Why Socio-metabolic Studies are Central to Ecological Economics

Global material extraction has tripled since the 1970s, with more than 100 billion tonnes of materials entering the world economy each year. Only 8.6% of this amount is recycled, while 61% ends up as waste and emissions, the leading cause of global warming and large-scale pollution of land, rivers, and oceans. This theme paper introduces socio-metabolic research (SMR) and demonstrates its relevance to ecological economics scholarship in India. SMR is a research framework for studying the biophysical stocks and flows of materials and energy associated with societal production and consumption. As one of the core approaches in industrial ecology and ecological economics, SMR is widely conducted in Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia, and China. In India, it is still in its infancy. In this paper, we review pioneering efforts in SMR in India and make a case for advancing the field in the subcontinent.