Materials footprint of household consumption in China

Jingru Liu, Haotong Wu, Xin Tian, Heming Wang and Yinglei Wu

Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2022, vol. 26, issue 4, 1504-1513

Abstract: China has been witnessing profound changes in the consumption behaviors of its population during the last several decades. To better gauge the current consumption structure of Chinese households and investigate the burden exerted by consumption on resources, we calculated the household material footprint (HMF) in China within the individual consumption classification framework developed by the United Nations. HMF is the only life‐cycle‐based indicator adopted into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Four types of raw materials and 15 representative consumption divisions were analyzed in this research. The total HMF in China increased by 103% from 1992 to 2017, although the per capita HMF remains lower than the global average. The per capita HMF growth in rural and urban areas differs, with urban citizens consuming 2.8 more metric tons of resources than rural residents as of 2017. The HMF of all materials studied shows a rising trend, especially for metal ores, which underpins the real estate and auto industries. Food‐related consumption is the main contributor to the HMF in China, while consumption of housing and transportation has less proportion yet more growth potential compared with developed countries. This study adds to the literature of studies on the consumption behaviors and domestic demands of China and has further methodologically significant meaning for similar studies in other countries and practical value for policymakers. Overall, this study demonstrates that despite an upsurge in consumption behaviors and gratifying economic records, the incurred resource and environmental burden may fuel risks for sustainable development.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13290

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:inecol:v:26:y:2022:i:4:p:1504-1513

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=1088-1980

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Industrial Ecology is currently edited by Reid Lifset

More articles in Journal of Industrial Ecology from Yale University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().