The total amount of materials released into the environment in Spain last year after having been used in the national economy reached 293 million tons, which is 4.2% less compared to 2022 and a level that is close to the historic low of 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic broke out.
This is clear from data on material flows collected by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The historical series begins in 2008, the year in which the maximum with 399.7 million tons of materials released into the environment.
Subsequently, the trend reflected a decrease to 320.2 million in 2013, to then enter some annual ups and downs until reaching 324.4 million in 2019. The outbreak of the covid-19 crisis represented the historical minimum with the release of 278.1 million tons.
Since then, it has risen for two years to 305.8 million in 2022 and fell again last year, when emissions into the atmosphere – mainly greenhouse gases – were the materials with greater weight in the total (90.6%), with a decrease of 4.7%& in total tons compared to 2022.
On the other hand, national consumption of materials, which measures the annual amount of solid, liquid and gaseous materials (not including air or water) used directly by the Spanish economy, fell by one last year. 3.3% to reach 417.9 million tons.
Productivity of materials – or amount of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generated per unit of material consumption – reached 3,142.9 euros per ton, which represents an increase of 6.2% compared to 2022. Material consumption per inhabitant decreased by 4.5% to 8.6 tons. The net accumulation of materials in the economy reached 4.4 tons per capita, 4.9% less than the previous year.
As in previous years, the main component of materials consumption was national extraction, with the 82.4% of the total. It reached 344.1 million tons, 3.2% less than in 2022.
The physical trade balance (imports minus exports) was 73.8 million tons in 2023. Imports reached 249.2 million tons, compared to 175.4 million from exports.
The main materials extracted in Spain last year were non-metallic minerals (mainly limestone, gypsum and sand) and biomass (where cereals, fruits and vegetables stood out), with 213.3 and 107.5 million tons , respectively. The extraction of non-metallic minerals decreased by 1.6% compared to 2021, while that of biomass fell 8.1%.
The fossil fuels (coal, crude oil, natural gas and derivatives) were the materials that stood out in the physical trade balance of 2023 due to their weight in imports (49.4% of the total), followed by biomass (24.9%). Likewise, the materials with the greatest weight in exports turned out to be fossil fuels (27.3% of the total) and biomass (25.5%).
Furthermore, fossil fuels presented the more positive physical trade balance (75.2 million tons). On the contrary, non-metallic minerals registered the most negative (-26.2 million).
Net accumulation of materials measures the physical growth of the economy in tons of materials, that is, the weight of construction materials used in buildings and other infrastructure and of materials incorporated into durable goods such as vehicles, industrial machinery, etc. It is obtained as a balance between the ‘inputs’ (national extraction, imports and balance elements) and the ‘outputs’ (processed to nature, exports and balance elements).
In 2023, they joined the economy 211.6 million tons of materials (6.1 tons per capita), which represented a drop of 3.7% compared to the previous year.
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