The EU’s consumption footprint (Indicator)

Globally and from a resource use perspective, more than 40% of the impacts from pollution (based on the proxy of particulate matter impacts on human health) come from the extraction and first processing of material resources; namely, metals, non-metallic minerals, fossil fuels and biomass (including agricultural production) (UNEP, 2024). Impacts accumulate in successive stages of the production chain of goods, as well as when goods reach the end-of-life stage.

The EU consumption footprint model (see e.g. EC, 2024) assesses the environmental impacts from EU households’ consumption of 164 representative products, grouped in five areas (food, housing types, mobility, household goods and appliances). The model accounts for the whole production chain, whether from domestic EU-produced goods or those imported into the EU. Likewise, it takes into account resource use and resulting impacts, whether these occur within the EU or in third countries. The EU consumption footprint indicator is used to monitor how impacts evolve, jointly addressing simultaneously pressures on air, soils and water, and related impacts. It does so using the 16 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) impact categories reported in the Environmental Footprint impact assessment method (version 3.1). These include polluting impacts such as toxicity, particulate matter and eutrophication.

Previous and the most recent EU consumption footprint results show that several of the EU’s pollution impacts from consumption (e.g. toxicity and particulate matter) exceed planetary boundaries (EC, 2024a). In a global context, consumption from the geographical region of Europe is responsible for 9% of global total (particulate matter) impacts from pollution (UNEP, 2024; Cavernard, 2024). Figure 1 shows that the EU consumption footprint per capita for 2022 exceed by several times the planetary boundaries for various pollution-related impact categories (freshwater eco-toxicity  and particulate matter). The results also show that the EU is a key contributor to climate change and resource consumer of fossil fuels, minerals and metals. Other pollutant-based impact categories per capita for the EU-27 show rather better trends, with marine eutrophication being the only impact category close to the limit of the ‘safe operating space’.

The total EU consumption footprint per capita (considering all impact categories aggregated to a single weighted score) is rising, showing a +9% increase between 2010 and 2022. There was a brief decline during 2019-2020, but this can be attributed to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (Sanye Mengual et al., 2024). This indicates that the EU’s high volume of consumption exerts a strong influence overall and signifies that the EU places part of the burden of environmental impacts from its consumption patterns on third countries, via imports. This relationship is also evident in trade figures; the EU’s reliance on some imported goods, such as crude oil and critical raw materials, is over 90% of total EU consumption, and it can also be high for many manufactured products (Eurostat, 2024).  

A similar pattern between 2010 and 2022 can be seen when zooming into the pollution impact categories of the EU consumption footprint (as illustrated in Figure 2), which includes impacts on human health (such as particulate matter or human toxicity) and on the environment. Total impacts from pollution showed an increase of +8% over this period, including a 5% drop between 2019 and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by an equal increase in the period 2020 to 2022. Pollution impacts overwhelmingly come from food (57%), housing (15%), and mobility (15%), which together make up over 85% of the total pollution footprint. Consumption domains maintained their relative shares in a generally stable trend during 2010-2022.

Figure 2.Total EU Consumption Footprint 2010-2022, and by pollution-related domain (both weighted and normalised to an aggregate single score)

Notes: Pollution-related impacts cover acidification, ecotoxicity (freshwater), eutrophication (freshwater), eutrophication (marine), eutrophication (terrestrial), human toxicity (cancer), human toxicity (non-cancer), particulate matter and photochemical ozone formation. The total consumption footprint figures (top line) also include climate change, resource use (fossil, minerals and metals, water use, land use and ionising radiation). Source: Pasqualino et al. (2024).

Key factors influencing the EU consumption footprint include increases in the EU’s annual consumption patterns and resistance to the adaptations that would be required to make sustainable  the systems providing people with housing, mobility, energy and more (e.g. in production efficiency, decarbonisation of energy systems,  or changes in mobility modalities and food consumption patterns).

EU consumption projections show a relatively high increase in future demand for materials in the EU (EC, 2024b, EC 2023a) [see indicator Domestic material consumption by main material category].This may be due to material needs required for the energy transition (EC, 2020; EC, 2023b). EU consumption is therefore expected to remain a significant source of pollution for both the EU and elsewhere. This is also depicted by EU consumption footprint projections [link to section “Pollution from consumption” in the synthesis report].

Circular economy measures could be leveraged and scaled up, building on existing initiatives (e.g. Ecodesign for Sustainable Products, right to repair) in order to reduce the negative effect on overall living standards. Targets on resource use and circularity, consistent with the EU’s agendas on human health, climate, zero pollution and biodiversity, could guide such a transition towards more sustainable resource use, thereby limiting the negative effect on overall living standards.

Please consult the relevant indicators and signals below for a more comprehensive overview on the topic.