Methods for Downscaling National Material Consumption Data to the Regional and Municipal Levels

Alexandra Lavers Westin,Leonardo Rosado,Yuliya Kalmykova,João Patrício

doi:10.3390/su12208336

Alexandra Lavers Westin, Leonardo Rosado + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208336

Copy DOI

Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Oct 10, 2020
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology

Abstract

Decision makers are looking to reach consumption-based environmental impact targets like Sustainable Development Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. These goals require multifaceted action at municipal, regional, and national levels; however, there are limitations to calculating consumption at the regional and municipal levels. Consumption is dependent on the socioeconomic metabolism of the area, with its unique composition of industries, consumers, and public facilities, which may affect the most appropriate measures to meet goals effectively. In this study, we evaluated several methods to extrapolate municipality- and region-specific consumption from national-level data so that consumption estimates can be used to aid decision makers or make further analyses like environmental impact evaluation. We compared four approaches and validated our findings using reported consumption values as well as results from another model in use. We found that using per capita values for consumption is satisfactory for counties, but consumption in municipalities and metropolitan areas with populations smaller than 500,000 inhabitants was better described by one of the suggested methods on average.

Highlights

Rising consumption is leading to increasing resource use and detrimental environmental impacts [1]
The evaluation of extrapolation methods began with a test to see how well the employee ratio method estimated extraction as a precursor to estimating consumption
The results indicated that using an economic sector’s employee ratio may estimate domestic extraction with reasonable accuracy at the county (NUTS3) level, giving a significantly more accurate estimate of true extraction than using per capita values

Summary

Introduction

Rising consumption is leading to increasing resource use and detrimental environmental impacts [1]. Decision makers at all governmental levels are faced with the challenge of defining measures to reach environmental targets and reduce environmental impacts of consumption. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, Sustainable Consumption and Production, has a target of achieving sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources by 2030 [2,3]. This goal is measured against several indicators, including material footprint and domestic material consumption (DMC). Region-specific consumption data may be key to identifying suitable strategies to reach sustainability goals. We use the term region to mean a geographic area smaller than the national level, like a county or municipality

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion