Trends of Finnish MFA and Future Prospects

1. Trends of Finnish MFA and Future Prospects Trends and Future of Sustainable Development Tampere 9-10 June 2011 Dr. Jukka Hoffrén Head of Research Statistics Finland, Statistical R&D unit e-mail: jukka.hoffren@stat.fi

2. Aims of the project • Eurostat Grants for 2007/Theme 71/Module 71401 Environmental accounts/First priority area: Economy wide material flow accounts (recommended for harmonised reporting EU wide) • The pilot project for economy-wide material flow accounts include establishing methodological and practical working methods to compile reliable yearly material flow accounts including direct material inputs as well as corresponding hidden and indirect flows for national economy in Finland. The project will be carried out by Statistics Finland. General aim is to enable compiling yearly statistics of material flows of Finnish economy. Jukka Hoffrén

3. First priority area: • Eurostat Grants/Environmental Accounts • Economy wide material flow accounts (MFA) which is recommended for harmonised reporting EU wide. • Background: • EU Sustainable Development Strategy, Indicators -> focus shifted towards environmental accounting -> input measures (material, energy input) Jukka Hoffrén

4. General aim is: to enable compilement of yearly statistics of material flows of Finnish Economy to serve as an example of EU member country in economy wide material flow accounting (MFA). to lead harmonised reporting of MFAs EU wide. • Pilot study include: • Establishing methodological and practical methods to compile reliable yearly MFA accounts. • Compilation of direct as well as hidden (indirect) flows for national economy in Finland. • Was carried out by the end of 2008 Jukka Hoffrén

5. The throughput economy idea - basis of systematic material flow accounts 5 Jukka Hoffrén

6. Exceeding the global limits • WWF: Global ecological footprint is 2.23 hectares per capita and the biocapacity only 1.8 hectares per capita. Thus the humankind exceeds the sustainable level by 24 per cent. • In Finland the ecological footprint is third highest in the world: 7.6 hectares per capita, but the biocapacity 12 hectares per capita. • The northern location and natural resource intensive industries contribute greatly to Finnish ecological footprint. Jukka Hoffrén

7. Jukka Hoffrén

8. Agricultural production, earth materials, fishery and fossile fuels will be included Jukka Hoffrén

9. Methods: • New way to combine already existing statistics. • New database was formed. • Future challenges: • Formation of common global database to calculate hidden flows related to foreign trade. -> large-scale co-operation between EU, EU member countries and OECD. Jukka Hoffrén

10. The trend in Finnish DMI and TMR measures in the period 1945-2008 (million tonnes) Jukka Hoffrén

11. Factor -targets • Factor 4 - an objective whereby the input of natural resources, raw materials and energy in each unit of production is to be reduced to one quarter of its current level in the medium term, i.e. over the next 20 to 30 years. • Factor 10 - This is an objective whereby the input of natural resources, raw materials and energy in each unit of production is to be reduced to one tenth of its current level in the long term, i.e. over the next 30 to 50 years. Jukka Hoffrén

12. Towards sustainable future Carrying capacity of earth can not sustain the current growth (i.e. expansion) of global economic activities. We must minimise materials and energy use. Transition from quantitative expansion of economy to qualitative growth i.e. “to get more out of less”. Only practical way to rapidly change attitudes of companies and society, is to properly price environmental and natural resources as well as environmental impacts so that they will be taken into consideration in all decision-making. Jukka Hoffrén

13. Thank you! Jukka Hoffrén