Indicators for national consumption-based accounting of chemicals
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2019

Increased chemical use is causing a growing number of environmental problems and chemical products are pervasive in societies within animal and crop-based agriculture, in industrial processes and in households. National environmental targets, as well as the global chemical-related goals in the 2030 Agenda, call for the monitoring of chemical use and emissions. The growing international trade of goods, where use and regulation of chemical inputs vary highly between countries, complicates measurements. This paper addresses these issues by deriving a set of indicators on chemical use and emissions and connect the global impacts to a country's total consumption, here using the case of Sweden. The indicators are based on a hybrid model combining the multi-regional input-output analysis database EXIOBASE with data from the Swedish System of Economic and Environmental Accounts together with a novel set of environmental extensions. A review of databases is conducted and discussed in relation to the driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework for indicators. Five indicators are calculated, showing the chemical use and emissions connected to consumption, both within a country and abroad. The indicators are: use of hazardous chemical products, use of pesticides, use of antimicrobial veterinary medicines, emissions of hazardous substances, and of the potential toxicity of these emissions. The results show that the impact of Swedish consumption in terms of use and emissions of hazardous substances is largely taking place outside the Swedish borders. Only 10e24% of the pressure from Swedish consumption is shown to occur within Sweden's borders, depending on the indicator. The use of hazardous chemical products and veterinary medicines related to Swedish consumption primarily takes place in other EU countries, whereas the use of pesticides as well as reported emissions of pollutants occur mainly in countries outside the EU. The results highlight the need for improved international accounting of chemical flows, as well as for strengthened policy frameworks to address cross-border impacts of consumption of hazardous chemical products.

Författare

Linn Persson

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

Rickard Arvidsson

Chalmers, Teknikens ekonomi och organisation, Environmental Systems Analysis

Mårten Berglund

Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB)

Christel Cederberg

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Fysisk resursteori

Göran Finnveden

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

Viveka Palm

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB)

Louise Sörme

Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB)

Sarah Schmidt

Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet

Richard Wood

Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet

Journal of Cleaner Production

0959-6526 (ISSN)

Vol. 215 1-12

Policyrelevanta indikatorer för nationell konsumtion och miljö (PRINCE)

Naturvårdsverket (NV-03538-14), 2015-01-01 -- 2018-03-30.

Drivkrafter

Hållbar utveckling

Ämneskategorier

Annan naturresursteknik

Miljöledning

Miljövetenskap

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.294

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2019-07-17