Integrating Material Stock Dynamics Into Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounting: Concepts, Modelling, and Global Application for 1900–2050

Dominik Wiedenhofer, Tomer Fishman, Christian Lauk, Willi Haas and Fridolin Krausmann

Ecological Economics, 2019, vol. 156, issue C, 121-133

Abstract: Assessing progress towards environmental sustainability requires a robust and systematic knowledge base. Economy-wide material flow accounting (ew-MFA) is an established method to monitor resource use across scales and its headline indicators are widely used in policy. However, ew-MFA is currently limited by its empirical focus on annual flows of material and energy, because it neglects the pivotal role of in-use material stocks of manufactured capital. Explicitly integrating in-use stocks enables new insights into a range of Ecological Economics' topics, such as the biophysical assessment of socio-economic systems, the circular economy and stock-flow consistent scenarios.

Keywords: Dynamic material flow analysis; Economy-wide material flow accounting; Uncertainty; Circular economy; Monte-Carlo simulations; Socio-economic metabolism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:156:y:2019:i:c:p:121-133

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.09.010

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