Environmental Implications of Resource Use:Environmental Input‐Output Analyses for Germany

In a German case study, environmental input‐output analyses (eIOA) combined with NAMEA‐type tables were conducted for eleven selected environmental pressure variables. (NAMEA is an acronym for national accounts matrix including environmental accounts.) The analyses were conducted to derive the production‐cycle‐wide resource use and environmental impact potentials of final‐demand product groups. The methodology permits identification and preliminary ranking of 10 product chains along which about two‐thirds of German production‐born environmental pressures arise. The most relevant product groups are construction work, food, motor vehicles, basic metals, and electricity. The ten product groups are characterized by both high resource requirements and high residual outputs (air emissions, wastes). The EU policy areas of integrated product policy and sustainable use of natural resources may address these product chains as a priority in order to identify and explore the possibility of reducing the environmental impacts from products throughout their life cycles and to decouple environmental impacts from resource use.