IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/n9ecw.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Carbon Footprint of Material Production Rises to 23% of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Hertwich, Edgar

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

The production of materials is widely recognized to be an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a range of policy processes now aim at enhancing material efficiency and circular economy. Yet, our understanding of the dynamics and drivers of material-related GHG emissions is limited. Previous analyses did not cover all materials and neither did they address the use of the materials nor their enabling of final consumption. Here, the hypothetical extraction method is used to quantify the GHG emissions from material production in a multiregional input-output model of the global economy and to trace the carbon footprint of materials from production through their first use to final consumption. GHG emissions from material production increased by 120% in the period 1995–2015 to 11 Gt CO2e, rising from 15 to 23% of global emissions. China accounted for 75% of the growth. Capital formation drives two thirds of emissions. Two fifths of materials in terms of GHG are used in construction, and two fifths are used in the manufacturing of machinery, vehicles, and other durable products. Policies addressing the rapidly growing capital stocks in emerging economies hence offer the best prospect for emission reductions from material efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Hertwich, Edgar, 2019. "The Carbon Footprint of Material Production Rises to 23% of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions," SocArXiv n9ecw, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:n9ecw
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/n9ecw
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5d67c0fb6f41fc001a2e1719/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/n9ecw?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. Walter R. Stahel, 2016. "The circular economy," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7595), pages 435-438, March.
    2. Duarte, Rosa & Sanchez-Choliz, Julio & Bielsa, Jorge, 2002. "Water use in the Spanish economy: an input-output approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 71-85, November.
    3. Yong Geng & Joseph Sarkis & Raimund Bleischwitz, 2019. "How to globalize the circular economy," Nature, Nature, vol. 565(7738), pages 153-155, January.
    4. Erik Dietzenbacher & Bob van Burken & Yasushi Kondo, 2019. "Hypothetical extractions from a global perspective," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 505-519, October.
    5. Konstantin Stadler & Richard Wood & Tatyana Bulavskaya & Carl†Johan Södersten & Moana Simas & Sarah Schmidt & Arkaitz Usubiaga & José Acosta†Fernández & Jeroen Kuenen & Martin Bruckner & Stefan, 2018. "EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi†Regional Input†Output Tables," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(3), pages 502-515, June.
    6. Stefan Pauliuk & Anders Arvesen & Konstantin Stadler & Edgar G. Hertwich, 2017. "Industrial ecology in integrated assessment models," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 13-20, January.
    7. Thomas O. Wiedmann & Guangwu Chen & John Barrett, 2016. "The Concept of City Carbon Maps: A Case Study of Melbourne, Australia," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(4), pages 676-691, August.
    8. Erik Dietzenbacher & Michael L. Lahr, 2013. "Expanding Extractions," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 341-360, September.
    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. Jing Guo & Tomer Fishman & Yao Wang & Alessio Miatto & Wendy Wuyts & Licheng Zheng & Heming Wang & Hiroki Tanikawa, 2021. "Urban development and sustainability challenges chronicled by a century of construction material flows and stocks in Tiexi, China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(1), pages 162-175, February.
    2. Oluwatoyin J. Gbadeyan & Joseph Muthivhi & Linda Z. Linganiso & Nirmala Deenadayalu, 2024. "Decoupling Economic Growth from Carbon Emissions: A Transition toward Low-Carbon Energy Systems—A Critical Review," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-38, August.
    3. Barbara Plank & Nina Eisenmenger & Anke Schaffartzik, 2021. "Do material efficiency improvements backfire?: Insights from an index decomposition analysis about the link between CO2 emissions and material use for Austria," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 511-522, April.
    4. Chenzheng Li & Anatoly V. Brouchkov & Viktor G. Cheverev & Andrey V. Sokolov & Kunyang Li, 2022. "Emission of Methane and Carbon Dioxide during Soil Freezing without Permafrost," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, April.

    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. Maeno, Keitaro, 2023. "Identifying critical sectors in the restructuring of low-carbon global supply chains," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    2. Maeno, Keitaro & Tokito, Shohei & Kagawa, Shigemi, 2022. "CO2 mitigation through global supply chain restructuring," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    3. Fitsum Semere Weldegiorgis & Evelyn Dietsche & Shabbir Ahmad, 2023. "Inter-Sectoral Economic Linkages in the Mining Industries of Botswana and Tanzania: Analysis Using Partial Hypothetical Extraction Method," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-26, June.
    4. Zhaocheng Li & Yu Song, 2022. "Energy Consumption Linkages of the Chinese Construction Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-13, February.
    5. Ozili, Peterson K, 2022. "Circular economy and central bank digital currency," MPRA Paper 113469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Giammetti, Raffaele & Papi, Luca & Teobaldelli, Désirée & Ticchi, Davide, 2022. "The optimality of age-based lockdown policies," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 722-738.
    7. Chen, Zhenni & Liu, Xi & Li, Jianglong, 2022. "Identifying channels of environmental impacts of transport sector through sectoral linkage analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    8. Maria Llop, 2022. "Quantifying the employment impacts of gross exports: a global accounting perspective," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    9. José Edmundo de Almeida Pais & Hugo D. N. Raposo & José Torres Farinha & Antonio J. Marques Cardoso & Pedro Alexandre Marques, 2021. "Optimizing the Life Cycle of Physical Assets through an Integrated Life Cycle Assessment Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-24, September.
    10. Zhengai Dong & Lichen Zhang & Houjian Li & Yanhui Gong & Yue Jiang & Qiumei Peng, 2022. "Knowledge Mapping and Institutional Prospects on Circular Carbon Economy Based on Scientometric Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-25, September.
    11. Mohammed Sakib Uddin & Khaled Mahmud & Bijoy Mitra & Al-Ekram Elahee Hridoy & Syed Masiur Rahman & Md Shafiullah & Md. Shafiul Alam & Md. Ismail Hossain & Mohammad Sujauddin, 2023. "Coupling Nexus and Circular Economy to Decouple Carbon Emissions from Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    12. Katsuhiro Sakurai & Hiroyuki Shibusawa, 2021. "The economic impact of the inland water fisheries/aquaculture industry: The case of the eel industry in Japan," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(6), pages 1729-1749, December.
    13. Andrzej Poszewiecki & Joanna Czerepko, 2022. "New Trends in Consumption in Poland as Shown by the Example of a Freeshop Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    14. Gervásio Ferreira dos Santos & Luiz Carlos de Santana Ribeiro & Rodrigo Barbosa de Cerqueira, 2020. "The informal sector and Covid‐19 economic impacts: The case of Bahia, Brazil," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 1273-1285, December.
    15. Nechifor, Victor & Calzadilla, Alvaro & Bleischwitz, Raimund & Winning, Matthew & Tian, Xu & Usubiaga, Arkaitz, 2020. "Steel in a circular economy: Global implications of a green shift in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    16. Porcelli, Roberto & Gibon, Thomas & Marazza, Diego & Righi, Serena & Rugani, Benedetto, 2023. "Prospective environmental impact assessment and simulation applied to an emerging biowaste-based energy technology in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Abdulaziz I. Almulhim, 2024. "Toward a Greener Future: Applying Circular Economy Principles to Saudi Arabia’s Food Sector for Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-22, January.
    18. Jingwei Han & Zhixiong Tan & Maozhi Chen & Liang Zhao & Ling Yang & Siying Chen, 2022. "Carbon Footprint Research Based on Input–Output Model—A Global Scientometric Visualization Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-23, September.
    19. Shinichiro Kimura, 2022. "Secular change of interdependencies in the clusters of the Japanese motor vehicle industry: a case study in the Tokai region," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(11), pages 1-12, November.
    20. Kaixin Huang & Matthew J. Eckelman, 2022. "Appending material flows to the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) for projecting the physical economy of the United States," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 294-308, February.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:osf:socarx:n9ecw. 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: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    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.