University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) - Research portal
Selected Publication:
Haberl, H; Wiedenhofer, D; Erb, KH; Gorg, C; Krausmann, F.
(2017):
The Material Stock-Flow-Service Nexus: A New Approach for Tackling the Decoupling Conundrum
SUSTAINABILITY-BASEL. 2017; 9(7):
FullText
FullText_BOKU
- Abstract:
- Fundamental changes in the societal use of biophysical resources are required for a sustainability transformation. Current socioeconomic metabolism research traces flows of energy, materials or substances to capture resource use: input of raw materials or energy, their fate in production and consumption, and the discharge of wastes and emissions. This approach has yielded important insights into eco-efficiency and long-term drivers of resource use. But socio-metabolic research has not yet fully incorporated material stocks or their services, hence not completely exploiting the analytic power of the metabolism concept. This commentary argues for a material stock-flow-service nexus approach focused on the analysis of interrelations between material and energy flows, socioeconomic material stocks ("in-use stocks of materials") and the services provided by specific stock/flow combinations. Analyzing the interrelations between stocks, flows and services will allow researchers to develop highly innovative indicators of eco-efficiency and open new research directions that will help to better understand biophysical foundations of transformations towards sustainability.
- Authors BOKU Wien:
- Erb Karlheinz
- Görg Christoph
- Haberl Helmut
- Krausmann Fridolin
- Wiedenhofer Dominik
- Find related publications in this database (Keywords)
- socioeconomic metabolism
- economy-wide material flow analysis
- in-use stocks of materials
- stock-flow relations
- dynamic stock model
- decoupling
- socioecological transformation
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