
  2. YanglingCN · 32.3 works7.0×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Environmental Impact and Sustainability than the world average.

See Environmental Impact and Sustainability on the map

Where is the best place to study Environmental Impact and Sustainability?

Among universities, judged by research, Lebanese American University, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and Cyprus International University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%50%100%mean 68.29%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Lebanese American University: 12, 90.5%Southwestern University of Finance and Economics: 28, 51.4%Cyprus International University: 14, 87.2%European University of Lefke: 12, 84.8%Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics: 15, 60.5%Azerbaijan State University of Economics: 11, 84.3%North China Electric Power University: 83, 36.5%Nanjing Audit University: 10, 57.8%China University of Petroleum, East China: 29, 60.9%Guizhou University of Finance and Economics: 12, 69.0%Lebanese American Un…Cyprus International…European University …Southwestern Univers…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Lebanese American University Lebanon 71.990.5%9.4×12
2Southwestern University of Finance and Economics China 69.151.4%16.6×28 +367.5%
3Cyprus International University Cyprus 68.787.2%22.3×14
4European University of Lefke Türkiye 67.984.8%51.2×12
5Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics China 66.060.5%15.5×15 +184.9%
6Azerbaijan State University of Economics Azerbaijan 65.784.3%16.1×11
7North China Electric Power University China 65.136.5%10.6×83 +98.7%
8Nanjing Audit University China 62.657.8%17.6×10 +219.9%
9China University of Petroleum, East China China 58.860.9%5.2×29 +495.7%
10Guizhou University of Finance and Economics China 57.769.0%18.8×12

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Environmental Impact and Sustainability research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 49% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Environmental Impact and Sustainability.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.