Ecological Footprint of the raw material producing industry in Austria

In cooperation with WWF Austria and the Forum of Mineral Raw-materials of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber SERI calculated the Ecological Footprint of the raw material producing industry at branch level and adjusted the footprint concept to the special requirements of this industry. The application of the Ecological Footprint concept to the raw-material producing industry was a methodological innovation.

The Ecological Footprint consists from several components, which represent different types of land use. The application of the footprint concept to the raw-material producing industry required adjustments, in order to include the positive environmental impacts of the branch into the calculation methodology. Such impacts include, for example, the biodiversity aspects and renatured areas. These methodological improvements, which had not been accounted for earlier, were developed in the project in cooperation with representatives of the industry and WWF Austria. The data for the calculation of the Ecological Footprint of the raw-material producing industry was collected in cooperation with representative companies of the Forum of Mineral Raw-materials. So far, no internationally standardized method for the calculation of the Ecological Footprint of companies and branches exists. Based on several pilot studies on the Ecological Footprint of companies and products SERI worked on the development a methodological standard together with major national (Plattform Footprint; www.footprint.at ) and international (Standards Committee des Global Footprint Network; www.footprintnetwork.org ) stakeholders. The application of the Ecological Footprint indicator to the raw-material producing industry was an international innovation.