Key sectors and Norway’s circularity baseline

Creating an economy-wide picture of the Norwegian economy reveals the key trends and hotspots shaping the country’s circularity baseline. By breaking down this picture into specific sectors and industries, we can pinpoint the main drivers of material consumption and GHG emissions. As the analysis shows, there is often a positive correlation between material-intensive and carbon-intensive sectors, illustrating the intertwined nature of resource use and emissions. Understanding these trends requires looking at how materials flow through the economy. Resources are first extracted, then moved through intermediate sectors, and eventually become finished products or are used for services. For example, iron ore is extracted, processed into steel, and ultimately incorporated, alongside other materials, into finished goods such as electronics, vehicles, or infrastructure.

Above image illustrates the material and carbon footprints associated with these final products and services, organised into what we refer to as ‘sectors of final demand’. It highlights the distribution of final raw material consumption and GHG emissions across seven sectors of final demand, each representing a societal need: Housing and Infrastructure, Services, Mobility, Nutrition, Manufactured Goods, Healthcare and Education, and Communication. This breakdown provides insights into the ultimate destinations of materials within these sectors, offering a clear picture of the interplay between resource use and societal demands. It is important to note that the emissions shown here exclude emissions from households, such as those from private transport and heating, which are instead allocated to ‘direct emissions’.