Research article Emergy-based valuation of glacier ecosystem services: A case from the Tibetan Plateau Can Zhang a,b , Bo Su c,d,e,* , Michael Beckmann f , Shiming Fang a,g , Yao Xiao h , Heng Ma i , Ningyu Yan j , Martin Volk b a Department of Land Resource Management, School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China b Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, 04318 Leipzig, Germany c State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, School of Enviroment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China d Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden e Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 40530, Sweden f Chair of Environmental Planning, Brandenburg University of Technology, 03046 Cottbus, Germany g Key Labs of Law Evaluation of Ministry of Land and Resources of China, Wuhan 430074, China h School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China i National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, China j Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Ecological Security and Green Development, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Mountain Glacier Ecosystem services valuation Emergy analysis Tibetan plateau climate change Sustainability ABSTRACT Glaciers provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) to human society. Due to the continued global warming, the valuation of glacier ES is of urgent importance because this knowledge can support the protection of glaciers. However, a systematic valuation of glacier ES is still lacking, particularly from the perspective of ES contributors. In this study, we introduce the concept of emergy to establish a methodological framework for accounting glacier ES values, and take the Tibetan Plateau (TP) as a case study to comprehensively evaluate the spatiotemporal characteristics of glacier ES during the early 21st century. The results show that the total glacier ES values on the TP increased from 2.36E+24 sej/yr in the 2000s to 2.40E+24 sej/yr in the 2010s, with an overall growth rate of 1.6%. The values of the various services in the 2010s are ranked in descending order: climate regulation (1.59E+24 sej/yr, 66.1%), runoff regulation (4.40E+23 sej/yr, 18.4%), hydropower generation (1.88E+23 sej/ yr, 7.8%). Significantly higher glacier ES values were recorded in the marginal TP than in the endorheic area. With the exception of climate regulation and carbon sequestration, all other service values increased during the study period, partially cultural services, which have experienced rapid growth in tandem with social develop- ment. The results of this study will help establish the methodological basis for the assessment of regional and global glacier ES, as well as a scientific basis for the regional protection of glacier resources. 1. Introduction Glaciers cover approximately 10% of the Earth’s land surface and store 74% of global freshwater (Cuffey and Paterson, 2010). Glaciers are integral to freshwater resource supply, climate and runoff regulation and stabilization, hydropower generation, carbon sequestration, unique culture, and attractive tourism support (Xiao et al., 2015; Su et al., 2019; Cook et al., 2021). However, climate change has led to widespread glacier retreat worldwide in recent decades (Zemp et al., 2015; IPCC, 2021). This unprecedented process jeopardizes ecosystem services (ES) provided by glaciers, which are closely linked to human livelihoods and sustainable socioeconomic development (Su et al., 2022a). Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of glacier ES is of urgent importance as this knowledge can support the protection of glaciers. However, despite growing public awareness of the importance of protecting glacier eco- systems, a notable gap in the systematic assessment of their socioeco- nomic contributions remains. Glaciers are characterized as polyextremophilic environments * Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, School of Enviroment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. E-mail address: bsu2022@bnu.edu.cn (B. Su). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123966 Received 6 November 2024; Received in revised form 10 December 2024; Accepted 28 December 2024 Journal of Environmental Management 374 (2025) 123966 0301-4797/© 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.