Global Resources Use and Pollution: Vol. I, Production, Consumption and Trade (1995-2008)

In the recent decades, the increase in the world population, the economic expansion and the globalization of the economy have led to a dramatic growth in the use of some natural resources and in the levels of pollution. These trends have coincided with a growing concern about some critical questions for the future of humankind such as resource scarcity and depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, the limits of growth or the inequalities in the access to natural resources across countries. In this context arises the need to develop a comprehensive dataset of reliable and comparable economic and environmental information that contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of these issues, and supporting evidence-based policy-making. In order to comply with this need, this Pocketbook presents a series of indicators describing the evolution of the use of natural resources and the emission of air pollutants around the world, in relation to production, consumption and trade activities. Based on different analysis derived from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD), this publication includes information on 6 environmental dimensions: land use, material extraction, water use, and emission of acid substances, greenhouse gases and ozone precursors. The time frame covered is the period between 1995 and 2008, and the geographical scope includes the EU-27 Member States, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, the United States of America and the Rest of the World. The information presented in this publication can be classified into 3 different groups of indicators: 1. The "Production" or "Domestic" side indicators report for each country the use of resources as primary inputs (i.e. domestic extraction of materials or land cultivated) and the emissions directly generated by national economic activities. 2. The "Consumption" or "Footprint" indicators show the resources or pollution embodied in the domestic final demand of one country, regardless of where these resources/emissions were used/emitted. 3. The "Trade" indicators account for the resources/pollution embodied international trade. This article quantifies for the first time not only the domestic employment effects of foreign EU exports but also the correct number of jobs generated through intra-European trade (Single Market) in the production of such exported commodities. The literature has neglected very often the latter effects mainly due to the lack of an appropriate methodology and database. The empirical evidence shows that the EU has really progressed during the period 2000-2007 towards a more vertically integrated economy, reducing the labour intensity of the goods and services exported outside the EU, trading most prominently within the EU Single Market and subsequently, generating an increasing number of jobs. Despite the reduction in the labour intensity of the European exports, the associated employment grew from 22 to 25 million jobs, out of which 9 million jobs were created due to spillover and feedback effects associated to the Single Market