Material flow statistics from the Basque Country. 2005-2013

One of the characteristics of today’s society is the production and consumption of goods, with the consequent environmental impacts due to the extraction, transformation, use and elimination of finite natural resources. Therefore, the evolution towards an economic model based on sustainable development involves reducing the consumption of materials in economies, especially in developed countries, by decoupling the use of natural resources (water, materials and energy) and ecological services (capacity of nature to absorb waste and emissions) from economic growth. This process of reducing the consumption of materials is known as dematerialisation. It can occur both in relative terms, per unit of GDP, (weak dematerialisation), and in absolute terms (strong dematerialisation). One of the characteristics of today’s society is the production and consumption of goods, with the consequent environmental impacts due to the extraction, transformation, use and elimination of finite natural resources. Therefore, the evolution towards an economic model based on sustainable development involves reducing the consumption of materials in economies, especially in developed countries, by decoupling the use of natural resources (water, materials and energy) and ecological services (capacity of nature to absorb waste and emissions) from economic growth. This process of reducing the consumption of materials is known as dematerialisation. It can occur both in relative terms, per unit of GDP, (weak dematerialisation), and in absolute terms (strong dematerialisation).