WRI Publications Feed: Materials Flows: Statistical Analysis and Indicators Research

Material Flows in the United States: A Physical Accounting of the U.S. Industrial Economy

Scott Thompson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:33:07 -0400

U.S. decision-makers enjoy access to some of the best economic information and analysis in the world, including detailed measurements of economic activity, employment, and changes in the productivity of labor and capital. These statistics and indicators drive policy and move markets.

Regrettably, our conventional economic accounts are not so effective when it comes to providing adequate information on the long-term costs to society of environmental degradation.

This report provides detailed data on trends in material flows in four key sectors of the U.S. economy:

metal and minerals,
nonrenewable organic materials (including fossil fuels),
agriculture, and
forestry

This report analyzes WRI’s material flow dataset by economic sector, identifies the environmental implications of national trends in materials use, and recommends several policy alternatives to the U.S. government for incorporating and using these accounts.

Material Flow Accounts: A Tool For Making Environmental Policy

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 00:00:00 -0400

Material Flow Accounts: A Tool For Making Environmental Policy describes the utility and policy applications of material flow accounts (MFA) systems for data management. MFAs track the amount of materials cycling into the economy and entering the environment at all phases of a commodity’s life cycle. This type of analysis addresses major environmental policy challenges including:

Tracking pollutants across environmental media
Measuring progress on strategic tools for national environmental quality
Facilitating communication among Federal offices and with the American public
Prioritizing areas for policy intervention

This policy brief provides a practical proposal for a national Material Flow Accounting framework for the United States. After summarizing initiatives over the last decade that illustrate the material flow approach to policy making, we describe the MFA database under development at WRI as well as the data template for organizing flow data from a wide range of sources for entry into the database. To show the relevance of MFAs to chemicals policy, we select five chemicals from an EPA list of Waste Minimization Priority Chemicals to provide examples of how Material Flow data can provide policy insight. The Brief concludes with suggestions for next steps in developing an infrastructure to build MFAs to firmly establish this policy tool and support broad public debate.

Materials Flows Database

WRI has developed a material flows accounting (MFA) database and associated protocols for collecting, analyzing, and presenting material flows data. The database systematically categorizes materials flowing through the U.S. economy, emphasizing transparency in documenting data sources and any assumptions made in estimating the flows. The ultimate goal for this activity is to see that the periodic compilation and dissemination of U.S. material flows accounts shifts from civil society to become an established function of the federal government.

Coverage

This pilot MFA database is designed to cover the physical resources entering the economy and follow them as they undergo successive physical and chemical transformations as they move through the material life cycle. More than 190 commodities are included; the full list is here (PDF, 13 Kb).

The database is structured around a list of the primary commodities that drive the U.S. economy, covering five principal resource sectors: agriculture, forestry, non-renewable organic materials (e.g., fossil fuels), metals, and minerals.

The entire chain of materials that flow through the U.S. industrial economy is included, from primary inputs, or feedstocks, such as petroleum, salt, and industrial roundwood, to processed materials such as benzene, gasoline, chlorine, and lumber.

The database can be downloaded from the six Microsoft Excel workbooks listed below:

National Summary Data (Excel, 273 Kb)
Agricultural Commodity Flows (Excel, 879 Kb)
Forestry Commodity Flows (Excel, 156 Kb)
Metal & Mineral Flows (Excel, 2.0 Mb)
Nonrenewable Resource Flows (Excel, 473 Kb)
Infrastructure & Earth Moving Flows (Excel, 107 Kb)

Unless otherwise noted, data are in thousand metric tons.

Contents & glossary (PDF, 18 Kb)
Indicator descriptions & acronyms (PDF, 6 Kb)

Weight of Nations: Material Outflows From Industrial Economies

admin — Fri, 01 Sep 2000 00:00:00 -0400

Currently, countries measure their economic growth and performance through the System of National Accounts (SNA).

These financial accounts measure the total economic transactions in an economy. Indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) provide information on whether national income is growing or declining.

There is no equivalent system for measuring the physical “transactions” in an economy.

Policy- and other decision-makers have very little idea of the material requirements of modern economies and few indicators of where, or when, physical constraints are likely to be reached.

With the exception of energy efficiency (a strategic resource), very little official attention is paid to the relationship between resource requirements and economic output.

Examining material flows in Austria, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, and the United States, this report develops model accounts of the complete “material cycle” or the flow of raw materials through the processes of extraction, production, use, and disposal.

The report also documents:

the relatively modest quantities of materials that are recycled or added each year to stock in use (largely in the form of infrastructure and durable goods),

the materials that are quickly returned to the environment as pollution or waste, with potential for environmental harm.

The authors argue that the resource efficiency gains brought about by the rise of e-commerce and the shift from heavy industries toward knowledge- and service-based industries have been more than offset by the scale of economic growth and consumer choices that favor energy- and material-intensive lifestyles.

Resource Flows: The material basis of industrial economies

admin — Tue, 01 Apr 1997 00:00:00 -0500