The physical dimension of international trade

Dittrich, Monika; Bringezu, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.04.023

Cited by 91 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As such, the MF represents a notional concept of linking resource extraction to consumption elsewhere in the world through attribution (Wiedmann et al 2013; see also Dittrich et al 2012), rather than a physical description of material trade (Dittrich and Bringezu 2010). The concept of the MF is identical to other environmental footprint indicators Hertwich and Peters 2009;Moran et al 2013;Steen-Olsen et al 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Analysis of international flows of materials, and particularly critical and scarce materials, has been an area of increased research activity in the field of Industrial Ecology in recent years (Bleischwitz et al 2012;Dittrich and Bringezu 2010;Dittrich et al 2012;Eckelman et al 2012;Elshkaki and Graedel 2013;Giljum et al 2014;Nansai et al 2014). The MF is conceptually equivalent to other footprint approaches for carbon emissions, energy and water (Č uček et al 2012;Ewing et al 2012;Fang et al 2014;Galli et al 2012Galli et al , 2013Giljum et al 2013;Moran et al 2013;Steen-Olsen et al 2012) and summarizes the total amount of raw materials (metal ores in the case of the present study) associated with the domestic final demand of a country or region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The footprint of using metals: new metrics of consumption and productivity

Wiedmann

Schandl

Moran

2014

Environ Econ Policy Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metal use and modern society are intrinsically linked and it is no surprise that global processes of industrialization and urbanization have led to ever increasing amounts of metal use. In recent decades, global supply and demand networks for metals have become increasingly complex. Industrial Ecology research is well placed to unpack this complexity and to explore potential resource efficiencies for metals. This is especially important during the current period of rising ore prices. We examine patterns of supply and demand for iron ore and bauxite, and recent trends in resource productivity of these two important metal ores. We introduce a consumption perspective and compare the material footprint of metal ores to the GDP of countries to look at how much economic benefit countries achieve per unit of metal footprint. We find that for the past two decades global amounts of iron ore and bauxite extractions have risen faster than global GDP, that both supply and demand of iron ore and bauxite have been concentrated in a handful of countries and that resource productivity from a consumption perspective has fallen in developed nations, as well as globally. The research shows no saturation of T. O. Wiedmann (&)

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The footprint of using metals: new metrics of consumption and productivity

Wiedmann

Schandl

Moran

2014

Environ Econ Policy Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In line with our approach, research has demonstrated that resource-rich Developing Countries may experience their abundance of natural resources as a curse that hinders economic 7 Test statistic for EU-15, 1980EU-15, -2000 an increase in the import share by 1% would raise the DMC per capita by 0.225%. Research done by Soeren Steger, see ; see also : Dittrich 2009. diversification, investments in human capital and democracy and, thus, lead to lower growth rates compared to other countries (Gylfason 2009). In line with the chapters above our approach enables research to looking at development across economies and industrial sectors in connection to social, institutional and ecological factors, in particular to emerging markets for eco-innovation.…”

Section: Resource Productivity Competitiveness and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

International economics of resource productivity – Relevance, measurement, empirical trends, innovation, resource policies

Bleischwitz

2010

Int Econ Econ Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper undertakes a step to explaining the international economics of resource productivity. It argues that natural resources are back on the agenda for four reasons: the demand on world markets continues to increase, the environmental constraints to using resources are relevant throughout their whole life cycle, the access to critical metals could become a barrier to the low carbon economy, and uneven patterns of use will probably become a source of resource conflicts. Thus, the issue is also of relevance for the transition to a low carbon economy. ‚Material Flow Analysis' is introduced as a tool to measure the use of natural resources within economies and internationally; such measurement methodology now is being harmonized under OECD auspices. For these reasons, the paper argues that resource productivity -that is the efficiency of using natural resources to produce goods and services in the economy -will become one of the key determinants of economic success and human well-being. An empirical chapter gives evidence on time series of resource productivity increases across a number of economies. Introducing the notion of 'material flow innovation', the paper also discusses the innovation dynamics and issues of competitiveness. However, as the paper concludes, market barriers make a case for effective resource policies that should provide incentives for knowledge generation and get the prices right.

show abstract

“…Previous trade accounts for China estimated that around 5% of the total volume of imports to China were only available in monetary values (Wang et al., ; Wang, Yue, Lu, Schuetz, & Bringezu, ). For this study, we estimated China's missing physical trade flows based on the average global annual price per kilogram for each commodity group developed by (Dittrich & Bringezu, ; Dittrich, Bringezu, & Schütz, ).…”

Section: Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional material flow accounts for China: Examining China's natural resource use at the provincial and national level

Wang

Schandl

Wang

et al. 2019

J of Industrial Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Over the last three decades, China has experienced the most dynamic economic development lifting living standards and resulting in fast‐growing use of natural resources. In the past, the focus has been on national MFA accounts which do not do justice to the second largest economy, home to 19% of the world population and having 30% of global material use. In this research, we calculate material extraction for China at the regional level during 1995–2015 using the most recent available statistical data and applying the most up‐to‐date international calculation methods. In particular, we combine a bottom‐up and top‐down approach for constructing the dataset of China's economically used Domestic Extraction (DEU) in an integrated way. This approach also improves the Chinese national material flow accounts and allows us to present a reliable database of DE of materials for China to date. Our new dataset provides the basis for calculating material footprints and environmental impacts of China's regions. The dataset enables us to evaluate regional resource efficiency trends in China. We find that during the past two decades, China's material use has grown strongly from 11.7 billion tonnes in 1995 to 35.4 billion tonnes in 2015. Material use has accelerated between 2000 and 2010 but slowed down between 2010 and 2015 reflecting the economic contraction caused by the Global Financial Crisis which reduced the global demand for China's manufacturing and a reorientation of China's economic policy settings toward quality of growth. Unsurprisingly, different regions play different roles in the supply chain of materials, achieving different economic performances resulting in very diverse material efficiency outcomes. This information is important to allow for a targeted policy approach to increase resource efficiency, reduce environmental impacts of resource use, and grow wellbeing in China with large positive implications for global sustainability. This study provides the basis for the development of relevant resource management policies for different regions in the future.

show abstract

The physical dimension of international trade

Cited by 91 publications

References 6 publications

The footprint of using metals: new metrics of consumption and productivity

The footprint of using metals: new metrics of consumption and productivity

International economics of resource productivity – Relevance, measurement, empirical trends, innovation, resource policies

Regional material flow accounts for China: Examining China's natural resource use at the provincial and national level

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About