Regional EU Sustainable Development Indicators for Ireland 2022

Decoupling environmental pressures from economic growth

Material footprint

SDG_12_21 The material footprint, also referred to as raw material consumption (RMC), represents the global demand for the extraction of materials (minerals, metal ore, biomass, fossil energy materials) induced by consumption of goods and services within a geographical reference area. Data for material footprints stem from material flow accounts, which model the flows of natural resources from the environment into the economy. They include domestic extraction of materials measured in tonnes of gross material (for example, gross ore or gross harvest) as well as imports and exports measured by estimates of the raw material equivalents of the products traded (domestic and abroad extraction required to produce the traded products). RMC thus shows the amount of extraction needed to produce the goods demanded by final users in the geographical reference area, irrespective of where in the world the material extraction took place. See Table 12.1 and Figure 12.1.

Consumption of hazardous chemicals

SDG_12_10 measures the volume of aggregated consumption of toxic chemicals, expressed in million tonnes. The consumption of chemicals is calculated as the sum of the production volumes (PRODCOM) and the net import volumes of the chemicals (COMEXT) according to the equation: Consumption = production + imports – exports. The data on hazardous and non-hazardous chemicals show the total consumption of all chemicals. The two sub-categories of hazardous chemicals – hazardous to human health and hazardous to the environment – overlap by definition and as a result their sum is not equal to the total consumption of hazardous chemicals. See Table 12.2 and Figure 12.2.

Average CO₂ emissions from new passengers cars

SDG_12_30 is defined as the average carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per km by new passenger cars in a given year. The reported emissions are based on type-approval and can deviate from the actual CO₂ emissions of new cars. Since 2021, the emissions are measured with a new test procedure (Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure WLTP), compared to the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) procedure used until 2020. The WLTP aims to reflect better real driving conditions and WLTP values are systematically higher than NEDC values. This change leads to a break in time series between 2020 and 2021. See Table 12.3 and Figure 12.3.

Green economy

Gross value added in the environmental goods and services sector

SDG_12_61 The environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) is defined as that part of a country’s economy that is engaged in producing goods and services that are used in environmental protection and resource management activities either domestically or abroad. Gross value added in EGSS represents the contribution of the environmental goods and services sector to GDP and is defined as the difference between the value of the sector’s output and intermediate consumption. See Table 12.4 and Figure 12.4.

Waste generation and management

Circular material use rate

SDG_12_41 The circular material use rate (CMR) measures the share of material recovered and fed back into the economy in overall material use. The CMU is defined as the ratio of the circular use of material to the overall material use. The overall material use is measured by summing up the aggregate domestic material consumption (DMC) and the circular use of materials. DMC is defined in economy-wide material flow accounts. The circular use of materials is approximated by the amount of waste recycled in domestic recovery plants minus imported waste destined for recovery plus exported waste destined for recovery abroad. A higher CMU rate value means that more secondary materials substitute for primary raw materials thus reducing the environmental impacts of extracting primary material. See Table 12.5 and Figure 12.5.

Generation of waste

SDG_12_51 measures all waste generated in a country. Major mineral wastes, dredging spoils and soils are included. This leads to high quantities of waste in some countries with substantial economic activities such as mining and construction. See Table 12.6 and Figure 12.6.