Drivers of global metal footprint during 1995-2013

With the increasing competition for limited metal ore resources, nexus between economics society and mineral resource utilization has been studied broadly. However, the driving forces and pathways of metal footprint change still haven't been fully understood. Therefore, in the present study, the additive structural decomposition analysis based on an environmental input-output model is adopted to decompose the world metal footprint from 1995 to 2013 into five major driving factors: metal consumption intensity effect, production structure effect, category effect, consumption patterns effect and consumption volume effect. The obtained results indicate that: i) the modern production structure has been becoming increasingly dependent upon metal resources; ii)the production structure effect and consumption volume effect are dominant factors driving the metal footprint increase, yet the metal consumption intensity effect is the main force offsetting this inclining trend; iii) distinct patterns can be observed among different kinds of metals due to the production structure effect; iv) all the driving factors in developing countries tend to be more divergent comparing with developed countries consistent with their economic growth characteristics. The findings of this study are significant for policy makers to understand the deep causes for domestic metal footprint change and propose proper relevant polices. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.