Europe’s material footprint

The 8th Environment Action Programme aims to significantly cut the EU’s material footprint - the amount of raw material extracted globally to produce goods and services consumed in the EU. The material footprint stood at 14.3 tonnes/capita in 2025, down by 3.4% since 2010, including a recent dip of 8.4% from 2022 to 2023. The level of material footprint in the EU is considered unsustainable and above the global average. Based on historical trends and projections for future material use, it appears unlikely that the EU will significantly reduce its material footprint in the next decade.

Figure 1. EU Material Footprint, expressed in tonnes of raw material equivalent per capita

The EU’s material footprint refers to the amount of material extracted from nature, both inside and outside the EU, to provide the goods and services consumed within the EU. The 8th Environment Action Programme aims to significantly reduce the EU’s material footprint to safeguard valuable natural resources and mitigate environmental impacts, such as climate change and biodiversity loss.This reflects the Treaty commitment (Art. 191 TfEU) to ensure ‘the prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources’.

From 2010 to 2025, the EU per capita material footprint decreased by 3.4%. A recent sharp drop between 2022 and 2023 (8.4%) was mainly caused by a decrease respectively in consumption of fossil fuels, metals and non-metallic minerals’.

Consumption of non-metallic minerals is the highest of the various material groups, accounting for 52% of the footprint in 2025, however these generate a relatively lower environmental impact than metals and fossil fuels.. Biomass was the next largest group (24%), followed by fossil fuels (15%) and metals (10%). Fossil fuels are the only material group to show a decrease (of 40%) between 2010 and 2025, driving the overall drop in material footprint. This could be attributed to EU climate policies, and other recent energy-related developments, like high energy prices due to Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

Reliance on external suppliers to satisfy EU demand differs by material: demand for metals and fossil fuels is mainly met by imports, while demand for biomass and non-metallic minerals is largely met by domestic extraction, due to their availability, weight and relatively lower value.

The EU’s total material footprint is above the global average and is unsustainable in that this level of resource consumption exceeds the plant's ‘safe operating space’ for resource extraction. However, significantly reducing the EU material footprint is challenging: it can be reduced through swift implementation of EU circular economy policies (as part of the EU circular economy action plan) aiming to reduce the need for primary material extraction, by keeping materials in the economy for as long as possible, optimising product and asset use, keeping their value as high as possible, and boosting high-quality recycling.

Discounting the temporary dips in 2020 and 2023, the level of the material footprint has been relatively stable from 2015 until 2024, albeit lower than its 2010 levels. Available projections for material use, such as the OECD Global Material Resources Outlook, predict an increased future demand for materials in the EU. This suggests it is unlikely that the EU will significantly reduce its material footprint in the coming decade.

Figure 2. EU Member States’ material footprint in t/cap for the years 2010 and 2024, ranked according to the 2024 footprint

Material footprints vary substantially across EU countries, from 7.9 tonnes/capita in the Netherlands to 37.3 tonnes/capita in Finland. Since 2010, 15 of the 27 EU Member States and Switzerland, have reduced their material footprint. Belgium and Greece even reduced their footprints by more than 30%. However, Romania, Bulgaria and Ireland increased theirs by more than 50%.

Differences in material footprints among countries are difficult to explain, as they are based on the structure and efficiency of the economy and citizens’ consumption patterns. Yet, elements such as high levels of circularity in the national economy are also important. High levels of circularity may to a certain extent explain the low material footprint value in Belgium and Italy, countries with high circular material use rates. On the other hand, Finland and Romania with the highest and second-highest material footprints display very low circular material use rates (2.0% and 1.3% respectively in 2024).

Supporting information

Definition

The material footprint indicator is based on two components:

· domestic extraction of materials, by material group, as reported to Eurostat;

· estimates of raw material equivalents (RMEs) for imports and exports.

The term ‘RME’ indicates the full accounting for resources extracted to produce final products. While, for domestic extraction, RMEs equal domestic material extraction, RMEs need to be estimated for imports to the EU of raw materials, and semi-finished and finished products.

The difference in the calculations, compared with the more well-known domestic material consumption (DMC) is that the material footprint includes all materials needed to produce the products imported into the EU, while the DMC only includes the weight of imports when these cross the EU border. The material footprint, therefore, is more comprehensive in revealing the actual materials used by EU citizens.

MethodologyPolicy/environmental relevance

The explicitly calls for a decoupling of economic growth from resource extraction, which translates into continuously decreasing resource consumption in a growing economy. The material footprint accounts for a life cycle approach to material extraction, accounting not only for the weight of materials imported/exported to the EU, but also for the materials needed to produce these imports/exports. The footprint provides a fuller picture of the resources needed to satisfy EU demand.

This indicator is a headline indicator for monitoring progress towards the 8th Environment Action Programme (8th EAP). It contributes to monitoring aspects of the 8th EAP Article 3.s that requires ‘significantly decreasing the Union’s material and consumption footprints to bring them into planetary boundaries as soon as possible, including through the introduction of Union 2030 reduction targets, as appropriate’. It also helps monitor progress towards achieving, by 2030, aspects of the 8th EAP priority objective set out in Article 2.2.a: ‘advancing towards a well-being economy that gives back to the planet more than it takes and accelerating the transition to a non-toxic circular economy, where growth is regenerative, resources are used efficiently and sustainably, and the waste hierarchy is applied’. The European Commission Communication on the 8th EAP monitoring framework specifies that this indicator should be used to monitor that the EU ‘significantly decrease the EU’s material footprint, by reducing the amount of raw material needed to produce the products consumed in the Union.’

Accuracy and uncertaintiesData sources and providers

Metadata

DPSIRTopicsTagsTemporal coverageGeographic coverage

TypologyUN SDGsUnit of measureFrequency of dissemination

References and footnotes

IRP, 2019, Global Resources Outlook 2019: Natural Resources for the Future We Want, International Resource Panel, Nairobi, Kenya.

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EC, 2022, 'Consumption Footprint Platform', European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment, European Commission ( https://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ConsumptionFootprintPlatform.html ) accessed June 26, 2022.

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The OECD projections refer to the same material categories as the ones used in this indicator. However, the OECD refers to material use, not to material footprint. Material use is defined as domestic material consumption (DMC) which is calculated by the extraction of materials domestically plus imports minus exports. The difference with the material footprint approach is that DMC accounts only for the physical weight of goods imported at the point of entrance into a territory (in our case, the EU). The material footprint, on the other hand, accounts for the full weight of materials extracted in the value chain abroad in order to construct the goods imported. Therefore, the material footprint of a territory (e.g. the EU) is always higher than the DMC. However, the expected increase in the EU’s material footprint based on the OECD projections is still valid, because these projections predict increases in material use in all world regions.
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Eurostat, 2021, 'Population on 1 January', Data Browser ( https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00001/default/table?lang=en ) accessed March 4, 2022.

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EC, 2022, 'A European Green Deal: striving to be the first climate-neutral continent', European Commission ( https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en ) accessed June 27, 2022.

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