Eco-Budget report sets blueprint for ‘One Planet Economy’ - Can the North East rise to this new challenge?
A new WWF report mapping the true environmental impacts of UK consumption and production, shows the North East to be operating at a “three planet lifestyle” – requiring the resources of a trio of earths in order for the region to support itself.
The new report, Ecological Budget North East - Counting Consumption (1) , funded by Biffaward as part of their Programme on Sustainable Resource Use (2) , is the first complete set of comprehensive, reliable and current physical resource flow accounts to date. It is a significant step in understanding how the way the economy is managed and the decisions we make every day, directly affects the environment around us.
Download the North East Report:
Ecological Budget North East Report (1.4 MB)
The report also provides individual Footprint data for all the local authorities in the North East. Twenty three local authorities were analysed in total, with neighbouring Castle Morpeth and Wansbeck, coming out as the highest and lowest Footprint local authorities respectively.
The North East’s total ecological Footprint – an aggregate indicator of environmental impact – is 5.31gha/cap or the equivalent to approximately 6 football fields in area. The results show that if everyone on earth consumed the earths resouces at the same level as the average North East resident we would need just under 3 planets, whilst if everyone on earth consumed the same as the average South East resident then we would need nearly 3.5 planets.
While the three planet data reveals a need for the region to take a long look at its environmental performance and reduce is impacts through more sustainable planning, the North east does fare well in the overall UK picture.
The North East footprint is the third lowest in the UK, comparing favourably, for instance to the South East, which comes in at 3.5 planets. While the North East still has among the highest levels of CO” emissions from production, it has the lowest level of CO2 generated from consumption of all the UK regions.
For instance the North East has the lowest per capita household consumption in the UK, measured at 6.5 tonnes per capita, comapred with 9 tonnes per capita in the South East.On transport the North East scores well, with the average North East resident travelling 9,500 km a year.
London is the only UK region or devolved country that travel less, resulting in a lower material requirement for mobility and lower CO2 emmisions in the North East.
The level of resource use overall is clearly unsustainable however and a key question is how can the North East grow and develop in a sustainable way that doesn’t mean they increase their ecological footprints , global impacts and consumption. As a big producer the North East – particularly in terms of generating electricity - can play a vital role in influencing the total emissions produced in the UK.
Paul Mosley , WWF England Footprint Project Manager, said: “Regional decision makers in the North East, Yorkshire and North West must now make the idea of a ‘One Planet Economy’ a reality and ensure that key strategies such as the Northern Way and regional economic strategies take the findings from the report on board.
‘The North has a real opportunity to turn things around and become a world class leader in sustainable development, creating new business and industry opportunities linked to a one planet low carbon economy – we don’t have to follow the unsustainable path lead by the South!”.
The consumables and durables Footprint, which includes electrical items, newspapers and home furnishings is 20 per cent lower than the national average, significant given that along with food this sector is responsible for most household waste. However the findings do mask the fact that the North East recycles a smaller percentage of household waste than any other region, an issue that needs to be addressed through more waste minimisation initiatives.
The region scores well on other sectors including energy transport and services, although food proves the exception, with the North East’s food Footprint the highest per capita of all UK regions. This primarily due to the North East’s high use of catering services, with the region consuming 145m tonnes of food, 20 per cent of which was disposed of as waste.
This report demonstrates how a ‘One Planet Economy’ will require a 75 per cent reduction in resource flows and the Ecological Footprint – known as a Factor Four reduction. Whilst this is an incredibly challenging target, it is essential for long-term sustainability. This means a year-on-year reduction of 3 per cent in resource flows and the Ecological Footprint, set against an economic growth rate averaging 2.25 per cent per year. This implies ‘decoupling’ economic and material growth at a rate of 5.25 per cent per year reduction - over twice the rate seen in recent years.
The next industrial revolution must be characterised by low carbon, low consumption, resource efficient economies and this evidence base should be part of it. The North East should rise to this new challenge!
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Editor's notes
The full report can be downloaded from www.ecologicalbudget.org.uk
1. Counting Consumption:CO2 emissions, material flows and ecological Footprint of the UK by region and devolved country – was produced as part of the £520,000 biffaward funded Ecological Budget UK project in partnership with Stockhole Environment Institute (SEI) and Centre For Urban and Regional Ecology (CURE) and match partners from West Midlands and North East regions and Rufford Foundations.
This project forms part of the Biffaward Mass Balance Programme. The aim of this programme is to provide accessible, well-researched information about the flows of different resources through the UK economy based either singly, or on a combination of regions, material streams or industry sectors. More than 60 separate projects have been funded as part of this programme.
Information about material resource flows through the UK economy is of fundamental importance to the cost-effective management of resource flows, especially at the stage when the resource becomes waste. In order to maximise the Programme's full potential, data will be generated and classified in ways that are both consistent with each other, and with the methodologies of the other generators of resource flow/ waste management data. In addition to the projects having their own means of dissemination to their own constituencies, their data and information will be gathered together in a common format to facilitate policy making at corporate, regional and national levels.
This report produced by SEI and CURE (2) provides a vital – and until now absent – evidence base, to help us better understand the issues of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in the UK. The report documents every form of production and consumption in the UK by 123 economic sectors, 54 socio-economic groups and by every English region and devolved administration. It also further identifies the significant differences between production and consumption patterns both across the UK and in key industrial sectors.
Using three indicators – CO2 emissions, material flow analysis, and the Ecological Footprint – the report identifies how the current level of resource use in the UK is unsustainable, and demonstrates the urgent need for a ‘One Planet Economy’ as endorsed by the Prime Minister in the UK Sustainable Development Strategy of 2005 (3). The report also highlights that if everyone on earth used as many of the earth’s natural resources as the average UK resident, we would need three planets to support us.
The Ecological Budget UK is supported by the Resources and Energy Analysis Program (REAP) produced by SEI, a software tool which will give decision-makers at a national, devolved and regional level the chance to test and model the environmental and resource impact of different SCP strategies.
For more information on the Mass Balance UK programme please visit www.massbalance.org
2. SEI is an independent, international research institute specialising in sustainable development and environment issues. It works at local, national, regional and global policy levels. SEI has been engaged in major environment and development issues for a quarter of a century and has become established as a leading expert on the subject of Sustainable Consumption within Europe and especially the UK. Working closely with the European Environment Agency as well as national, regional and local governments, has ensured that the research is applied, relevant and timely. The Sustainable Consumption (SC) Group contributes to the overall SEI mission statement by bridging the gap between science and the policy arena.
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/sei/welcome.html
CURE - Established in 1999, the Centre for Urban & Regional Ecology (CURE) carries out multidisciplinary research in three inter-related programme areas:
*Sustainable City-Regions;
*Landscape Impacts & Futures;
*Land Restoration & Management.
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The common theme is the organisation and interaction of complex communities, both natural and human, at various scales from the local to the European. The research is underpinned by an advanced technical capability for spatial analysis, modelling and visualisation.
http://www.art.man.ac.uk/PLANNING/cure
3. The Prime Minister stated in the UK Sustainable Development Strategy of 2005 that a ‘One Planet Economy’ should be: “An economic system of production and consumption which respects environmental limits, local and global, while being financially and socially sustainable.”
WWF Footprint programme
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WWF is committed to exploring alternative lifestyles based around sustainable consumption; this is a vital task which requires us to understand and measure the global environmental impact of our everyday decisions and actions. We also need to know where change is most beneficial and most needed – whether at a policy, economic, business or personal level. WWF’s Ecological Footprint Programme has been developed to meet this need, providing all levels of government with the information and tools they need to make informed decisions, and developing models and case studies to demonstrate footprint strategies in action. www.wwwf.org.uk
WWF is now known simply by its initials and the panda logo.
For further information please contact:
Mark Mclachlan t: 0121 7732821, m :07771 818695, e: mmclachlan@wwf.org.uk
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