This global data set on material flows and resource productivity was produced as part of a collaborative effort by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia, Vienna University of Business and Economics, Austria, Institute of Social Ecology Vienna, Austria, University of Nagoya, Japan and University of Sydney, Australia for the UN Environment International Resource Panel.
The global data set is based on international data sources, and the most recent methodologies for establishing material flow accounts. Please refer to the technical annex of the <hyperlink> for a detailed description of data sources and methods used.
Material flows and resource productivity indicators are among the most important indicators available for monitoring changes in the patterns and rates of resource use as economies grow. They are used for reporting progress towards SDG targets 8.4 ‘Resource Productivity’ and 12.2 ‘Sustainable Use of Natural Resources’. The dataset is intended to help governments, policy researchers and all interested stakeholders to i) develop a better understanding of how economic growth patterns influence resource use ii) evaluate the impacts of policies that have been adopted in the past; and iii) and to develop effective strategies to minimize future resource use through targeted sustainable consumption and production policies and actions.
The database covers the period 1970-2017 and 150 countries and reports material extraction, trade, material footprints and material intensity.
Note: as some of the base data sets used in the construction of the material flows accounts begin to terminate as early as 2012, data from that year on will contain an increasing portion of projected data, until by 2017 the data is entirely based on projection from earlier years. This point is important for those users intending to use this data to establish statistical relationships, i.e. the last year which should be used for regression analyses and similar is 2012.
If more disaggregated data for material extraction is required please send your request to the secretariat of the IRP (resourcepanel [at] unep.org). Data handling may incur a small fee which we will quote when we have received your request.
