IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v28y2024i6p2012-2031.html

Global material flows and resource productivity: The 2024 update

Author

Listed:
  • Heinz Schandl
  • Raymundo Marcos‐Martinez
  • James West
  • Alessio Miatto
  • Stephan Lutter
  • Mirko Lieber
  • Stefan Giljum
  • Manfred Lenzen
  • Mengyu Li
  • Heming Wang
  • Hiroki Tanikawa
  • Fridolin Krausmann
  • Nina Eisenmenger
  • Marina Fischer‐Kowalski

Abstract

Accurate assessments of global primary material extraction, trade of primary materials and products, material use, waste, and emissions support the development of policies that facilitate the decoupling of economic activity, natural resource use, and related environmental impacts. Here, we quantify all crucial aspects of global and country‐by‐country material requirements needed to fuel economic activities, covering both territorial‐ and demand‐based indicators. These data have been assembled by a consortium of research partners that compile the global material flow and resource productivity online database for the International Resource Panel, which contributes to the global dataset for the System of Environmental–Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework and is employed to monitor progress for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators 8.4 and 12.2. We present the main findings of the 2024 update, including methodological improvements and result differences, and discuss the main findings and limitations. Since the last update, we have identified a slowing of global materials extraction since about 2014, a continuation of solid growth in direct trade of materials and products, persistent inequality in resource use between high‐ and low‐income countries, and a prolonged improvement in global material productivity. The full dataset used herein can be downloaded from the Global Material Flow Database hosted by the United Nations Environment Program International Resource Panel.

Suggested Citation

  • Heinz Schandl & Raymundo Marcos‐Martinez & James West & Alessio Miatto & Stephan Lutter & Mirko Lieber & Stefan Giljum & Manfred Lenzen & Mengyu Li & Heming Wang & Hiroki Tanikawa & Fridolin Krausmann, 2024. "Global material flows and resource productivity: The 2024 update," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(6), pages 2012-2031, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:28:y:2024:i:6:p:2012-2031
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13593
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13593
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.13593?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marian R. Chertow, 2000. "The IPAT Equation and Its Variants," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 4(4), pages 13-29, October.
    2. Alessio Miatto & Claudia Sartori & Martina Bianchi & Paolo Borin & Andrea Giordano & Shoshanna Saxe & T.E. Graedel, 2022. "Tracking the material cycle of Italian bricks with the aid of building information modeling," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(2), pages 609-626, April.
    3. Joyeeta Gupta & Diana Liverman & Klaudia Prodani & Paulina Aldunce & Xuemei Bai & Wendy Broadgate & Daniel Ciobanu & Lauren Gifford & Chris Gordon & Margot Hurlbert & Cristina Y. A. Inoue & Lisa Jacob, 2023. "Earth system justice needed to identify and live within Earth system boundaries," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(6), pages 630-638, June.
    4. Jon T. Powell & Timothy G. Townsend & Julie B. Zimmerman, 2016. "Estimates of solid waste disposal rates and reduction targets for landfill gas emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(2), pages 162-165, February.
    5. M. Fischer‐Kowalski & F. Krausmann & S. Giljum & S. Lutter & A. Mayer & S. Bringezu & Y. Moriguchi & H. Schütz & H. Schandl & H. Weisz, 2011. "Methodology and Indicators of Economy‐wide Material Flow Accounting," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(6), pages 855-876, December.
    6. Andreas Mayer & Willi Haas & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Fridolin Krausmann & Philip Nuss & Gian Andrea Blengini, 2019. "Measuring Progress towards a Circular Economy: A Monitoring Framework for Economy‐wide Material Loop Closing in the EU28," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 62-76, February.
    7. Corinne Le Quéré & Jan Ivar Korsbakken & Charlie Wilson & Jale Tosun & Robbie Andrew & Robert J. Andres & Josep G. Canadell & Andrew Jordan & Glen P. Peters & Detlef P. van Vuuren, 2019. "Drivers of declining CO2 emissions in 18 developed economies," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(3), pages 213-217, March.
    8. Johan Rockström & Joyeeta Gupta & Dahe Qin & Steven J. Lade & Jesse F. Abrams & Lauren S. Andersen & David I. Armstrong McKay & Xuemei Bai & Govindasamy Bala & Stuart E. Bunn & Daniel Ciobanu & Fabric, 2023. "Safe and just Earth system boundaries," Nature, Nature, vol. 619(7968), pages 102-111, July.
    9. Spangenberg, Joachim H. & Lorek, Sylvia, 2019. "Sufficiency and consumer behaviour: From theory to policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1070-1079.
    10. Unai Pascual & Patricia Balvanera & Christopher B. Anderson & Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer & Michael Christie & David González-Jiménez & Adrian Martin & Christopher M. Raymond & Mette Termansen & Arild Vatn, 2023. "Diverse values of nature for sustainability," Nature, Nature, vol. 620(7975), pages 813-823, August.
    11. Spangenberg, Joachim H. & Lorek, Sylvia, 2002. "Environmentally sustainable household consumption: from aggregate environmental pressures to priority fields of action," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 127-140, December.
    12. Edens, Bram & Maes, Joachim & Hein, Lars & Obst, Carl & Siikamaki, Juha & Schenau, Sjoerd & Javorsek, Marko & Chow, Julian & Chan, Jessica Ying & Steurer, Anton & Alfieri, Alessandra, 2022. "Establishing the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting as a global standard," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    13. Heming Wang & Heinz Schandl & Guoqiang Wang & Lin Ma & Yao Wang, 2019. "Regional material flow accounts for China: Examining China's natural resource use at the provincial and national level," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(6), pages 1425-1438, December.
    14. Felix Creutzig & Leila Niamir & Xuemei Bai & Max Callaghan & Jonathan Cullen & Julio Díaz-José & Maria Figueroa & Arnulf Grubler & William F. Lamb & Adrian Leip & Eric Masanet & Érika Mata & Linus Mat, 2022. "Demand-side solutions to climate change mitigation consistent with high levels of well-being," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 36-46, January.
    15. Helmut Haberl & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Stefan Pauliuk & Fridolin Krausmann & Daniel B. Müller & Marina Fischer-Kowalski, 2019. "Contributions of sociometabolic research to sustainability science," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(3), pages 173-184, March.
    16. Huo, Jie & Peng, Chen, 2023. "Depletion of natural resources and environmental quality: Prospects of energy use, energy imports, and economic growth hindrances," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    17. Ferrantino, Michael J. & Liu, Xuepeng & Wang, Zhi, 2012. "Evasion behaviors of exporters and importers: Evidence from the U.S.–China trade data discrepancy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 141-157.
    18. Cai, Yiyong & Newth, David & Finnigan, John & Gunasekera, Don, 2015. "A hybrid energy-economy model for global integrated assessment of climate change, carbon mitigation and energy transformation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 381-395.
    19. Manfred Lenzen & Arne Geschke & James West & Jacob Fry & Arunima Malik & Stefan Giljum & Llorenç Milà i Canals & Pablo Piñero & Stephan Lutter & Thomas Wiedmann & Mengyu Li & Maartje Sevenster & Janez, 2022. "Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 157-166, February.
    20. Behrens, Arno & Giljum, Stefan & Kovanda, Jan & Niza, Samuel, 2007. "The material basis of the global economy: Worldwide patterns of natural resource extraction and their implications for sustainable resource use policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 444-453, December.
    21. Plank, Christina & Liehr, Stefan & Hummel, Diana & Wiedenhofer, Dominik & Haberl, Helmut & Görg, Christoph, 2021. "Doing more with less: Provisioning systems and the transformation of the stock-flow-service nexus," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    22. Daniel W. O’Neill & Andrew L. Fanning & William F. Lamb & Julia K. Steinberger, 2018. "A good life for all within planetary boundaries," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(2), pages 88-95, February.
    23. William F. Lamb & Michael Grubb & Francesca Diluiso & Jan C. Minx, 2022. "Countries with sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions: an analysis of trends and progress by sector," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 1-17, January.
    24. Lewis Akenji & Magnus Bengtsson, 2014. "Making Sustainable Consumption and Production the Core of Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-17, January.
    25. Heinz Schandl & Marina Fischer‐Kowalski & James West & Stefan Giljum & Monika Dittrich & Nina Eisenmenger & Arne Geschke & Mirko Lieber & Hanspeter Wieland & Anke Schaffartzik & Fridolin Krausmann & S, 2018. "Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity: Forty Years of Evidence," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(4), pages 827-838, August.
    26. Peter Bartelmus, 2014. "Environmental–Economic Accounting: Progress and Digression in the SEEA Revisions," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 887-904, December.
    27. Stefan Giljum & Monika Dittrich & Mirko Lieber & Stephan Lutter, 2014. "Global Patterns of Material Flows and their Socio-Economic and Environmental Implications: A MFA Study on All Countries World-Wide from 1980 to 2009," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ugur Soytas & Ramazan Sari, 2025. "Societal well-being and resource use," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Kelly, Adam, 2025. "Is all that now glitters sufficient? An investigation of a gold resource cap in Australia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    3. Hadili, Abduraawf & Nasim, Ismat & Boukhris, Mohamed & Bashir, Furrukh & Haider, Syed Arslan & Munir, Farzana, 2025. "The Dynamics of Environmental Resource Productivity: The Role of Economic Growth, Trade Openness, FDI, and Urbanization in China," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, vol. 15(4), pages 616-623, June.
    4. Haas, Willi & Abson, David James & Haberl, Helmut & Spittler, Nathalie & Wiedenhofer, Dominik & Dorninger, Christian, 2026. "Reconceptualizing the role of socioeconomic material stocks in the leverage points framework to enable transformative change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    5. Hanspeter Wieland & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Nina Eisenmenger & Takuma Watari & Stefan Giljum, 2025. "Assessing mining‐related land footprints of global steel use with a global physical input–output model," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(6), pages 1987-2004, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nargessadat Emami & Alessio Miatto & Shabbir Gheewala & Natthanij Soonsawad & Thi Cuc Nguyen & Anthony SF Chiu & Ivan Henderson Gue & Marianne Faith Martinico‐Perez & Xaysackda Vilaysouk & Heinz Schan, 2025. "Measuring progress toward a circular economy of the ASEAN Community," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(1), pages 129-144, February.
    2. Dirk Lauinger & Romain G. Billy & Felipe Vásquez & Daniel B. Müller, 2021. "A general framework for stock dynamics of populations and built and natural environments," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1136-1146, October.
    3. Falconí, Fander & Burbano, Rafael & Cango, Pedro & Intriago, Ruthy, 2026. "Extraction and dematerialization in Latin America, 1970–2023," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    4. Zeev Stossel & Meidad Kissinger, 2025. "Nation's material flow: From the whole economy to final consumption—the case of Israel," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(1), pages 298-310, February.
    5. Duro, Juan Antonio & Ramirez, Noemí & Wieland, Hanspeter & Wiedenhofer, Dominik & Haberl, Helmut, 2025. "Global inequalities in countries' demand for raw materials: Twenty years of expansion and insufficient convergence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    6. Infante-Amate, Juan & Travieso, Emiliano & Aguilera, Eduardo, 2024. "Unsustainable prosperity? Decoupling wellbeing, economic growth, and greenhouse gas emissions over the past 150 years," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Tallgauer, Maximilian & Schank, Christoph, 2024. "Challenging the growth-prosperity Nexus: Redefining undergraduate economics education for the Anthropocene," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Virág, Doris & Wiedenhofer, Dominik & Baumgart, André & Matej, Sarah & Krausmann, Fridolin & Min, Jihoon & Rao, Narasimha D. & Haberl, Helmut, 2022. "How much infrastructure is required to support decent mobility for all? An exploratory assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    9. Schaffartzik, Anke & Duro, Juan Antonio & Krausmann, Fridolin, 2019. "Global appropriation of resources causes high international material inequality – Growth is not the solution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 9-19.
    10. Dominik Noll & Christian Lauk & Willi Haas & Simron Jit Singh & Panos Petridis & Dominik Wiedenhofer, 2022. "The sociometabolic transition of a small Greek island: Assessing stock dynamics, resource flows, and material circularity from 1929 to 2019," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(2), pages 577-591, April.
    11. César Ramírez-Márquez & Thelma Posadas-Paredes & José María Ponce-Ortega, 2025. "From Resource Abundance to Responsible Scarcity: Rethinking Natural Resource Utilization in the Age of Hyper-Consumption," Resources, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-25, July.
    12. Dominik Wiedenhofer & Jan Streeck & Hanspeter Wieland & Benedikt Grammer & André Baumgart & Barbara Plank & Christoph Helbig & Stefan Pauliuk & Helmut Haberl & Fridolin Krausmann, 2024. "From extraction to end‐uses and waste management: Modeling economy‐wide material cycles and stock dynamics around the world," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(6), pages 1464-1480, December.
    13. Luis Gabriel Carmona & Kai Whiting & Helmut Haberl & Tânia Sousa, 2021. "The use of steel in the United Kingdom's transport sector: A stock–flow–service nexus case study," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(1), pages 125-143, February.
    14. Minghao Xu & Dingjiang Chen & Yadong Yu & Zengbo Chen & Yupeng Zhang & Bomin Liu & Yike Fu & Bing Zhu, 2021. "Assessing resource consumption at the subnational level: A novel accounting method based on provincial selected material consumption," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(3), pages 580-592, June.
    15. Li, Xinyi & Zhang, Chao & Yang, Xue & Xia, Ziqian & Cao, Zhi & Wang, Peng & Wang, Heming & Wang, Tao & Liu, Gang & Chen, Wei-Qiang, 2025. "Hybrid multi-stage steel footprinting unveils a more interdependent material foundation of the global economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    16. Whiting, Kai & Carmona, Luis Gabriel & Brand-Correa, Lina & Simpson, Edward, 2020. "Illumination as a material service: A comparison between Ancient Rome and early 19th century London," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    17. Haberl, Helmut & Schmid, Martin & Haas, Willi & Wiedenhofer, Dominik & Rau, Henrike & Winiwarter, Verena, 2021. "Stocks, flows, services and practices: Nexus approaches to sustainable social metabolism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    18. Ivanova, Diana & Büchs, Milena, 2022. "Implications of shrinking household sizes for meeting the 1.5 °C climate targets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    19. Christian Dorninger & Simone Gingrich & Willi Haas & Alina Brad & Etienne Schneider & Dominik Wiedenhofer, 2025. "Slow and unequal reduction in Austrian household GHG footprints between 2000 and 2020," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(5), pages 1651-1665, October.
    20. repec:wfo:wpaper:y:2026:i:732 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Juan Antonio Duro & Alejandro Perez‐Laborda & Markus Löw & Sarah Matej & Barbara Plank & Fridolin Krausmann & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Helmut Haberl, 2024. "Spatial patterns of built structures co‐determine nations’ level of resource demand," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(2), pages 289-302, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:28:y:2024:i:6:p:2012-2031. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.