Abstract
In the context of the transformation toward a “green economy,” issues related to natural resource use have rapidly increased in importance in European and international policy debates. The large number of studies applying economy-wide material flow analysis so far mostly produced aggregated national indicators, making the results difficult to connect to policies, which are often designed for single sectors or consumption areas. This paper provides a detailed assessment of the composition of EU’s material footprint in its global context, aiming at identifying the main product groups contributing to overall material consumption and specifying the geographical sources for the raw materials required to satisfy EU’s final demand. Based on multi-regional input–output (MRIO) modeling, we apply production layer decomposition to assess supply chains and their structural changes from 1995 to 2011. The global MRIO database used in this study is EXIOBASE 3, which disaggregates 200 products and 163 industries, of which 33 represent material extraction sectors. By that means, we increase the level of detail to a degree where policies can more easily connect to. We find that the generally growing material footprint of the EU was characterized by a dramatic shift regarding the origin of raw materials, with the share of materials extracted within the EU territory falling from 68 % in 1995 to 35 % in 2011. In 2011, raw materials extracted in China to produce exports to the EU already contributed an equal share to EU’s material footprint as material extraction within the EU itself. Import dependency is most critical for the material group of metal ores, with only 13 % of all metals required as inputs to EU final demand stemming from within the EU. Regarding product composition, construction was confirmed as the most important sector contributing to the material footprint, followed by the group of manufacturing products based on biomass. Materials embodied in service sector activities together contributed a quarter to the total material footprint in 2011, making services an important, but currently disregarded area for European resource policies. We also find that supply chain structures became more complex over time, with a growing part located outside the EU territory.
Highlights
1.1 Policy background Economic development in the past decades was characterized by steadily increasing levels of global resource use and rising human pressures on global ecosystems (Giljum et al 2014; Krausmann et al 2009; UNEP 2011a)
The first perspective is the origin of the various raw materials related to EU final demand, followed by an analysis of the main products and product groups contributing to the EU material footprint
3.2 Discussion 3.2.1 Priorities for European resource policies The results generated with the global multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model with detailed material extensions as applied in this paper confirm the priorities of EU resource policy initiatives with regard to product groups, i.e., we find that construction as well as the group of manufactured biomass-based products are the top 2 product groups constituting EU’s material footprint
Summary
1.1 Policy background Economic development in the past decades was characterized by steadily increasing levels of global resource use and rising human pressures on global ecosystems (Giljum et al 2014; Krausmann et al 2009; UNEP 2011a). Driven by rapidly growing levels of material consumption in emerging economies together with continued high levels of per capita resource use in the industrialized world, the global economy is characterized by increasing competition between world regions regarding the access to raw materials Against this background issues related to material consumption and resource productivity have rapidly increased in importance in European and international policy debates in the past few years. In response to these environmental and economic challenges, numerous policy initiatives have been introduced aiming at significantly increasing resource efficiency to reduce negative environmental impacts, while addressing issues related to material supply security and import dependency. The third high-impact area regarding resource use identified in the Roadmap is mobility with its high demand for material-intensive transport infrastructure and the high dependency on fossil fuels
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