Global Distribution of Used and Unused Extracted Materials Induced by Consumption of Iron, Copper, and Nickel

In today’s global economy, sustainable resource management requires a consumption perspective of resource use and insight into actual resource use through the global supply chain. The estimated global amount of used and unused extraction caused by mineral extraction of iron, copper, and nickel more than doubled from 1990 to 2013 (iron, 2.8–6.7 Pg; copper, 2.7–5.5 Pg; nickel, 0.19–0.60 Pg). By incorporating global material flow into a global link input–output model (GLIO, a hybrid multiregional IO model), we estimated the total used and unused extraction caused by iron, copper, and nickel mining induced by Japanese final demand to be 0.44, 0.52, and 0.043 Pg in 2011, respectively, equivalent to 7.1% of the total global extraction amount caused by iron mining, 11% of the amount caused by copper mining, and 10% of the amount caused by nickel mining. Whereas the world extraction total caused by iron, copper, and nickel mining rapidly increased from 2005 to 2011, the extraction amount induced by Japanese final demand for the same period either stayed about the same (iron) or decreased slightly (copper, 99% of the 2005 amount; nickel, 92%)