Indicator 12.1.b Global environmental impact by private household consumption

Text from the Indicator Report 2022 

The consumption behaviour of private households has different consequences for the environment of national and international countries, whereby latter is particularly affected by spill-over effects. This indicator reflects three of the factors behind this impact, namely energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and the use of raw materials for Germany and foreign countries. The relevant data are collated in the environmental economic accounts of a range of governmental and non-governmental sources.

Resources may be consumed by households directly or indirectly. Direct consumption might be the use of gas for heating, fuel for transport or food to eat. Resources are also tied up or consumed at every stage of the process of manufacturing and transporting consumer goods both within Germany and abroad. All of that counts as indirect consumption by German private households when they buy and use those goods. Both types of consumption are included in the present indicator, the environmental impact represented in terms of energy, raw materials and CO₂.

The use of raw materials, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions are closely interconnected. To use coal, oil and gas – material resources – in power plants and boilers to produce electricity and heat is simultaneously to consume energy. As a rule, the burning of fuels also results in the emission of CO₂.

However, the use of raw materials is not restricted to fuels. This is clear from the time series in the graph: while the data for energy consumption and emissions follow a fluctuating but generally downwards trend, the change in the use of raw materials is less marked. That factor is made up both of abiotic resources, which include other mineral resources like sand and salts as well as fuels, and of renewable resources like the products of farming and forestry. While the use of abiotic resources was decreasing until 2014 and increasing from then on, there are contrary developments in the area of agricultural products. This resulted in a slight overall reduction of 2 % between 2010 and 2015. Although rising in 2016, the use of raw materials reached the level of 2010 in the two subsequent years 2017 and 2018.

In contrast, energy consumption went down by 6 % during the period from 2010 to 2017.

Energy loss incurred during the generation of electricity and district heat for consumption by private households is counted as indirect consumption. Energy consumption can be split according to the different fields in which it occurs, namely home life, transport, food, other products and services. At around 3,343 petajoules in total, home life accounted for the largest proportion, 35 % of private household consumption, in 2017.

A similar trend can be seen in CO₂ emissions. The vast majority of emissions are generated indirectly, during the manufacturing process of consumer goods in Germany and abroad, rather than during the actual consumption of the goods. The total CO₂ emissions caused by private household consumption in 2017 amounted to 678 million tonnes. The ratio of direct to indirect emissions was around 1:2. Between 2010 and 2017, direct CO₂ emissions fell by 6 %, while the emissions footprint of consumer goods fell by 9 %. In total, the direct and indirect CO₂ emissions caused by private household consumption decreased by 8 %.

This indicator can be usefully cross-referenced with indicator 8.1 on “raw material input productivity”.

The synoptic table provides information about the evaluation of the indicator in previous years. It shows if the weather symbol assigned to an indicator was rather stable or volatile in the past years. (Evaluation of the Indicator Report 2022 )

Indicator	12.1.ba Global environmental impact by private household consumption – use of raw materials
Target	Steady reduction
Year	2015	2016	2017	2018
Evaluation

Indicator	12.1.bb Global environmental impact by private household consumption – energy consumption
Target	Steady reduction
Year	2015	2016	2017	2018
Evaluation				Assess­ment strating later

Indicator	12.1.bc Global environmental impact by private household consumption – CO₂ emissions
Target	Steady reduction
Year	2015	2016	2017	2018
Evaluation				Assess­ment strating later