Lenzen, Manfred, Geschke, Arne, West, James, Fry, Jacob, Malik, Arunima, Giljum, Stefan, Milà i Canals, Llorenç, Piñero, Pablo, Lutter, Franz Stephan, Wiedmann, Thomas, Li, Mengyu, Sevenster, Maartje, Potočnik, Janez, Teixeira, Izabella, Van Voore, Merlyn, Nansai, Keisuke, Schandl, Heinz. 2021. Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12. Nature Sustainability.

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@ARTICLE{Lenzen2021,
title = {Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12},
author = {Manfred Lenzen and Arne Geschke and James West and Jacob Fry and Arunima Malik and Stefan Giljum and Llorenç Milà i Canals and Pablo Piñero and Franz Stephan Lutter and Thomas Wiedmann and Mengyu Li and Maartje Sevenster and Janez Potočnik and Izabella Teixeira and Merlyn Van Voore and Keisuke Nansai and Heinz Schandl},
year = {2021},
doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00811-6},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00811-6.pdf},
language = {EN},
journal = {Nature Sustainability},
abstract = {Sustainable development depends on decoupling economic growth from resource use. The material footprint indicator accounts for environmental pressure related to a country’s final demand. It measures material use across global supply-chain networks linking production and consumption. For this reason, it has been used as an indicator for two Sustainable Development Goals: 8.4 ‘resource efficiency improvements’ and 12.2 ‘sustainable management of natural resources’. Currently, no reporting facility exists that provides global, detailed and timely information on countries’ material footprints. We present a new collaborative research platform, based on multiregional input–output analysis, that enables countries to regularly produce, update and report detailed global material footprint accounts and monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8.4 and 12.2. We show that the global material footprint has quadrupled since 1970, driven mainly by emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region, but with an indication of plateauing since 2014. Capital investments increasingly dominate over household consumption as the main driver. At current trends, absolute decoupling is unlikely to occur over the next few decades. The new collaborative research platform allows to elevate the material footprint to Tier I status in the SDG indicator framework and paves the way to broaden application of the platform to other environmental footprint indicators.},
}

Abstract

Sustainable development depends on decoupling economic growth from resource use. The material footprint indicator accounts for environmental pressure related to a country’s final demand. It measures material use across global supply-chain networks linking production and consumption. For this reason, it has been used as an indicator for two Sustainable Development Goals: 8.4 ‘resource efficiency improvements’ and 12.2 ‘sustainable management of natural resources’. Currently, no reporting facility exists that provides global, detailed and timely information on countries’ material footprints. We present a new collaborative research platform, based on multiregional input–output analysis, that enables countries to regularly produce, update and report detailed global material footprint accounts and monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8.4 and 12.2. We show that the global material footprint has quadrupled since 1970, driven mainly by emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region, but with an indication of plateauing since 2014. Capital investments increasingly dominate over household consumption as the main driver. At current trends, absolute decoupling is unlikely to occur over the next few decades. The new collaborative research platform allows to elevate the material footprint to Tier I status in the SDG indicator framework and paves the way to broaden application of the platform to other environmental footprint indicators.

Publication's profile

Status of publication	Published
Affiliation	WU
Type of publication	Journal article
Journal	Nature Sustainability
Citation Index	SSCI
Language	English
Title	Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12
Year	2021
URL	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00811-6.pdf
DOI	http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00811-6
Open Access	N

Associations

People: Giljum, Stefan (Details); Lutter, Franz Stephan (Details)
External: Fry, Jacob (Integrated Sustainability Analysis, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia); Geschke, Arne (ntegrated Sustainability Analysis, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia); Lenzen, Manfred (Integrated Sustainability Analysis, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia); Li, Mengyu (Integrated Sustainability Analysis, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia); Malik, Arunima (Integrated Sustainability Analysis, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia); Milà i Canals, Llorenç (United Nations Environment Programme, Paris, France); Nansai, Keisuke (Material Cycles Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan); Piñero, Pablo (Institute for Ecological Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria); Potočnik, Janez (United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), International Resource Panel, Paris, France); Schandl, Heinz (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia); Sevenster, Maartje (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia); Teixeira, Izabella (United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), International Resource Panel, Paris, France); Van Voore, Merlyn (United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), International Resource Panel, Paris, France); West, James (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australia); Wiedmann, Thomas (Sustainability Assessment Program, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)
Organization: Institute for Ecological Economics IN (Details)

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