JRC Raw Materials Scoreboard
Analysis for the development of an indicator on social risk of raw materials productionAbout the project
The main project consists of a study to analyse and assess new indicators for the second edition of the EU Raw Materials Scoreboard to be released in 2018. The Scoreboard is an integral part of the JRC (Joint Research Centre) Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) providing an overview of the global competitiveness and visibility of EU raw materials industries. Moreover, it evaluates their sustainable performance in an economical, ecological and social perspective along raw materials` life cycles and promotes green growth.
The Scoreboard´s focus is put on data and information on non-energy, non-agricultural materials (e.g. metals, industrial and construction materials, biomass) from primary and secondary sources. The economic and ecological performance of these industries is assessed by a variety of indicators such as the Value added and jobs created, Corporate R&D investment, Air and water emissions or Extractive waste management. For the next version of the Raw Materials Scoreboard, the emphasis should be on the social sustainability.
Therefore, the aim of the collaboration between JRC and Dr. Andreas Ciroth in this project was to analyse and develop one or more indicators on the social risk of raw materials production. These should complement or substitute the existing social sustainability indicators in the Scoreboard, Occupational safety and Sustainability reporting.
GreenDelta in the project
Within this project, GreenDelta on behalf of Dr. Andreas Ciroth, provided review, technical assistance, analysis and data for the development of the social risk indicator(s).
Within this context, two concrete tasks were undertaken:
- The feasibility of using data from PSILCA for assessing the social risk linked to the production of raw materials was analysed. The analysis was performed on non-energy metals and minerals, as well as non-agricultural biotic materials in the EU and other top raw materials producer countries in six world regions.
- Options for the development of a new indicators were identified to assess the social risk of EU raw materials in comparison with extra-EU regions. Illustrative examples of social impacts across raw materials` life cycles complemented the analysis and visualized the comparisons. Further, they outlined how multi-regional input/output data could be used for characterizing social risks in this context.
Links and resources
Project duration: December 2016 – April 2017
Collaboration project between the European Commission, i.e. the Joint Research Center, unit on “Land Resources”, and Dr. Andreas Ciroth