Raw Material Equivalents (RME) of Austrian foreign trade (ÖRME9)

Within material flow accounting, research activities currently focus on the calculation of consumption-based indicators on raw material consumption based on raw material equivalents (i.e. upstream material requirements) of imports and exports. Methodological development advanced significantly and several empirical work on raw material consumption or material footprints were published in the past few years. For Austria, the Institute of Social Ecology developed a hybrid input-output (IO) model combined with LCA coefficients for the years 1995-2015. Results from the hybrid model were compared with those of multi-regional IO models (MRIO) and of the Eurostat RME tool. We analysed drivers by using a decomposition method and evaluated the challenges in calculating physical indicators with monetary IO tables in a series of conceptual papers. In the current project ÖRME9, SEC will analyse the raw material consumption along the final demand categories and will continue the evaluation of resource productivity indicators. In a cooperation with Statistics Austria, we will discuss and evaluate the implementation of MFA and RMC calculations.