Material Footprint: Understanding Resource Efficiency by Considering Actual Raw Material Consumption

Kusch-Brandt, Sigrid

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_85-1

Sigrid Kusch-Brandt⁷

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

271 Accesses
1 Citations
1 Altmetric

Synonyms

Material footprint of consumption (MF of consumption); Raw material consumption (RMC)

Definition

In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Statistics Division provides the following definition in the SDG metadata repository for indicators (UNSD 2018): “Material Footprint (MF) is the attribution of global material extraction to domestic final demand of a country. The total material footprint is the sum of the material footprint for biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and non-metal ores.” This definition is in agreement with how the term “material footprint” is used by UN institutions such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and also corresponds to usage of the term by organizations such as OECD and EUROSTAT. However, depending on the context, there might be differing definitions. On a broader level, material footprint assessments consider that physically handled materials, while consuming goods or services do not represent the total amount...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

Eurostat (2017a) Documentation of the EU RME model. Available via EUROSTAT. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/1798247/6191533/Documentation-EU-RME-model/. Accessed 06 Aug 2018
Eurostat (2017b) Database “Material flow accounts in raw material equivalents – modelling estimates (env_ac_rme)”. Last updated 29 Sept 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=env_ac_rme&lang=en. Accessed 6 Aug 2018
Eurostat (2019) Material flow accounts statistics – material footprints (website). http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Material_flow_accounts_statistics_-_material_footprints. Accessed 3 Feb 2019
Giljum S, Bruckner M, Martinez A (2014) Material footprint assessment in the global input-output framework. J Ind Ecol 19(5):792–804
Article Google Scholar
IAEG-SDGs (2019) Tier classification for global SDG indicators (website). https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/iaeg-sdgs/tier-classification/. Accessed 3 Feb 2019
IRP (2019) Global Material Flows Database (website). http://www.resourcepanel.org/global-material-flows-database. Accessed 3 Feb 2019
IRP (International Resource Panel) (2017) Assessing global resource use: a systems approach to resource efficiency and pollution reduction. UNEP, Nairobi
Google Scholar
Lenzen M, Moran D, Kanemoto K, Geschke A (2013) Building Eora: a global multi-regional input-output database at high country and sector resolution. Econ Syst Res 25(1):20–49
Article Google Scholar
Schaffartzik A, Eisenmenger N, Krausmann F, Weisz H (2013) Consumption-based material flow accounting. J Ind Ecol 18(1):102–112
Article Google Scholar
Schmidt-Bleek F (1994) Wieviel Umwelt braucht der Mensch? MIPS – Das Maß für ökologisches Wirtschaften. Springer, Basel
Book Google Scholar
Tukker A, Dietzenbacher E (2013) Global multiregional input-output frameworks: an introduction and outlook. Econ Syst Res 25(1):1–19
Article Google Scholar
UNSD (2018) Metadata for Indicator 12.2.1 (last updated 12 February 2018). In: Metadata repository for SDG indicators. United Nations Statistics Division. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/Metadata-12-02-01.pdf. Accessed 03. Feb 2019
UNSD (2019) SDG Indicators – Metadata repository (website). https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/. Accessed 3 Feb 2019
Wiedmann TO, Schandl H, Lenzen M, Moran D, Suh S, West J, Kanemoto K (2015) The material footprint of nations. PNAS 112(20):6271–6276
Article CAS Google Scholar

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Sigrid Kusch-Brandt

Authors

Sigrid Kusch-Brandt
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sigrid Kusch-Brandt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Faculty of Life Science, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Walter Leal Filho
Ctr Neurosci & Cell Biology, 1 Floor, Univ Coimbra, Edf Fac Medicina, Coimbra, Portugal
Anabela Marisa Azul
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil
Luciana Brandli
Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey
Pinar Gökcin Özuyar
International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK
Tony Wall

Section Editor information

La Rochelle Business School - Excelia Group, La Rochelle, France
Morgane M. C Fritz

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this entry

Cite this entry

Kusch-Brandt, S. (2019). Material Footprint: Understanding Resource Efficiency by Considering Actual Raw Material Consumption. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_85-1

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_85-1
Received: 03 February 2019
Accepted: 04 February 2019
Published: 19 June 2019
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71062-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71062-4
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics