An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and material flows caused by the Finnish economy using the ENVIMAT model |
| |
Authors: | Jyri Seppälä Ilmo MäenpääSirkka Koskela Tuomas MattilaAri Nissinen Juha-Matti KatajajuuriTiina Härmä Marja-Riitta KorhonenMerja Saarinen Yrjö Virtanen |
| |
Institution: | a Finnish Environment Institute, P.O. Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland b Thule Institute, P.O. Box 7300, University of Oulu, 90014, Finland c MTT Agrifood Research Finland, 31600 Jokioinen, Finland |
| |
Abstract: | An environmentally extended input-output (EE-IO) analysis - environmental impacts of material flows caused by the Finnish economy - was carried out in order to improve data on production and consumption in Finland. The study resulted in the ENVIMAT model, which can be used to analyze the relationship between material flows, environmental impacts and the economy. The model is based on monetary and physical input-output tables and an environmental life-cycle impact assessment. This article summarizes the main methodological aspects and findings regarding the material flows and climate impacts caused by the Finnish economy in 2002 and 2005. The Finnish model has relatively detailed input data with 150 industries and 918 products and the data on imports was assessed according to a mixed approach with the help of life-cycle inventory data. The results of the model showed that the Finnish economy uses imported material resources as much as domestic resources. Life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by imports were equivalent to 70-80% of domestic emissions. The GHG emissions embodied in imports (emissions abroad) and exports (emissions within Finland) were of the same magnitude. The analysis showed that the service sector accounted for 44% of GHG emissions caused by the domestic final use of products. Analysis of the results also showed that the indicator of total material requirement (TMR) should not be used for environmental impact comparisons of products and services. In the future, the aim is to use the ENVIMAT model for assessing temporal changes in the economy; for monitoring sustainable development; for planning climate change mitigation; and for identifying important factors in the economy and assessing their impacts. |
| |
Keywords: | Consumption Climate impacts Economy Emissions Imports Input-output analysis Life-cycle assessment Material flows Production |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|