Australian subnational material flows and metrics

Full description

This collection contains material flow data for Australian states and territories from 2010 to 2024. The dataset provides annual estimates of domestic extraction, imports, exports, domestic material consumption, material footprint, and emissions, including air emissions, solid and liquid waste, and seed and fertiliser flows. It also includes four headline circular economy and resource-use indicators: material footprint per capita, recycling rate, circularity rate, and material productivity. These indicators align with the metrics reported in the Australian Treasury’s Measuring What Matters framework.

The data were produced to support analysis of material use, resource productivity, circular economy performance, and environmental pressures across Australian jurisdictions over time. The collection is intended to assist researchers, policymakers, analysts, and other users interested in tracking material flows and evaluating progress toward more sustainable patterns of consumption.
Lineage: Version 1.0

This dataset was produced by assembling material flow accounts for Australian states and territories for 2010–2024. The accounts follow the material flow accounting approach set out by the United Nations Environment Programme and are designed to be consistent with international standards and the International Resource Panel’s Global Material Flow Database. Materials were grouped into four categories: biomass, metal ores, non-metallic minerals, and fossil fuels.

Domestic extraction estimates were compiled from official government statistics, company reports, grey literature, peer-reviewed datasets, and expert triangulation. Key sources included agricultural, forestry, energy, petroleum, mining, quarrying, and mineral production datasets from Australian Government, state and territory agencies, and research sources. Missing values were estimated using linear interpolation or extrapolation where required.

International import and export data by state and territory were supplied by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Confidential trade flows were allocated where possible using comparisons with other trade statistics; remaining residual flows were distributed across the four material categories using domestic extraction patterns as an approximation. Interstate trade flows were derived from CSIRO’s TraNSIT model and extrapolated across the time series using state and territory population growth.

Waste generation and treatment data were sourced from the National Waste and Resource Recovery Reporting dataset and converted from financial-year to calendar-year estimates by averaging adjacent years. For 2024, waste generation was projected using recent per-capita waste rates and 2024 population estimates. Mining waste was supplemented using ore extraction and discard coefficients because it is only partially represented in national waste datasets. Recycled mining waste was excluded from circularity calculations due to the absence of consistent recovery data.

Emissions data, including greenhouse gases and air pollutants, were sourced from national inventories. Dissipative flows such as seeds and fertilisers were estimated from national data and downscaled to states and territories using crop production and livestock-based allocation factors.

Material footprints were estimated using an environmentally extended input-output framework based on subnational multi-regional input-output tables from IE Lab, linked with global MRIO data from GLORIA. Estimates for 2010–2020 used available MRIO tables. Estimates for 2021–2024 were projected using the 2020 MRIO structure and should be treated as provisional because the underlying subnational MRIO tables are under revision.

Derived indicators were calculated from the assembled accounts and supporting population and economic data. Material footprint per capita was calculated from the material footprint and population. Material productivity was calculated as real gross state product divided by domestic material consumption, where domestic material consumption equals domestic extraction plus imports minus exports. Circularity rate and recycling rate were calculated using waste and secondary material flows, with assumptions for recycled content in traded goods due to limited subnational data.