22 January 2013: The Joint Research Initiative (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) has published a series of indicators on the impact of production, consumption and trade on the use of resources and pollution, as well as a set of country fact sheets applying these indicators in EU and other countries.

The publications aim to provide a comprehensive dataset of comparable economic and environmental information to improve understanding of how the use of global resources and the emission of air pollutants around the world have evolved in relation to economic activities.

The first volume presents a series of indicators on six environmental dimensions: land use; material extraction; water use; emission of acid substances; greenhouse gases (GHG); and ozone precursors. For each dimension, the indicators cover the use of resources and emissions related the production and goods and services, their trade and their consumption.

The second volume provides data for these indicators for the 27 EU member States as well as Brazil, China, India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the US, and the rest of the world. Together these publications provide a holistic methodology and data on significant environmental and social impacts of economic activity, including resource scarcity, climate change, environmental degradation, and inequalities regarding access to natural resources across countries. [JRC Press Release] [Publication: Global Resources Use and Pollution, Volume 1: Production, Consumption and Trade (1995-2008)] [Publication: Global Resources Use and Pollution, Volume 2: Country Factsheets]