Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T23:28:15.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global trends and patterns in material use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2013

Fridolin Krausmann ,
Anke Schaffartzik ,
Andreas Mayer ,
Simone Gingrich  and
Nina Eisenmenger
Fridolin Krausmann
Affiliation:
Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen Adria University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Anke Schaffartzik
Affiliation:
Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen Adria University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Andreas Mayer
Affiliation:
Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen Adria University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Simone Gingrich
Affiliation:
Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen Adria University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Nina Eisenmenger
Affiliation:
Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen Adria University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Get access

Abstract

Humanity currently extracts almost 70 billion tons of materials per year. During the last century global materials extraction and use have increased by one order of magnitude. Growth accelerated in the last decade, when materials extraction grew with the global economy at an annual rate of 3.6%. For sustainable development it is of key importance to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of global material use and the underlying drivers. This paper explores changes in global material use during the last century from a systemic perspective based on the concept of socio-economic metabolism.

In recent years socio-economic (or, more narrowly termed industrial) metabolism became a prominent concept in sustainability science as many global sustainability problems are directly associated with humanities growing demand for raw materials and their transformation into wastes and emissions after processing and use. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is one of the approaches available to study social metabolism. It provides data and headline indicators for resource use in national economies and is widely used in science and by policy makers.

This paper presents results from a global material flow analysis and explores long term the development of global material extraction and use. It shows that in particular the period after WWII was characterized by a rapid expansion of resource use, driven by both population and economic growth. Within this period a shift from the dominance of renewable biomass towards mineral and fossil materials, which now account for 70% of all used materials, was observed. Overall, material use increased at a slower pace than the global economy, but faster than world population. As a consequence, material intensity (i.e. the amount of materials required per unit of GDP) declined throughout the 20th century, while materials use per capita doubled. The use of materials is by no means equally distributed around the globe. Per capita material use varies by a factor of 20 across countries. At the turn of the millennium, 15% of the global population living in industrialized countries were using half of all mineral and fossil resources; in contrast, the least developed countries, inhabiting 11% of global population, appropriated only 1% of these strategically important materials. In recent years, however, the emerging economies gained significance as drivers for physical growth. So far there is no evidence that growth of global materials use is slowing down. The paper discusses the implications of the results from the material flow analysis for sustainable development.

Keywords

Sustainabilitymetalbiomaterial
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1545: Symposium K – Materials for Sustainable Development , 2013 , mrss13-1545-k04-03
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Krausmann, F., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Schandl, H., Eisenmenger, N., Journal of Industrial Ecology 12, 637 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNEP, Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth. A Report of the Working Group on Decoupling to the International Resource Use Panel. ( United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, 2011).Google Scholar
Krausmann, F., et al. , Ecological Economics 68, 2696 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baccini, P., Brunner, P.H., The metabolism of the anthroposphere ( Springer, Berlin, 1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer-Kowalski, M., Hüttler, W., Journal of Industrial Ecology 2, 107 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, R.U., Simonis, U.E., Industrial Metabolism: Restructuring for Sustainable Development (United Nations University Press, Tokyo, New York, Paris, 1994).Google Scholar
Bringezu, S., van der Sand, I., Schütz, H., Bleischwitz, R., Moll, S., Sustainable Resource Management. Global Trends, Visions and Policies, Bringezu, S. and Bleischwitz, R., Eds. (Greenleaf, Sheffield, 2009), p. 10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaffartzik, A., Mayer, A., Gingrich, S., Eisenmenger, N., Krausmann, F., Global patterns in material use 1950-2010 (Inst. of Social Ecology, Vienna, forthcoming, 2013).Google Scholar
Eurostat, Economy wide Material Flow Accounts. Compilation Guidelines for reporting to the 2009 Eurostat questionnaire ( European Statistical Office, Luxembourg, 2009).Google Scholar
Fischer-Kowalski, M., et al. , Journal of Industrial Ecology 15, 855 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hashimoto, S., Tanikawa, H., Moriguchi, Y., Waste Management 27, 1725 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smil, V., Feeding the World. A Challenge for the Twenty-First Century ( MIT Press, Cambridge, 2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marland, G., Boden, T.A., Andres, R.J., Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change, (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A., 2007),Google Scholar
Schandl, H., West, J., Global Environmental Change 20, 636 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russi, D., et al. , Journal of Industrial Ecology 12, 704 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P.M., Mooney, H.A., Lubchenco, J., Melillo, J.M., Science 277, 494 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steffen, W., et al. , AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 40, 739 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The World Bank Group. World Development Indicators (online version). (http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog, 2010)Google Scholar
Rockström, J., et al. , Ecology and Society 14, 32. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/ (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar