Rocky Harris
Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom
How to measure the impact of our
consumption on the rest of the world
London Group
New York
19 - 21 June 2006
Background
• Public consultation on decoupling
indicators
• Consultation on Department’s research
priorities
• Independent Sustainable Development
Commission recommendations
• Popularity of “consumption
perspective” (eg eco-footprinting)
• Statements in UK strategies
UK Sustainable Development
Strategy, March 2005
“Past environmental policy focused mainly on pollution from
domestic production activities.
“We now need a wider and more developed approach that
focuses across the whole life cycle of goods, services and
materials, also includes economic and social impacts, and
in particular encompasses impacts outside the UK.
“There would be little value in reducing environmental
impacts within the UK if the result were merely to displace
those impacts overseas.”
Policy themes
• International policy coherence
• Potential relevance to trade negotiations
• Integrates development aid policies etc
• Working in partnership
• Supports country dialogues, export of best practice, improved
product design
• Also supports dialogues with industry – CSR and management of
upstream impacts
• Raising domestic awareness
Raising domestic awareness
• Permits forecasts of the future impact of
current trends
• Raises awareness and triggers behaviour
change
• Enables improved reporting of sustainability
indicators
• Encourages harmonised reporting
• Allows more meaningful international
comparisons
An initial typology of processes
Trade in goods
and services
Tourism
Other flows
Financial
flows
•
•
•
•
Extraction of raw materials
Production of goods and services
Use of exports
Trade in waste (and dumping of unwanted
surpluses)
• International transport of imports
• Tourism
• Tank tourism
• Cross-boundary flows
• Bio-prospecting
• Culture and ideas
• International aid (including charities)
• Overseas investments, lending, rent
income etc
Social dimensions
• Click to add text!
Extraction of raw materials
Sources
Process
Impacts
Economy-wide MFA
CITES
International trade
statistics
Agricultural, fisheries
and forest yield data
Biodiversity hotspots,
protected areas, Red
List database
Satellite imagery
Wildlife and habitats
Extraction of traded
commodities
Land use
Displacement of
unused
material/pollution
Used and unused UK imports (tonnes/year) 2004
• 9,000 used
• 85,000 unused
• 3 used
• 6mt unused
Russia
• 5mt used
• 11mt unused
Canada
• 6,000 used
• 55,000 unused
• 5 used
• 11mt unused
Brazil
• 3.3mt used
• 7.1mt unused
Botswana
• 2.8mt used
• 6.0mt unused
• 8,000 used
• 79,000 unused
Diamonds
Iron Ore
S. Africa
Australia
• 4 used
• 9mt unused
Coal
Indirect flows of specified commodities into the UK
Area of land used by products imported by UK 2004 (ha)
3,682
(8% of production)
7,373 (9% of
production)
5,011 (13% of
production
Dominican Rep.
Costa Rica
Cameroon
Total land area
45,700
Brazil
422,675 (2% of
production)
Soy
Bananas
Association between sensitive areas
of biodiversity and soy production
Unused material moved through extraction of
materials imported to UK (mt)
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
19
70
19
73
19
76
19
79
19
82
19
85
19
88
19
91
19
94
19
97
20
00
20
03
0
Production and transport of imported goods
Sources
International trade
statistics
Environmental
accounts (NAMEA)
linked with I-O tables
International
passenger survey
Process
Impacts
Production of
imported goods
(and services)
Embedded emissions
Tank tourism
Resource use and
Waste
Transport of
imports
Transport emissions
Virtual water
Food miles estimates
NB virtual water relates to raw
commodities
Imports of goods into the UK (mt)
160
140
120
100
80
Other Products
60
Minerals
40
Biomass
20
19
70
19
74
19
78
19
82
19
86
19
90
19
94
19
98
20
02
0
UK residents’ and embedded emissions from
imports (mtCO2)
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
Embedded
emissions
Residents'
emissions
2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
200
100
0
Embedded Water in UK Imports (m³/year) 2004
80.5 million
103.1 million
56.7 million
Costa
Rica
Dominican
Rep.
1.05 billion
Cameroon
Brazil
Soy
Bananas
CO2 food imports transport emissions overseas (kt)
6000
5000
4000
Air
Road
Sea
3000
2000
1000
0
1992
1997
2002
Waste exported from the UK (tonnes/year) 2004
11,201
1,098,675
1.1
Canada
62,973
0.05
348,548
Germany
France
Kazakhstan
7
India
China
Hong Kong
191,221
Indonesia
320,544
Municipal
Paper
Plastic
Tourism
Sources
International
passenger survey
Balance of payments
International air
operators
Tourist offices
Process
Impacts
Business foreign
travel
Emissions
Resource use
Private tourism
Biodiversity (eg coral
reefs)
CO2 emissions from tank tourism (mtCO2)
30
25
20
15
10
5
19
90
19
92
19
94
19
96
19
98
20
00
20
02
20
04
0
From residents
bringing fuel
into UK
Other flows
Sources
Process
Impacts
CLRPTAP
Cross-boundary
flows
Depositions and air
quality
Bio-prospecting
Loss of ownership
over natural resources
Pollution inventories
Culture and ideas
Cross-boundary flows
Nitrogen dioxide emissions 1990-2000
Bio-prospecting, culture and ideas
• Click to add text!
Monetary flows
Sources
Balance of Payments
Process
International aid
(direct and through
international
organisations)
Direct foreign
investment and
related monetary
flows
Impacts
???
UK public expenditure on biodiversity
overseas (£ million)
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
UK public expenditure on
development aid (£ million)
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Bilateral aid
Multilateral
aid
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Net direct investment and net investment
earnings by UK companies in non-OECD
countries
30000
25000
Net direct investment
20000
Net earnings
15000
10000
5000
0
-5000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
An initial typology of tools
Trade in goods
and services
Tourism
Other flows
Financial
flows
•
•
•
•
•
Extraction of raw materials
Production of goods
Use of exports
Trade in waste
International transport of
imports
• Tourism
• Tank tourism
• Environmental
accounts
combined with
Trade data, plus
case studies etc
• Case studies
• Cross-boundary flows
• Bio-prospecting
• Culture and ideas
• ???
• International aid
• Overseas investments,
lending, rent income etc
• ???