REAP
>> Resources: REAP
The Stockholm Environment Institute, in collaboration with the The Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology (Manchester University) and Cambridge Econometrics is currently developing the Resource and Energy Analysis Program (REAP). As an integrated resource-environment modelling tool to aid decision making based on policy scenarios, REAP will allow the user to:
- construct detailed scenarios based on changes in technology, policies, markets and consumption patterns
- maintain an interactive database for resource and energy information
- make forecasts and projections of future demand over a long-term planning horizon
- expand understanding of resource consumption and productivity by industrial sectors, while being able to take into account issues of ‘burden-shifting’
- identify and compare the impacts of various industrial sectors and products as well as adopting a holistic view of supply chain impacts
- provide detailed data on CO2 emissions, including from the ‘consumer principle’ rather than the ‘territorial principle’
- explore whether ‘decoupling’ between the economy and environment is occurring.
REAP considers consumption by households and public as well as commercial services, wherever the consumed products may come from and wherever environmental impacts may occur - "consumer responsibility". Material Flow Analysis, as the basic methodology, provides a comprehensive picture of apparent and hidden flows of materials and energy carriers through the economy, thus providing a comprehensive physical account of the UK. The associated key environmental impacts can be expressed by calculating the corresponding greenhouse gas emissions and ecological footprints. The main data sources for REAP are PRODCOM, detailed trade data and expenditure statistics. Final consumption patterns follow both SIC and the COICOP classification and are organised around key policy components such as:
- Food
- Energy
- Housing
- Infrastructure
- Consumer goods
- Transport
- Waste
Spatial disaggregation of national data is possible down to the local authority level. For in depth reports on REAP, please visit the download centre.
REAP will be designed for use against a number of key regional and local strategies, including them Regional Economic Strategy, Regional Spatial Strategy, Integrated Regional Strategy as well as local strategies such as community strategies or by Local Strategic Partnerships. The data from REAP will be accessible to every English region and devolved country, and will be supplied with initial training and further technical support for key staff. The West Midlands and North East will pilot REAP, before its launch with the final Ecological Budget UK report in March 2006.