Key policy question: What is the trend in domestic material consumption in Malta?

Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) is used as an indicator to estimate the quantity of material consumed by a national economy [1], and is calculated on the basis of the sum of total national mineral extraction and imports (direct material input) less exports [2].

Overall, DMC in Malta fell by 4.8 per cent between 2004 and 2006, resulting from lower levels of domestic extraction and imports.

The fact that GDP at real prices rose by 6.7 per cent in this period, despite the fall in domestic material consumption, suggests that economic activity is becoming less resource-intensive. Indeed, the increasing material productivity [3], which indicates the relationship between material use and economic activity, suggests growing material efficiency that points to some progress towards sustainability.

Despite limited data comparability [4], it emerges that Malta had a relatively low level of domestic material consumption per capita in 2004 [5], when compared with EU countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy and Greece.

Policy responses: Mepa's minerals policy seeks to encourage sustainable use of the resource.

The Environment Report seeks to increase awareness and understanding of key environmental issues and trends, to provide a sound evidence base for policy and decision-making and to facilitate the measurement of environmental performance and progress towards sustainability. For more information visit www.mepa.org.mt/ter.

References

1 EC (European Commission). 2001. Economy-wide Material Flow Accounts and Derived Indicators: A methodological guide, European Communities, Luxembourg. (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-34-00-536/EN/KS-34-00-536-EN.PDF, accessed on November 11, 2009).

2 However, the mass of materials and biomass extracted from the domestic environment forms only part of the materials used in an economy, since imports play a large part in material consumption.

3 Calculated by dividing GDP in real terms by DMC.

4 Eurostat indicates comparability limitations for DMC calculations between the different EU Member States, due to use of different methodologies.

5 Latest Eurostat data for DMC, was for 2004, as at publication of Gazley, I. and Moncada, S. 2008. Domestic Material Consumption for Malta: Results, MEPA, October 2008.