Stephan Lutter

Methodology and Indicators of Economy-wide Material Flow Accounting

Summary This contribution presents the state of the art of economywide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we outline system definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R 2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use.

Exiopol - Development And Illustrative Analyses Of A Detailed Global Mr Ee Sut/Iot

EXIOPOL (A New Environmental Accounting Framework Using Externality Data and Input–Output Tools for Policy Analysis) was a European Union (EU)-funded project creating a detailed, global, multiregional environmentally extended Supply and Use table (MR EE SUT) of 43 countries, 129 sectors, 80 resources, and 40 emissions. We sourced primary SUT and input–output tables from Eurostat and non-EU statistical offices. We harmonized and detailed them using auxiliary national accounts data and co-efficient matrices. Imports were allocated to countries of exports using United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database trade shares. Optimization procedures removed imbalances in these detailing and trade linking steps. Environmental extensions were added from various sources. We calculated the EU footprint of final consumption with resulting MR EE SUT. EU policies focus mainly on energy and carbon footprints. We show that the EU land, water, and material footprint abroad is much more relevant, and should be prioritized in the EUs environmental product and trade policies.

EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi‐Regional Input‐Output Tables

Environmentally extended multiregional input-output (EE MRIO) tables have emerged as a key framework to provide a comprehensive description of the global economy and analyze its effects on the environment. Of the available EE MRIO databases, EXIOBASE stands out as a database compatible with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) with a high sectorial detail matched with multiple social and environmental satellite accounts. In this paper, we present the latest developments realized with EXIOBASE 3-a time series of EE MRIO tables ranging from 1995 to 2011 for 44 countries (28 EU member plus 16 major economies) and five rest of the world regions. EXIOBASE 3 builds upon the previous versions of EXIOBASE by using rectangular supply-use tables (SUTs) in a 163 industry by 200 products classification as the main building locks. In order to capture structural changes, economic developments, as reported by national statistical agencies, were imposed on the available, disaggregated SUTs from EXIOBASE 2. These initial estimates were further refined by incorporating detailed data on energy, agricultural production, resource extraction, and bilateral trade. EXIOBASE 3 inherits the high level of environmental stressor detail from its precursor, with further improvement in the level of detail for resource xtraction. To account for the expansion of the European Union (EU), EXIOBASE 3 was developed with the full EU28 country set (including the new member state Croatia). EXIOBASE 3 provides a unique tool for analyzing the dynamics of environmental pressures of economic activities over time.

Data, Indicators and Targets for Comprehensive Resource Policies

Today’s most pressing environmental problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, land cover conversion, etc. are caused by the overall growth of production and consumption. For a methodologically sound and comprehensive measurement of societal resource use and its environmental, economic and social impacts as well as for monitoring progress towards defined targets, appropriate indicators are needed. In addition to the territorial indicators currently in use, such indicators take into account resources “embodied” in traded goods and services. These “footprint-type indicators” help understand to what extent a country’s economy, the environment, and the resource efficiency performance of goods and services are influenced by global value chains. In this book chapter we discuss the state of the art of data and indicator development focussing on three different types of natural resources – raw materials, land, and water. First an overview of methodological options regarding environmental accounting frameworks as well as the calculation of footprint-type indicators is provided. We show empirical trends of resource use and analyse to what extent drivers of global resource use such as the European Union have managed to decouple their economic development from resource use. Methodological requirements and necessary next developments are identified and the ongoing processes as well as empirical analyses linked to the question of how targets for sustainable resource use can be identified in both regards, to the methodological as well as institutional level.

Measuring Natural Resource Use from the Micro to the Macro Level

Many of today’s most urgent environmental problems are related to the increasing volumes of worldwide production and consumption and the associated use of natural resources. Solid indicators to measure different dimensions of anthropogenic resource use are essential for designing appropriate policy measures for a sustainable management of these resources. Based on a brief review of the current state of the art of resource use indicators, this chapter describes a set of complementary environmental indicators, combining existing measures for the use of materials, water and land as well as emissions of greenhouse gases. This set can be applied consistently from the micro level of products and companies up to the macro level of countries and world regions, where all suggested indicators take a life cycle perspective on production and consumption activities. The set of indicators deals with the issue of the overall scale of the human production and consumption system and can be regarded as a framework of pressure indicators, based on which indicators on different environmental impacts can be derived. Moreover, these pressure indicators are considered as appropriate proxies for the human impact on the environment. The described set of indicators thus covers natural resource use in a comprehensive and complementary manner and can serve as a basis for setting resource-specific targets and evaluating specific resource policies.

Integrated Participatory Water Resources Management and Water Governance

MELIA, the Mediterranean Dialogue on Integrated Water Management, aims at the integration of several aspects of water management with sustainable development, as this is the most effective way to contribute and to properly address integrated water management. To achieve this objective, the project concept foresees the establishment of a space of dialogue between actors dealing with the different issues linked to water management in the Mediterranean countries. This dialogue leads to the provision of a consensual framework integrating best practices, opinions, assessment of options and actions, etc., for the development of an integrated and sustainable water policy and management in the Mediterranean. This is done by taking into account relevant EU Mediterranean policies and initiatives as tools to support the cultural, commercial, industrial and human exchanges between the EU and the Mediterranean countries.