A Preliminary Material Input Analysis of China

The method of material flows analysis has been used to reveal the characteristics of total material requirement, material consumption intensity, and material productivity in China from 1990 to 1996. The objectives of this study are to estimate the resource and environmental costs of China's accelerated economic growth and to evaluate sustainability in China. The results show that total material requirement, direct material input, and material consumption intensity in China increased steadily with socio-economic development. The principal contributors to total material requirement include mining and excavation for infrastructure, fossil fuels and their hidden flows, soil erosion, metals and their hidden flows, and industrial minerals and their hidden flows.