Resource Use in Growing China

Abstract

Summary Natural resources provide the basis for our life on Earth. This article presents the accounts of China's direct material input (DMI) during 1998–2008. Using decomposition, we examine factors that have influenced changes in recent resource use in China. China's resource demand in 2011–2015 is projected, based on China's 12th Five‐Year Plan. Finally, effective policies to restrain China's resource demand are discussed with the following conclusions: (1) During 1998–2008, China's DMI doubled, from 11 gigatons (Gt) to 22 Gt. Metallic minerals had the strongest growth, quadrupling; nonmetallic minerals and fossil fuels more than doubled, but biomass remained stable. In relative terms, nonmetallic minerals dominated, with more than 60% of total DMI. (2) Factors of affluence (A) and material use intensity (T), respectively, contributed most to the increase and decrease of DMI, but the overall decrease effect is much smaller. Factors of population (P) and recycling (R) only slightly affected changes in China's DMI. (3) During 2008–2015, China's DMI is expected to increase by 27% to 38%, from 22 Gt to 28 to 31 Gt. The average annual rate of increase of DMI would drop to 3% to 5%, from 7% during 1998–2008. (4) Designing new products and infrastructure that use less energy and materials and changing consumption patterns to be more sustainable are crucial to the future resource strategy of China. More policies are expected to improve China's material use intensity and recycling levels.

Bigger Cakes with Less Ingredients? A Comparison of Material Use of the World Economy

“…In 1995, China accounted for only 4.7 per cent of worldwide crude steel production (IISI, 1996). We can confirm the results of Wang et al (2012), who found that raising material efficiency in China reduced material use.…”

“…Without structural change and the efficiency gains dampening it, Chinese material use would have five-folded from 1995 to 2008. Wang et al (2012), who investigate China's DMI from 1998 to 2008, find that the use of metallic minerals grows particularly strongly. This coincides with China taking a dominant role in many upstream industries.…”

中国社会经济系统资源环境压力的时空差异

“…资源科学， 2017， 39 (10) ： 1942-1955. [Dai T J， Wang W J， Liu R. Spatio-temporal variation of resource and environmental pressure in China [J]. Resources Science， 2017， 39 (10) ： 1942-1955 、 李刚等 [5， 6] 、 刘敬智等 [7] 、 徐明等 [8] 、 王鹤鸣 等 [9] 均研究了中国不同时期的物质流动情况。随着 国家层面物质流分析方法逐渐成熟， SERI (Sustain- [10] 。 此后， 北京 [11] 、 陕西 [12] 、 辽宁 [13] 、 安徽 [14] 、 天津 [15] 、 上海 [16] 、 广东 [17， 18] 、 江苏 [19， 20] 、 海南 [21] 、 常州市武进区 [22] 、 张掖 [23] 、 邯郸 [24] 、 青岛 [25] 、 吉林四平 [26] 、 厦门 [27] 、 京津冀 [28] 》 [33] 《中国林业年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [34] 《中国农业年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [33] 《中国农业年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [33] 《中国农业年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [33] 《中国能源统计年鉴 (1991-2015) 》 [36] 《中国矿业年鉴》 [37] 和各省份矿产资料 《中国矿业年鉴》 [37] 和各省份矿产资料 《中国统计年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [38] 《中国环境年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [40] 《中国环境年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [40] 《中国能源统计年鉴 (1991-2015) 》 [36] 《中国环境年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [40] 《中国统计年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [38] 《中国统计年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [38] 《中国农业年鉴 (1993-2015) 》 [33] 《中国农业年鉴 ( 估算， 估算方法见参考文献 [43][44][45] 无 估算， 估算方法见参考文献 …”

Biomass Extraction and Economic Growth in Developing China: 1970-2010

“…However, while these resouces provide us convenience, the using of them also brings pressure on the environment. Since Chinese economic reform, both GDP and resource consumption have increased dramatically over the past decades [1,2,3,4]. Therefore, the case of China provides a timely example of the relationship between economic growth and resource consumption during its economic transition process.…”