Mapping and weighing global terrestrial infrastructures - Implications for resource demand and social wellbeing

Mapping and weighing global terrestrial infrastructures Implications for resource demand & social wellbeing H. Haberl, A. Baumgart, J. Streeck, F. Krausmann & D. Wiedenhofer https://remass.boku.ac.at/ European Research Council (ERC; MAT_STOCKS), grant agreement No 741950), European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (CircEUlar, grant agreement No 101056810) . This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] Anthropocene & the ‚biophysical scale‘ of society Global societal vs biospheric material stocks in comparison REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ Elhacham et al. 2020, Nature 588; based on Krausmann et al. 2017, PNAS 114 and Erb et al. 2018, Nature 553 Infrastructures (buildings, transport, etc.) account for ~98% of all societal stocks („anthropogenic mass“). Globally, they rise almost 1:1 coupled with GDP, i.e. increased by factor 20-30 over the last century – in contrast to the mass of all living organisms, which is slightly decreasing, due to human activities. This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] Socio-metabolic research Studying stocks and flows of materials and energy that provide key services to society Streeck et al. 2025. Res., Conserv. Recycl 221, 108324, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108324 REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ Stocks and flows of materials and energy provide societies‘ material basis: nourishment, shelter, mobility, education, healthcare, etc. They are key to sustainability. This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] •Services depend on specific stockflow relations •For example, car-based mobility services need roads, cars and fuel (or electricity) •Stocks need huge amounts of resources to be built and maintained (autocatalytic) •Specific stock patterns (e.g. design of settlements & infrastructures) foster or inhibit certain practices •For example, urban sprawl is linked with car-dependent mobility •Stock patterns are linked with specific social practices and lockins Motivation: The Stock-Flow-Service nexus Haberl et al. 2021. Ecological Economics, 182, 106949 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106949 REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ Practices of everyday living This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] •Country-level, global, 1900-2016 •16 processes (each material balanced) •23 raw materials •21 stock-building material •13 end-use product groups •Stock-flow and process consistent •Economy-wide Wiedenhofer et al. 2024. Journal of Industrial Ecology 24, 1464-1480 https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13575 The MISO-2 model Quantifying material stocks globally REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] •Country-level, global, 1900-2016 •16 processes (each material balanced) •23 raw materials •21 stock-building material •13 end-use product groups •Stock-flow and process consistent •Economy-wide Wiedenhofer et al. 2024. Journal of Industrial Ecology 24, 1464-1480 https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13575 The MISO-2 model Quantifying material stocks globally REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ 7 Functions of socioeconomic material stocks Left: infrastructures (buildings, mobility, etc.), Right: vehicles, machinery & other products) REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ Galbraith et al. 2025. Earth System Dynamics, 16, 979–999, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-979-2025 This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] •Earth Observation data from newest-generation satellites (Copernicus) allow creating maps at 10m spatial resolution •Crowd-sourced data from Open Street Maps are used to map linear structures, in particular mobility infrastructures •Material intensities are used to calculate mass of structures based on info on their dimensions (type, volume, length: kg materials of various types per m3 building volume or m2 road surface) •Can be applied to quantify and map material stocks for entire countries and globally Mapping material stocks in built structures Novel methods help generating high-resolution maps Haberl et al., 2021. Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05642. REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] •Material stock maps derived with nighttime lights achieve 0.5-1 km resolution •Distinguishing important features (types and spatial patterns of built structures) impossible at 1km •10 m resolution provides rich and meaningful information on function of stocks Why do we need high spatial resolution? Types of built structures can only be discerned at high resolution 10 m 100 m 1,000 m Haberl et al., 2021. Env. Sci. Tech. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05642. Maps of built structures (buildings & transportation infrastructures) at 10m resolution are meanhwile available for several countries, e.g. Austria & Germany (https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05642), also in >30 time series (https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13343), UK https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107630, conterminous USA (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43755-5) REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/EFP5] •Infrastructures are a key driver of resource use. Their buildup currently requires ~60% of all material resources globally. •Size and patterns of infrastructures are key determinants of dissipative use of resources (e.g., energy use) and thereby drive GHG emissions and other environmental pressures •They play a crucial role for lock-in effects (e.g., stabilization of resource-intensive lifestyles) •Infrastructures play a crucial role in providing societies with services of key importance for human wellbeing •Better design of infrastructures can help to improve well-being contributions while reducing resource use and emisions Conclusions REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/ Helmut Haberl Institute of Social Ecology T +43 1 47654-73714 [email protected] BOKU University Institute of Social Ecology Schottenfeldgasse 29 1070 Vienna boku.ac.at REMASS | Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism | doi: 10.55776/EFP5 | https://remass.boku.ac.at/