Compilation of an economy-wide material flow database for 14 stock-building materials in 177 countries from 1900 to 2016

Plank, Barbara; Streeck, Jan; Virág, Doris; Krausmann, Fridolin; Haberl, Helmut; Wiedenhofer, Dominik

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2022.101654

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…We combined all aggregates and other gravel from asphalt, concrete, downcycled materials and primary sand and gravel, with an asphalt composition of 95% aggregates and 5% bitumen [50] and a concrete composition of 83% aggregates and 17% cement [51]. Downcycled materials were separated into bricks, asphalt, and concrete with the same C content as the primary material (except for asphalt outgassing and concrete carbonation).…”

Section: Socio-economic Materials Stocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Society’s material stocks as carbon pool: an economy-wide quantification of global carbon stocks from 1900–2015

Kaufmann,

Wiedenhofer,

Cao

et al. 2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Societal activities massively alter the global carbon (C) cycle, thereby driving global climate heating. Socioeconomic material stocks – e.g., in buildings and infrastructures – have been identified as a C pool that can potentially store increasing amounts of C, thereby keeping C away from the atmosphere. However, little is known about the size, composition, distribution and development of global socioeconomic C stocks. Based on an established economy-wide C accounting approach from sociometabolic research, we consistently and comprehensively quantified the C contained in eight components of socioeconomic stocks in the period 1900-2015 at the level of nine world regions. We discern inert (aggregates & other gravel) and ‘active’ climate-relevant (i.e., biomass and fossil-fuel based) C pools. We find that global active components of socioeconomic C stocks grew by a factor of 9, from 1.9 (1.5-2.2) Pg of carbon (PgC) to 16.8 (13.7-20.2) PgC. The inert socioeconomic C stock in aggregates & other gravel amounted to 25.2 (6.1-48.0) PgC in 2015, however with high uncertainties. Absolute annual Net Additions to Stock (NAS) of active stock components was 0.49 (0.40-0.59) PgC/yr which equalled 5% of the C emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. However, raising NAS of components with biomass feedstock that sequester C from the atmosphere comes with biodiversity and food security trade-offs. This study contributes to a holistic perspective on social and natural C stocks that acknowledges their interactions. The global socioeconomic C stock reached a geologically relevant extent (approximately the size of C in coasts) and should therefore be integrated in the assessments of the global C cycle to acknowledge the Anthropocene.

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Section: Socio-economic Materials Stocksmentioning

confidence: 99%