This MOSUS project aims to integrate three major themes of European policies within a macroeconomic, multi-sectoral framework representing the interrelation of economic, social and environmental domains. These policy themes are:
• Sustainable development,
• Competitiveness and social cohesion in the knowledge-based society and
• Globalisation and international trade.
Based on an existing economic model, this project will develop and apply an integrated ecological-economic simulation model in order to quantify the interrelations between socio-economic driving forces and the state of the environment. The analysis will be done within a multi-country, multi-sectoral macroeconomic framework, including trade flows within Europe as well as between Europe and all other economically relevant parts of the world. The model will be the first such tool to directly integrate comprehensive bio-physical data (material and energy flows as well as land use data) in European and global simulations up to the year 2020 and put them in relation to structural indicators of social and economic developments.
Thus, this tool will allow for formulating and evaluating scenarios of the economic and social/distributional impacts of key environmental policy measures and for presenting validated policy recommendations for responding to environmental changes. Applying this model for the evaluation of sustainability scenarios for Europe will significantly enhance the knowledge on the interactions between environmental changes and socio-economic trends that often are the driving force of undesirable environmental impacts.
The 4 key objectives and targets of this project are:
1. Assessing and quantifying the European use of resources (scale), including “ecological rucksacks” induced by international trade.
2. Formulating and evaluating sustainability scenarios, linking economic performance with resource use and environmental deterioration.
3. Refining environmental indicators to assess resource productivities, material and energy intensities and labour intensities of resource use for the EU.
4. Elaborating policy strategies and actions that reconcile long-term economic development, international trade and environmental protection.
Project duration: February 2003 - January 2006
