Material flow accounting

[1][2] Increasingly, the data are also being made available in medium- to long-term time series allowing for the analysis of past trends as well as potential future developments.

The method can be used to assess environmental burdens associated with the economic activities of a nation and to determine how material intensive an economy is.

Researchers in this field are organized in the Socio-Economic Metabolism (SEM) section[4] of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE).

MFA covers all solid, gaseous, and liquid materials, mobilized by humans or by their livestock, with the exception of bulk water and air.

The most prominent non-market flows covered by MFA are grazed biomass and used crop residues as well as waste rock extracted during mining activities.