Resource Flows and Stocks in the Global Economy

Human beings have created a vast social infrastructure, which means that the successful achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and implementation of the Paris Agreement will require technologies utilizing vast quantities of a wide range of natural resources. It is, therefore, essential to gain a more holistic understanding of stock–flow relationships to foster a transition toward sustainable patterns of resource utilization, particularly because high levels of resource consumption overtax planetary boundaries, whereas very low levels may result in failure to meet basic survival needs. In the current global economy, each country has indirect flows supporting its economic activities, and international trade chains cause environmental repercussions and burdens far from the places of consumption. Under these conditions, it is important to examine the negative and positive impacts of economic activities as a global systemic phenomenon to manage such burdens, rather than viewing production and producers in isolation. In this chapter, we focus on iron, copper, and nickel for a case study to detect material consumption and stocks among 231 countries and regions as a global systematic phenomenon. During the study, we also clarified and visualized the “spatial separation of those causing the effects that accompany resource consumption (consumer countries and regions) and those affected by them (mining countries and regions)” based on a global link input–output (GLIO) model.