Urbanization is one of the factors contributing globally to greenhouse gas emissions. Its impact however is not homogeneous across countries. Some studies show that urban populations have a higher carbon footprint due to higher consumption levels, whereas other research suggests that higher population density decreases energy demands and the associated emissions. Due to the importance of collecting in-depth evidence for countries and regions on a case-by-case basis, this article investigates the impact of urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions for Austria as supporting empirical evidence for a high-income economy. The study particularly unpacks profiles of carbon footprints for more than 8000 households located according to three different levels of urbanization: urban, semi-urban and rural. Findings reveal that urban residents in Austria have the lowest Carbon Footprint (CF) of the three groups; this is followed by rural and then semi-urban residents. Overall, the study highlights that urbanization in Austria may represent a relative reduction of emissions in the future due to more compact cities, which should be considered along with other drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve national and European climate targets.

In a world with diverging emission reduction targets, national climate policies might be ineffective in reducing consumption-based CO2 emissions (carbon footprints), i.e. emissions of final demand that are embodied across the whole supply chain, including international fractions. We analyse a set of different policies in three areas with particularly high consumption-based emissions in Austria: building construction, public health, and transport. To capture the substitution possibilities triggered by these policies and the induced emission reductions along the full global supply chain, our analysis combines a Computable General Equilibrium with a Multi-Regional Input-Output model. For construction of buildings we find that a carbon added tax is highly effective in reducing consumption-based emissions whereas an information obligation on vacant dwellings combined with a penalty payment when vacant buildings are not made available is ineffective because of reallocated investment capital. Mandatory energy efficiency improvements in public health and mobility are found equally effective in reducing consumption- and production-based emissions while a decarbonization of freight transport logistics stronger reduces production-based emissions. Overall, the effectiveness of policies, to mitigate consumption-based emissions, is therefore determined by the backward and forward linkages of the sector addressed by the policy as well as the substitution effects within final demand.

Greenhouse gas emissions can be addressed at the points of both production and consumption of goods and services. In a world of inhomogeneous climate policy, missing out policies on either production or consumption leaves an important policy area idle, rendering climate policy inefficient and potentially ineffective. While consumption-based emissions accounts have become readily available at the national level, we here show how their more detailed analysis by sectoral destination (which final demand sectors account for them), sectoral source (in which sectors across the globe those emissions are actually occurring) and the geographical location of the latter can inform a complementary consumption-based climate policy approach. For the example of the EU member country Austria, we find that more than 60% of its consumption-based emissions occur outside its borders, and 34% even outside the EU. The top sectors are a very different list under a consumption-based accounting perspective (construction, public administration (including defense, health and education), and wholesale and retail trade) than under a production-based one (electricity, iron and steel, and non-metallic minerals, such as cement). While for some sectors (e.g. electricity) production-based approaches can work well, emission reduction in other sectors (e.g. electronic equipment) is crucially dependent on consumption-based approaches, as a structural path analysis reveals.

Greenhouse gas emissions can be allocated to individual countries in various ways depending on where in the supply chain the emissions originated; achieving an effective and just climate policy may require multiple accounting systems. Negotiating reductions in greenhouse gas emission involves the allocation of emissions and of emission reductions to specific agents, and notably, within the current UN framework, to associated countries. As production takes place in supply chains, increasingly extending over several countries, there are various options available in which emissions originating from one and the same activity may be attributed to different agents along the supply chain and thus to different countries. In this way, several distinct types of national carbon accounts can be constructed. We argue that these accounts will typically differ in the information they provide to individual countries on the effects their actions have on global emissions; and they may also, to varying degrees, prove useful in supporting the pursuit of an effective and just climate policy. None of the accounting systems, however, prove 'best' in achieving these aims under real-world circumstances; we thus suggest compiling reliable data to aid in the consistent calculation of multiple carbon accounts on a global level.

Inclusive wealth aims to measure the natural, human and manufactured capital of nations. Understanding changes in this productive capital base provides guidance to policymakers on the sustainability of economic welfare.

The world's leaders, business leaders and the public at large are beginning to question, amidst the multiple social, environmental and economic crises, whether our present trajectory of economic growth is sustainable. We seem to force ourselves to believe that we can grow ourselves out of the multiple crises we face today. The notion of sustainable development and the call for going beyond just material wealth to gauge our wellbeing has long featured in much of the sustainable development, environmental and ecological economics literature. We are afraid the present preoccupation with the green economy will not provide the change we are looking for if we don't address the fundamental problem of what we are aiming to achieve and how we measure our progress towards achieving those goals. We fall into the trap many international agencies have made over the past six decades, where the means become the ends and the ends become an academic exercise (Chang, 2001).

The world is experiencing urgent and interconnected problems on many social as well as environmental fronts. Resource shortages, demographic realities, and planetary boundaries prevent us from growing our way out of these problems. A redirection towards sustainability and well-being may be the most viable option for further development. Sustainability must be defined to include meeting human physical, emotional and social needs. Equity considerations are primary in order to have the resources to reduce poverty and increase well-being in developing countries. Well-being is multidimensional and context-specific, and must be approached in a way that preserves cultural diversity and societal autonomy while meeting universal human needs. We must go beyond GDP, measuring the various objective and subjective components of well-being to monitor our progress.

There has been a long and intensive debate within the scientific community about the role of international trade in the development of countries. During the last decades, the focus of attention has moved from the pure economic level to the environmental aspects of international trade. Establishing a simplified system of North–South trade for one reference period (2003), this paper attempts to test empirically the extent of potential asymmetries with regard to extracted material flows, and contrasts the results with the economic benefits from trade (in terms of value-added). The South is thereby represented by a selection of Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico), the North comprises one of their main commercial partners, the United States. At the methodological level, a multi-regional input–output analysis is used as the tool of investigation. Results generally support the hypothesis that the South was feeding the North's societal metabolism. South–North material exports were 1.6 times larger than North–South material exports, resulting in a net deficit for the South of 324 million tons. Moreover, material intensity of exported commodities from the South was twice as high as that from the North. It is worth highlighting, however, that part of the North-South hypothesis fails for the sample of countries since the larger part of the economic surplus has remained in the South, contrarily to what would have been expected.

Seeking to limit global warming to 2°C puts narrow restrictions on the remaining carbon budget. While the prevalent accounting framework for carbon emissions is production based (Production-Based Principle, PBP), we here quantify the CO2 emissions on the basis of the Consumption-Based Principle (CBP) for Austria. At a methodological level, a Multi-Regional Input–Output model with full linkages is used to account for Austria's CO2 responsibility on a global scale. Estimates are carried out for the years 1997 and 2004. Results show that during 1997 CO2 responsibility based on CBP were 36% larger than those based on PBP. This relation has increased through time. The CBP indicator of 2004 was 44% larger than the PBP. In terms of carbon emission location, for each Euro spent on Austrian final demand in 2004, it is estimated that two-thirds of the CO2 emissions occur outside Austrian borders. Regarding the origin of the emissions embodied in imports, it is estimated that about one-fourth originated in non-Annex I countries in 1997. This proportion increased to one-third by 2004. Due to this divergence between CBP and PBP indicators, there is a need to re-think current accounting bases in order to properly assign CO2 responsibilities.

In this study CO2 emissions embodied in Austrian international trade are quantified employing a 66-region input output model of multidirectional trade. We find that Austria's final demand CO2 responsibilities on a global scale are 38% higher than conventional statistics report (110 Mt-CO2 versus 79 Mt-CO2 in 2004). For each unit of Austrian final demand, currently two thirds of the thus triggered CO2 emissions occur outside Austrian borders. We then develop a 19-region computable general equilibrium model of Austria and its major trading partners and world regions to find that future Austrian climate policy can achieve the EU 20-20 emission reduction targets, but that its carbon trade balance would worsen considerably. Both unilateral EU and internationally coordinated climate policies affect Austrian international trade stronger than its domestic production.

In this study CO2 emissions embodied in Austrian international trade are quantified employing a 66-region input output model of multidirectional trade. We find that Austria’s final demand CO2 responsibilities on a global scale are 38% higher than conventional statistics report (110 Mt-CO2 versus 79 Mt-CO2 in 2004). For each unit of Austrian final demand, currently two thirds of the thus triggered CO2 emissions occur outside Austrian borders. We then develop a 19-region computable general equilibrium model of Austria and its major trading partners and world regions to find that future Austrian climate policy can achieve the EU 20-20 emission reduction targets, but that its carbon trade balance would worsen considerably. Both unilateral EU and internationally coordinated climate policies affect Austrian international trade stronger than its domestic production.

Summary This article aims at estimating the raw material equivalents (RMEs)—the upstream used material flows required along the production chain—of imports and exports for some Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. Furthermore, the United States is included in the analysis as a reference for a high‐income economy. The RME concept and the empirical evidence are articulated by use of an input−output methodology. Results are set out for the year 2003 for each of the countries and in time series for the years 1977, 1986, 1996, and 2003 in the case of Chile. The findings show not only the physical dimensions behind direct material traded but also how the previous exporter (importer) position of a country (based on standard material flow analysis indicators) deteriorates, alleviates, or changes. Implications for material consumption indicators, such as direct material consumption (DMC) and raw material consumption (RMC), are also drawn. The results suggest basing the discussion of material flows on a broader set of indicators to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the implications of international trade and its impacts on the environment.

Over the last three decades, the economic integration of the Chilean economy into global markets has been taking place at a rapid pace. For example, in 1986, exports represented 29% of GDP while in 1996 they had increased to 38% of GDP. This period of time was characterized by strong economic growth with an average annual growth rate of about 10%. From a physical perspective, material requirements more than doubled from 220 to 500 million tons of direct material inputs (DMI) during the same decade (the rate of material growth requirements was around 13% per year).The main objective of this study is to explain the changes in DMI by using a structural decomposition analysis (SDA). The changes in material flow accounting (MFA) were broken down into the effects caused by changes in resource use per unit of output (material intensity effect), changes between and within sectors (structural change effect), changes in the composition of final demand (mix effect), changes due to shifting shares of domestic final demand and export categories (category effect) and finally changes in the overall level of economic activities (level effects). The results, as a percentage of the total level of DMI used in 1986, indicate that economic growth was the major source of material changes (109%). The material intensity and category effects explained 31% and 14% of the increase, respectively. The increase in the material intensity is mainly due to a declining quality of ores in copper production. However, these components were partly compensated by the structure (-14%) and mix (-13%) effects. Therefore, for a Southern American country such as Chile, the main causes of these changes in material consumption have been a combination of the nature of economic growth along with an increase in export production and material intensity of production. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

There are a number of initiatives aimed at compiling large-scale global Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) tables complemented with non-monetary information such as on resource flows and environmental burdens. Traditionally, MRIO construction and usage has been hampered by a lack of geographical and sectoral detail; currently the most advanced initiatives opt for a breakdown into around 50 regions and 120 sectors common to all countries. Further shortcomings are the absence of a continuous time series, margins and tax sheets, and information on reliability and uncertainty. Despite these limitations, constructing a large MRIO requires significant manual labour and many years of time. This paper describes the results from a project aimed at creating an MRIO account that: represents all countries at a detailed sectoral level, allows continuous updating provides information on data reliability, contains table sheets expressed in basic prices as well as all margins and taxes, and contains a historical time series. We achieve these goals through a high level of procedural standardisation, automation, and data organisation. Because of the properties listed above, our research represents a quantum leap in MRIO compilation.