172
but there has been a strongly increasing trend for the last few decades. For
example:
• Land for the export production of crops grew rapidly by +2.1 % per year between
1986 and 2009 (Kastner et al. 2014a ). At the same time, land supplying crops for
direct domestic use remained almost unchanged.
• Flows of materials embodied in international trade are reported to have increased
by 62 % between 1997 and 2007 (Giljum et al. 2014 ) and by 123 % between
1990 and 2008 (Wiedmann et al. 2015 ).
• Global trade in embodied iron ore has grown faster than its extraction, by a factor
of 2.7 between 1990 and 2008 (Wiedmann et al. 2014 ). Trade of embodied bauxite has grown by a factor of 2.4.
• From 1995 to 2007 total global CO 2 emissions from production have increased
by 32 %, whereas global emissions embodied in trade have increased by 80 % in
the same period (from 4.6 Gt or 24 % of global production emissions to 8.3 Gt or
33 %) (Xu and Dietzenbacher 2014 ).
• In the most comprehensive study, Arto et al. 2012 present the trend of impacts
embodied in trade from 1995 to 2008 for the following indicators: land +3.0
Mkm
2 (+22 %); raw materials +7.3 Gt (+80 %); blue, green and grey water +1.2
PL (+88 %); acid emissions +734 kt H
+ e (+54 %); GHG emissions +4.7 Gt CO 2 e
(+83 %); and ozone precursors emissions +55.3 Mt NMVOCe (+103 %).
These examples show impressively how rapidly impacts associated with trade
have grown in little more than 20 years, given that total global impacts have grown
much slower (land +2 %, raw materials +43 %, water +37 %, acid emissions +12 %,
GHG emissions +29 %, ozone precursors emissions +11 %; Arto et al. 2012 ).
3 Notes on Methodological Developments
This section briefl y addresses some of the current issues surrounding the methods
used to quantify impacts associated with trade. The list of topics discussed is not
exhaustive but merely presents some of the highlights discussed in the literature and
the industrial ecology community.
3.1 Merging of Disciplines
The analysis of social and economic indicators in the same way as for environmental issues – namely, from the viewpoint of trade embodiments and by using MRIO
analysis – is a new and encouraging trend. It goes hand in hand with a similar development in life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) where social LCA increasingly complements the more traditional environmental impact and life cycle costing
assessments (Kloepffer 2008 ; Parent et al. 2013 ).
T. Wiedmann
but there has been a strongly increasing trend for the last few decades. For
example:
• Land for the export production of crops grew rapidly by +2.1 % per year between
1986 and 2009 (Kastner et al. 2014a ). At the same time, land supplying crops for
direct domestic use remained almost unchanged.
• Flows of materials embodied in international trade are reported to have increased
by 62 % between 1997 and 2007 (Giljum et al. 2014 ) and by 123 % between
1990 and 2008 (Wiedmann et al. 2015 ).
• Global trade in embodied iron ore has grown faster than its extraction, by a factor
of 2.7 between 1990 and 2008 (Wiedmann et al. 2014 ). Trade of embodied bauxite has grown by a factor of 2.4.
• From 1995 to 2007 total global CO 2 emissions from production have increased
by 32 %, whereas global emissions embodied in trade have increased by 80 % in
the same period (from 4.6 Gt or 24 % of global production emissions to 8.3 Gt or
33 %) (Xu and Dietzenbacher 2014 ).
• In the most comprehensive study, Arto et al. 2012 present the trend of impacts
embodied in trade from 1995 to 2008 for the following indicators: land +3.0
Mkm
2 (+22 %); raw materials +7.3 Gt (+80 %); blue, green and grey water +1.2
PL (+88 %); acid emissions +734 kt H
+ e (+54 %); GHG emissions +4.7 Gt CO 2 e
(+83 %); and ozone precursors emissions +55.3 Mt NMVOCe (+103 %).
These examples show impressively how rapidly impacts associated with trade
have grown in little more than 20 years, given that total global impacts have grown
much slower (land +2 %, raw materials +43 %, water +37 %, acid emissions +12 %,
GHG emissions +29 %, ozone precursors emissions +11 %; Arto et al. 2012 ).
3 Notes on Methodological Developments
This section briefl y addresses some of the current issues surrounding the methods
used to quantify impacts associated with trade. The list of topics discussed is not
exhaustive but merely presents some of the highlights discussed in the literature and
the industrial ecology community.
3.1 Merging of Disciplines
The analysis of social and economic indicators in the same way as for environmental issues – namely, from the viewpoint of trade embodiments and by using MRIO
analysis – is a new and encouraging trend. It goes hand in hand with a similar development in life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) where social LCA increasingly complements the more traditional environmental impact and life cycle costing
assessments (Kloepffer 2008 ; Parent et al. 2013 ).
T. Wiedmann