A research of material input and environmental impact for Chinese economy:1990-2005

The process of economic activities is on the basis of tremendous material inputs.China has been discharging an enormous amount of waste,giving rise to a wide range of environmental impacts.The method of economy-wide material flow analysis(EW-MFA)is one of the effective tools to examine the flow of materials entering physical economies,and recognize early environmental problems.Relevant researches are still at the early stage in China and most focus on material throughput but are rarely concerned about the utilization of recycling resource and environmental impact.Based on more than 3,000 items of data related,materials entering Chinese economy are classified into three types,and then the characteristics of material input and environmental impact are presented for the years 1990-2005 by using the indicators derived from EW-MFA.The Ratio of Recycled Material(RRM) is added as the new indicator in order to be in accordance with the need of circular economy being promoted in China.Results show that the great changes in the structure of material input cause the continuous increase of industrial solid waste emissions and the bogging down of material productivity.The RRM reveals that the utilization of recycling resources remains at a fairly low level in China.Finally,some weakness of EW-MFA is discussed according to the calculated results.

Estimation of regional physical imports and exports of EW-MFA in China using monetary input-output tables

Given the statistical gaps in material flow among provinces in China, a method was introduced to estimate regional physical imports and exports （RPIE）, which includes international and interregional imports/ exports. This method uses provincial monetary input- output tables （MIOT） and international trade statistics. A coefficient matrix representing correlations between monetary value and physical mass for years 2000-2009 was obtained based on a detailed commodity classification and 22 material production sectors in MIOT. With the coefficient matrix as reference, RPIE was measured. Pilot calculation of both regional physical trade balance and domestic material consumption, as well as a brief analysis of these methods, were conducted using 2002 data.

Environmental impacts of domestic resource extraction in China

Introduction:The rapid development of economy has led to extensive raw material consumption and relevant environmental damage in China.To analyze environmental impacts and identify materials resulting in these environmental effects via raw material extraction,we combine economy-wide material flow accounting and life-cycle analysis methods to estimate environmental impacts of Chinese domestic extraction(DE)during the period of 1992–2015.The relationship between these increasing environmental impacts and Chinese GDP was also explored by decoupling analysis.Outcomes:Results show that Chinese DE increased by 372%during 1992–2015.The global warming potential,abiotic depletion potential,and respiratory inorganics of Chinese DE increased by 195%,46%,and 408%,respectively.In terms of specific materials,extraction of iron ores,gravel and sand,and coal induced the most environmental impacts.The relationship between environmental impacts and Chinese GDP/DE was characterized by relative decoupling.Conclusion:To minimize the environmental impacts of extraction,we recommend that the Chinese government improve its extraction techniques and reduce excess demand for materials with large extraction such as iron ores,gravel and sand,and coal.We also recommend researching alternative materials for scarce resources like molybdenum,gold,and fluorite.