Stories Archive

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The double-edged role of critical raw materials in the energy transition

• The energy system is fundamental for a growing society and economy, but it has to become decarbonized
• Critical raw materials and their importance for the energy transition
• CRM supply chains are vulnerable and their disruption can have far-reaching impacts
• Increased CRM demand requires establishing supply chains aligning with socio-environmental sustainability

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The Construction Sector’s Impact on Global Resource Demand

• Extraction of construction materials
• Material consumption of the construction sector
• The construction sector’s performance in comparison to other sectors
• Policy approaches to reduce the sector’s material demand

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Benchmarking countries‘ decoupling performance using the “Policy Dashboard”

• The concept of decoupling in politics
• Indicators of decoupling
• Case Study: Austria’s material consumption
• Case study: Finland’s material productivity
• Pathways to a sustainable level of resource use

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Tracking Progress Towards Circularity

• Circular Economy: Data and Indicators
• The Role of Waste
• Recycling and Recovery Rates
• Circularity Rates
• Material Stocks

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Environmental-Economic Accounting

• Evidence-based environmental-economic policy making
• Environmental-economic accounts – the basics
• Advancing accounting methodologies: MFA in Austria and around the globe
• Providing and communicating environmental accounts

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The Impacts of Raw Material Use: Mining and Deforestation

• The relevance of the nexus between mining and deforestation
• Impacts of mining on tropical deforestation
• Indirect deforestation effects of mining: a case study of the Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia
• Implications for policy measures and actions of companies

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Circular Economy: the nexus to GHG emissions

• The importance of Circular Economy actions for GHG emission reductions
• Hot-spot materials, sectors and industries with the highest GHG emissions​
• Circular Economy measures that reduce GHG emissions​

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Material stocks: Destination and source of raw materials

• Why material stocks matter
• How to quantify material stocks
• Global material stocks
• How stocks are hindering sustainable material use

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Material use and quality of life

• Relating material footprints, happiness and human development
• Material intensity of well-being

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The role of coal in the global economy – a “Raw Material Profile”

• Global trends of coal extraction
• International coal trade
• Global fossil fuel consumption
• Impacts of coal along its life cycle

Continue ReadingThe role of coal in the global economy – a “Raw Material Profile”