Depending on the raw material, between 20 and 65% of world trade is handled by companies based in Switzerland. The extraction, processing and transport of these materials pollutes the environment. Because these goods do not physically reach Switzerland, their quantities are not recorded in foreign trade statistics, and associated environmental impacts have not been factored into assessments of the country’s overall environmental impacts.
A new pilot study closes this gap by assessing the environmental impacts of 16 important raw materials and products that are traded internationally by Swiss companies: crude oil, diesel, petrol, natural gas, coal, iron ore, copper, bauxite, aluminum, gold, coffee, cocoa, cereals (wheat), sugar, plant oil and cotton.
It answers three key questions for each material:
- How much is traded by Swiss companies?
- What are the environmental impacts of the extraction, production and transport of the materials?
- Which countries of origin are relevant for the global production of these raw materials?
Information about the traded quantities was gathered from literature, statistics, online company reports and interviews with experts and documented in the study. The environmental impacts are analysed through a set of seven “footprint indicators”; overall environmental footprint, greenhouse gas footprint, biodiversity footprint, eutrophication footprint, air pollution footprint, water footprint and material footprint.
The study shows that the extraction, production, and transport of materials traded by Swiss companies causes over 4 billion eco-points or 1.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. It also shows that the total environmental impact of the production of raw materials traded by Swiss companies is at least 19 times higher than the direct environmental impact of final consumption in Switzerland.
“For us it was quite surprising to see such high numbers of environmental impacts involved in these Swiss trading activities which so far have been under the radar of any environmental assessment” says Niels Jungbluth, co-author of the study and CEO of ESU-services Ltd. in Schaffhausen.
Raw materials from the energy sector (e.g. crude oil) were found to have the highest relevance in terms of mass, total environmental impact, and greenhouse gas emissions. The most impactful are raw materials produced in the USA, Russia, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Indonesia, and China.
The authors argue that because trade has a direct connection to monitoring, it has real potential to influence companies to improve their environmental performance, for example through improved steering measures for international trade in raw materials. An important first step towards leveraging trade measures to minimize environmental impacts would be to increase transparency on origin, production method, and the related environmental footprints of commodities traded globally.
For further information: Niels Jungbluth, Christoph Meili, ESU-services Ltd., Schaffhausen
[email protected], Tel. 044 94061 32