Footprints of the German bioeconomy

The research project SYMOBIO develops the scientific basis for a systemic monitoring of the bioeconomy in Germany, considering sustainability aspects on a national and international level.

The results of the first project phase (2017-2021) were published as part of the "Pilot Report on the Monitoring of the German Bioeconomy".

In this report, environmental footprints from production and consumption in Germany are an important tool for assessing different aspects of sustainability of the bio-economy.

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This website builds on the data published in the report and provides with the Data Explorer a tool for the analysis and visualization of the environmental footprints. All graphs are based on the data of the pilot report.

The website will be comprehensively expanded in terms of content in the course of the project phase (2022-2024) and the database updated with the research results.

The Data Explorer allows you to examine all the data underlying the footprints.
Please note that only the landscape view is useful on smartphones.

Read more …

5,3 t/a

Mass of biogenic primary resources (except wood), that are taken from nature for an average German citizen (2017).

5.3 tons correspond to over 2,100 potato nets of 2.5 kg each.

Personal consumption worldwide is about 2.8 t/a. Expressed in per capita units, in Germany about 3.2 t/a are taken from nature.

1,1 m³/a

"Raw wood" logged in Germany and elsewhere for the production or consumption of wood-based products (2017).

In compact form, this corresponds to a trunk about 60 cm in diameter and 4 metres long. Made of softwood, it would weigh approx. 460 kg, made of hardwood approx. 640 kg.

The EU average personal consumption was 0.51 m³/a in 2017. Globally, it was 0.5 m³/a.

0,62 ha

Arable and pasture land occupied domestically and abroad for the consumption of goods in Germany (2015).

A football field has the area of 0.71 ha (1 ha = 10,000 m² = 100 m x 100 m).

The global agricultural land footprint was 0.61 ha/a in 2015.

192 m³/a

Global water withdrawal for crop irrigation for consumption in Germany (2015).

This value corresponds to the personal water consumption of around 1,500 days or almost 4.3 years (national average 123 l/d in 2017).

The global average of water withdrawals for irrigation was 263 m³/person in 2015.

1,93 t CO₂-Äquivalent/a

Globally emitted greenhouse gases (currently excluding emissions from land use change) associated with the production of biogenic goods consumed in Germany (2017).

This corresponds to the CO₂ emissions of an average car newly registered in 2017 for a driving distance of over 16,000 km.

Global average per person: 1.04 t CO₂-equivalent/a.