Short description of variables in WifOR Institute’s
Extended Input-Output model

Indicator

Air Pollution

Units: Physical pollution in kg, societal value in USD

Description

Air pollution describes the contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical, or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.

Sub-indicators

Pollutants: Ammonia (NH3), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Particulate Matter ≤2.5 (PM2.5), Particulate Matter ≤10 (PM10), Sulphur Oxides (SOx), Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) etc.
Localization: Urban, Peri-urban, rural, and transportation

Valuation Approach

The valuation of effects arising from air pollution follows the recommendation of the federal German environmental agency (UBA) (Bünger & Matthey, 2020) which provides cost rates which express societal damages related to:

1. Health damages (e.g., respiratory diseases)
2. Biodiversity loss (e.g., species extinction)
3. Crop/harvest damages (e.g., losses in agricultural yield)
4. Material/infrastructure damages (e.g., facade staining)

Annual Leakage of Plastics to the Oceans

Units: Leakage of plastics to the ocean in tonnes, societal value in USD

Focuses on the effects of macro-plastic on ecosystem services of oceans caused by maritime plastic leakage. Macro-plastics are fragmentations of plastic larger than 5 mm. Plastic leakage usually originates from mismanaged waste.

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Valuation considers the impact of leaked plastic to the aquatic environment, the transportation, fragmentation, and degradation of plastic.
The annual amount of leaked plastic into the ocean is calculated and divided by the total global plastic production to determine an ocean leakage rate. Data on plastic leakage into aquatic environments is sourced from the OECD, and plastic production mass is aligned with PlasticsEurope figures. This global ocean leakage rate is applied uniformly across countries to estimate the quantity of plastic entering the ocean. The estimated amount of leaked plastic is multiplied by the minimum cost per ton to derive the total damage costs for marine ecosystem service loss.

Biodiversity Impacts

Units: Societal value in USD

Biodiversity describes the variety of living species on Earth, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi. Estimated impacts on biodiversity from single human activities are calculated using an abatement cost approach, which values biodiversity based on the cost of preventing its decline.

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The valuation approach uses (Steen, 2020) model to estimate impacts on biodiversity from single human activities (such as land use change, pollution, species introduction, etc.) using an abatement cost approach, which values biodiversity based on the cost of preventing its decline. This approach incorporates two steps:
First, the global share of species threatened by a specific human activity is divided by the total amount of this activity.Second, the environmental impact factor is multiplied with an estimate of the annual global biodiversity conservation costs to arrive at a global biodiversity impact value in monetary units per unit of the human activity under consideration. Excludes costs of managing Invasive Alien Species (see below).

Fishery

Units: Extracted aquatic life in tonnes

The Fishery indicator captures the total biomass extracted from aquatic ecosystems, including aquatic plants, fish from in-land waters and marine and other aquatic species.

Fishery Aquatic Plants in Tonnes, Fishery Marine Fish catch in Tonnes, Fishery Inland Waters Fish catch in Tonnes
Fishery Other (e.g. Aquatic mammals) in Tonnes

Not valued

Forestry

Units:
Industrial Roundwood (Certified/Non-Certified SFM) in kg
Wood Fuel incl. Pellets (Certified/Non-Certified SFM) in kg
Kapok Fruit in tonnes
Natural Gums in tonnes

Measures the extraction of forest-based products, including roundwood, wood, fuel, kapok fruit and natural gums.
Part of the indicator covered under Material.

Industrial Roundwood (Certified/Non-Certified SFM) in kg
Wood Fuel incl. Pellets (Certified/Non-Certified SFM) in kg
Kapok Fruit in tonnes
Natural Gums in tonnes

Not valued

Fossil Fuels

Units: Coal in tonnes
Natural Gas in Mio. m3
Oil shales in tonnes
Petroleum in tonnes

Captures extraction of non-renewable energy sources, contributing to energy use and GHG emissions.
Part of the indicator covered under Material.

Coal in tonnes
Natural Gas in 1,000,000m3
Oil shales in tonnes
Petroleum in tonnes

Not valued

Green House Gases (GHG)

Units:
CO₂-equivalent emissions in kg (CO₂e), societal value in USD

GHGs are measured according to their global warming potential (GWP), whereby CO2 is taken as a baseline and the GWP of other gases is measured relative to the same mass of CO2 (called CO2 equivalents, short CO2e).

Pollutants: Includes greenhouse gases as defined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment report

Applies the widely used concept of social costs of carbon (SCC), utilizing the DICE model developed by (Barrage & Nordhaus, 2024). The SCC measures the damage caused by emitting an additional ton of GHG into the atmosphere, taking into account the impacts across all future years. The SCC is calculated based on an assumed future emission trajectory and is derived via so called integrated assessment models which combine economic modelling with climate models.

Grazing

Unit: Biomass consumed by animals in tonnes

Measures the amount of plant biomass consumed by animals through grazing activities.

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Not valued

Invasive Alien Species

Units: Societal value in USD

Invasive alien species (IAS) are plants, animals, and microorganisms introduced, either intentionally or unintentionally, into regions where they are not native, affecting local ecosystems.

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The indicator covers only invasive alien plants, based on the cost of preventing biodiversity from declining – an abatement cost approach.

Biodiversity conservation costs: An estimation of the global value of invasive alien species recently published in Financing Nature was expressed as the total financial costs of managing IAS impacts globally.

Global impact factor: To derive the global impact factor for invasive alien plants, the total annual costs attributed to invasive plant species were first estimated. This was done by calculating the share of costs specifically caused by invasive plants.

Local adjustments: To adjust for local impacts, we assume that the number of threatened species by IAS per country, influenced by country size, correlates with the severity of biodiversity loss and associated costs

Land Use

Units: ha, societal value in USD

Land use describes the management and modification of a natural environment into a built environment including settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, managed woods, and urban environments.

Land Use Agriculture: Animal rearing, cereal grains, crops, oilseeds, paddyrice, plant-based fibres, sugarcane, & sugarbeet, vegetables, fruits & nuts, wheat
Land Use Forestry
Land Use Paved Land Use Total

Working capacity: Builds on (Swedish Life Cycle Center, 2015) EPS (2015) using (Steen, 2016). Paved surfaces cause an increase in temperature in densely populated areas. This effect, known as urban heat island effect, increases in combination with global warming.

Drinking water treatment costs: A second important driver of land use impact is the effect on drinking water. We obtain the elasticity of water production costs with respect to the different types of land use surrounding the water source from (Price & Heberling, 2020).

Biodiversity preservation costs: Lastly, we estimate the impact from land use on biodiversity costs based on (Deutz et al., 2020).

Material

Units: Tonnes, societal value in USD

Captures the extraction or use of specific raw materials, reflecting resource intensity and environmental footprint of economic activities. Includes metals, minerals, and other non-renewable resources.

Materials: Aluminium, Antimony, Arsenic, Asbestos, Baryte, Bauxite, Bentonite, Beryl, Bismuth, Boron, Cadmium, Cement, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Diamond, Diatomite, Feldspar, Fluorspar, Gallium, Germanium, Gold, Graphite, Gypsum, Indium, Iodine, Iron, Kaolin, Lead, Lignite, Lithium, Magnesite, Magnesium, Manganese,
Mercury, Mica, Molybdenum, Nickel, Niobium and Tantalum, Palladium, Perlite, Phosphate Rock, Platinum, Potash, Rare Earth, Rhenium, Rhodium, Salt, Selenium, Silicimanite, Silver, Strontium, Sulfur, Talc, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Vanadium, Vermiculite, Wollastonite, Zinc, Zirconium

The valuation approach applies the model by (Huppertz et al., 2019) to estimate the social cost of resource depletion by adjusting market prices with a correction factor that reflects societal discount rates, externalities, and intergenerational equity. It monetizes the hidden environmental and social costs of resource extraction, providing a socially optimal price that internalizes long-term sustainability considerations.

Primary Crops

Units: Tonnes

Measures the volume of raw agricultural crop output across a wide range of plant-based commodities. Reflects land use intensity, food production, and supply chain dependencies.
Captures only the physical quantity of crops produced across categories such as fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, fibers, oilseeds, and specialty crops.

Examples:

Fruits: Apples, Bananas, Grapes, Mangoes, Oranges

Vegetables: Tomatoes, Onions, Carrots, Spinach, Cucumbers

Grains (Cereals): Maize, Wheat, Rice, Barley, Sorghum

Legumes & Pulses: Lentils, Chickpeas, Soybeans, Cow Peas, Beans (Dry)

Oilseeds & Nuts: Sunflower Seed, Groundnuts, Almonds, Sesame Seed, Rapeseed

Fibers: Cotton Lint, Jute, Flax Fibre, Hemp Fibre

Spices & Condiments: Chillies, Pepper, Ginger, Cloves, Nutmeg

Specialty Crops: Tea, Coffee, Cocoa Beans, Tobacco Leaves, Vanilla

Not valued

Waste

Units: kg, societal value USD

Economic activities result in the generation of solid waste at almost all levels in the supply chain. Poor waste management contributes to climate change and air pollution, and directly affects our ecosystems.

Hazardous Waste:
Disposed: Incinerated, Landfill
Total (kg and USD – monetized)

Non-Hazardous Waste:
Disposed: Incinerated, Landfill
Recovered: Recycling or Downcycling

Total (kg and USD – monetized)
Overall: Waste Total (kg and USD)

The valuation of solid waste follows a mixed approach:

Air emission: The incineration of waste releases traditional air pollutants (NOx, SOx, PM2.5 and PM10) and in
the case of hazardous waste also dioxins and heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium,
mercury, nickel, lead). Valuation coefficients that express health damages are provided by (EXIOPOL Project Consortium, 2009).

GHG emissions: Arise from hazardous and non-hazardous waste and in both landfills, and incineration plants. While CO2 is the dominating GHG from incineration, landfills produce a large
amount of methane (CH4).

Disamenity: Adverse localised environmental outcomes of waste management sites include noise, odor, pests, and visual intrusion. To estimate the value of disamenity arising from living close to a waste management facility, the societal values of reduced housing prices are used as a proxy

Leachate: A type of fluid that percolates through the landfill and is generated from liquids
present in the waste or from outside water.

Water Consumption

Units: m³, societal value in USD

Global water systems feed a growing human population, provide sanitation, and foster blooming ecosystems. Draughts and unproportional withdrawal from that water cycle increase the stress on our water systems.

Blue water: Fresh surface and groundwater (rivers, lakes, aquifers) that can be withdrawn for human use.
Green water: Rainwater stored in soil and used directly by plants through evapotranspiration.

The valuation approach for consumption of blue water follows a three-step procedure: first, it quantifies economic damages from water scarcity using a global shadow price for agricultural water losses (5.89 USD/m³); second, it regionalizes this value through AWARE (Available WAter REmaining) scarcity factors to reflect local water availability; and third, it monetizes human health damages by converting local water-consumption-related Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) into monetary terms yielding country-specific valuation coefficients in USD/m³. The conversion applies a Value of Statistical Life (VSL) factor universally assumed at 200,000 USD/DALY, i.e. at the higher end of alternative estimates (Robinson et al., 2017; Schlander et al., 2017; Trautmann et al., 2021).

Water Pollution

Units: in kg, societal value in USD

Many economic activities cause pollution of freshwater through uncontrolled release of chemicals and other substances, if not well managed. These uncontrolled emitted substances can be distinguished in inorganic, organic, and nutrients. Controlled wastewater and its treatment are not considered in our valuation approach.

Pollutants: Antimony, Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Nickel, Nitrogen, PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons), Phosphorus, and Zinc.

(Steen, 2020) provides separate monetary valuations of the substances Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), and Mercury (Hg) which have an effect on water pollution to freshwater. In order to be able to monetize the impact of the additional substances mentioned above, we use the relations between the provided and calculated health related impacts of inorganics by (USEtox, 2015).