Data & Tools
We develop databases, models, and visualisation tools to support science-based policy development for a sustainable use of natural resources. Committed to an open science approach, our data and tools are freely available.
Databases & Models
We create databases and accounts on global resource use for the national and sectoral level and develop models to trace resource flows through the global economy, to link final consumption and often distant environmental pressures and related impacts.Database on Global Coal and Metal Mining
Jasansky, S., Lieber, M., Giljum, S. et al. An open database on global coal and metal mine production. Sci Data 10, 52 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-01965-y
- Jasansky, S., Lieber, M., Giljum, S., & Maus, V. (2023). An open database on global coal and metal mine production. Scientific data, 10(1), Article 52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-01965-y
- Wegner Maus, V., da Silva, D., da Rosa, R., Gutschlhofer, J., Giljum, S., Gass, S., Luckeneder, S., Lieber, M., & McCallum, I. (2022). Global-scale mining polygons (Version 2). https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.942325
EXIOBASE
Stadler, K., Wood, R., Bulavskaya, T., Södersten, C.-J., Simas, M., Schmidt, S., Usubiaga, A., Acosta-Fernández, J., Kuenen, J., Bruckner, M., Giljum, S., Lutter, S., Merciai, S., Schmidt, J.H., Theurl, M.C., Plutzar, C., Kastner, T., Eisenmenger, N., Erb, K.-H., de Koning, A., Tukker, A., 2018. EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output Tables. Journal of Industrial Ecology 22, 502-515, doi:10.1111/jiec.12715
- Tukker, A., Wood, R., & Giljum, S. (2018). Relevance of Global Multi Regional Input Output Databases for Global Environmental Policy: Experiences with EXIOBASE 3. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(3), 482-484. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12767
- Tukker, A., de Koning, A., Owen, A., Lutter, F. S., Bruckner, M., Giljum, S., Stadler, K., Wood, R., & Hoekstra, R. (2018). Towards Robust, Authoritative Assessments of Environmental Impacts Embodied in Trade: Current State and Recommendations. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(3), 585 - 598. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12716
- Tukker, A., Giljum, S., & Wood, R. (2018). Recent Progress in Assessment of Resource Efficiency and Environmental Impacts Embodied in Trade: An Introduction to this Special Issue. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(3), 489 - 501. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12736
- Wieland, H., Giljum, S., Bruckner, M., Owen, A. E., & Wood, R. (2018). Structural production layer decomposition: a new method to measure differences between MRIO databases for footprint assessments. Economic Systems Research, 30(1), 61 - 84. https://doi.org/10.1080/09535314.2017.1350831
- Wood, R., Stadler, K., Simas, M., Bulavskaya, T., Giljum, S., Lutter, F. S., & Tukker, A. (2018). Growth in Environmental Footprints and Environmental Impacts Embodied in Trade: Resource Efficiency Indicators from EXIOBASE3. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(3), 553 - 564. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12735
- Stadler, K., Wood, R., Bulavskaya, T., Södersten, C.-J., Simas, M., Schmidt, S., Kunen, J., Bruckner, M., Giljum, S., Lutter, F. S., Acosta-Fernández, J., Merciai, S., Schmidt, J. H., Theurl, M. C., Plutzar, C., Eisenmenger, N., Erb, K.-H., de Koning, A., & Tukker, A. (2018). EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output Tables. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(3), 502 - 515. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12715
- Tukker, A., Bulavskaya, T., Giljum, S., de Koning, A., Lutter, F. S., Simas, M., Stadler, K., & Wood, R. (2016). Environmental and resource footprints in a global context: Europe's structural deficit in resource endowments. Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, 40, 171 - 181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.07.002
- Giljum, S., Wieland, H., Lutter, F. S., Bruckner, M., Wood, R., Tukker, A., & Stadler, K. (2016). Identifying priority areas for European resource policies: a MRIO-based material footprint assessment. Journal of Economic Structures, 5(1), 1 - 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40008-016-0048-5
- Lutter, F. S., Pfister, S., Giljum, S., Wieland, H., & Mutel, C. (2016). Spatially explicit assessment of water embodied in European trade: A product-level multi-regional input-output analysis. Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, 38, 171 - 182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.03.001
- Wood, R., Stadler, K., Bulavskaya, T., Lutter, F. S., Giljum, S., de Koning, A., Kuenen, J., Schütz, H., Acosta-Fernandez, J., Usubiaga, A., Simas, M., Ivanova, O., Schmidt, J., Merciai, S., & Tukker, A. (2015). Global sustainability accounting - developing EXIOBASE for multi-regional footprint analysis. Sustainability, 7(1), 138 - 163. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7010138
- Tukker, A., de Koning, A., Wood, R., Hawkins, T., Lutter, F. S., Acosta, J., Rueda-Cantuche, J.-M., Bouwmeester, M., Oosterhaven, J., & Drosdowski, T. (2013). EXIOPOL Development and illustratvie analyses of detailed global MR EE SUT(IOT). Economic Systems Research, 25, 50 - 70.
- Tukker, A., Poliakov, E., Heijungs, R., Hawkins, T., Neuwahl, F., M. Rueda-Cantuche, J., Giljum, S., Moll, S., Oosterhaven, J., & Bouwmeester, M. (2009). Towards a global multi-regional environmentally extended input-output database. Ecological Economics, 68(7), 1928 - 1937.
FABIO
The Food and Agriculture Biomass Input-Output (FABIO) model revolutionizes the way we analyze global biomass flows and embodied land use across supply chains. Spanning around 190 countries and covering 120-130 products from 1986 to 2022, it bridges critical gaps in understanding the environmental impacts of our food and agriculture systems. Unlike traditional models that rely solely on monetary data, FABIO integrates physical data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, capturing crop production, trade, and use in physical units. Enriched with data on technical and metabolic conversion efficiencies, this results in a robust, balanced input-output framework. Where physical data is limited, FABIO incorporates monetary data from EXIOBASE 3, ensuring coverage of the entire supply chain. Enabling analyses such as the biodiversity impacts of dietary shifts or consequences of supply chain disruptions, FABIO supports the design of sustainable and resilient food systems.
Bruckner, Martin; Wood, Richard; Moran, Daniel; Kuschnig, Nikolas; Wieland, Hanspeter; Maus, Victor; Börner, Jan (2019): FABIO-The Construction of the Food and Agriculture Biomass Input-Output Model. In: Environmental Science & Technology 53 (19), S. 11302–11312. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b03554
- Haddad, S., Escobar, N., Bruckner, M., & Britz, W. (2024). Subsidizing extensive cattle production in the European Union has major implications for global agricultural trade and climate change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 448, Article 141074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141074
- Vanham, D., Bruckner, M., Schwarzmueller, F., Schyns, J., & Kastner, T. (2023). Multi-model assessment identifies livestock grazing as a major contributor to variation in European Union land and water footprints. Nature Food, 4(7), 575-584. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00797-8
- Bruckner, M., Kreimel, J., & Trsek, S. (2023). Ernährungspyramide 2.0. Für eine gesunde und nachhaltige Ernährung in Österreich.
- Laber, M., Klimek, P., Bruckner, M., Yang, L., & Thurner, S. (2023). Shock propagation from the Russia–Ukraine conflict on international multilayer food production network determines global food availability. Nature Food, 4(6), 508-517. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00771-4
- Laber, M., Klimek, P., Bruckner, M., Yang, L., & Thurner, S. (2022). Shock propagation in international multilayer food-production network determines global food availability: the case of the Ukraine war. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.01846
- Sun, Z., Behrens, P., Tukker, A., Bruckner, M., & Scherer, L. (2022). Global Human Consumption Threatens Key Biodiversity Areas. Environmental Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c00506
- Sun, Z., Scherer, L., Tukker, A., Spawn-Lee, S. A., Bruckner, M., Gibbs, H. K., & Behrens, P. (2022). Dietary change in high-income nations alone can lead to substantial double climate dividend. Nature Food, 3, 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00431-5
- Sun, Z., Behrens, P., Tukker, A., Bruckner, M., & Scherer, L. (2022). Shared and environmentally just responsibility for global biodiversity loss. Ecological Economics, 194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107339
- Ye, Q., Bruckner, M., Wang, R., Schyns, J. F., Zhuo, L., Yang, L., Su, H., & Krol, M. S. (2022). A hybrid multi-regional input-output model of China: Integrating the physical agricultural biomass and food system into the monetary supply chain. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105981
- Helander, H., Bruckner, M., Leipold, S., Petit-Boix, A., & Bringezu, S. (2021). Eating healthy or wasting less? Reducing resource footprints of food consumption. Environmental Research Letters, 16(5), 054033. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe673
- Dorninger, C., von Wehrden, H., Krausmann, F., Bruckner, M., Feng, K., Hubacek, K., Erb, K.-H., & Abson, D. J. (2021). The effect of industrialization and globalization on domestic land-use: A global resource footprint perspective. Global Environmental Change, 69, 102311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102311
- Frey, V., & Bruckner, M. (2021). The global carbon footprint of Austria's consumption of agricultural (food and non-food) products. Ecological Economic Papers No. 41/2021 https://doi.org/10.57938/7cd7ee70-111e-4784-80e9-84965bf2a371
- Bruckner, M., Wood, R., Moran, D., Kuschnig, N., Wieland, H., & Wegner Maus, V. (2019). FABIO - The Construction of the Food and Agriculture Biomass Input-Output Model. Ecological Economic Papers No. 27 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03554
- Bruckner, M., Wood, R., Moran, D., Kuschnig, N., Wieland, H., Wegner Maus, V., & Börner, J. (2019). FABIO—The Construction of the Food and Agriculture Biomass Input–Output Model. Environmental Science and Technology, 53(19), 11302 - 11312. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03554
Global Energy Flow Model
Global Iron and Steel Flow Model
Wieland, H., Lenzen, M., Geschke, A., Fry, J., Wiedenhofer, D., Eisenmenger, N., Schenk, J., Giljum, S., 2021. The PIOLab: Building global physical input–output tables in a virtual laboratory. Journal of Industrial Ecology 26, 683-703. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13215.
- Wieland, H., Lenzen, M., Geschke, A., Fry, J., Wiedenhofer, D., Eisenmenger, N., Schenk, J., & Giljum, S. (2021). The PIOLab: Building global physical input–output tables in a virtual laboratory. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 1 - 21. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13215
- Wieland, H., Lenzen, M., Geschke, A., Fry, J., Wiedenhofer, D., Eisenmenger, N., Schenk, J., & Giljum, S. (2020). The PIOLab: Building global physical input-output tables in a virtual laboratory. WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. Ecological Economic Papers No. 36 https://doi.org/10.57938/0905cf57-48d1-41f6-ab14-1df5ae92d5d3
Global Mining Land Use Data
Maus, V., Giljum, S., da Silva, D.M., Gutschlhofer, J., da Rosa, R.P., Luckeneder, S., Gass, S.L.B., Lieber, M., McCallum, I., 2022. An update on global mining land use. Scientific Data 9 (1), 1–11. DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01547-4.
- Giljum, S., Maus, V., Kuschnig, N., Luckeneder, S., Tost, M., Sonter, L. J., & Bebbington, A. J. (2022). A pantropical assessment of deforestation caused by industrial mining. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(38), Article e2118273119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2118273119
- Wegner Maus, V., Giljum, S., da Silva, D., Gutschlhofer, J., da Rosa, R., Luckeneder, S., Gass, S., Lieber, M., & McCallum, I. (2022). An update on global mining land use. Scientific data, 9(433), 1 - 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01547-4
- Wegner Maus, V., Giljum, S., Gutschlhofer, J., da Silva, D. M., Probst, M., Gass, S. L. B., Luckeneder, S., Lieber, M., & McCallum, I. (2020). A global-scale data set of mining areas. Scientific data, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-00624-w
GLORIA
The Global Resource Input-Output Assessment (GLORIA) database is a Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) database developed by the University of Sydney for the UN International Resource Panel (UN IRP). GLORIA covers over 160 regions and 120 economic sectors, spanning the years 1990 to 2024 and allows tracking resource flows and environmental impacts across supply chains. It builds upon the UN IRP’s Global Material Flows Database and functions as the underlying MRIO database for the Sustainable Consumption and Production Hotspots Analysis Tool (SCP-HAT). We provide, harmonize, and update a wide range of environmental extensions for GLORIA, which enable tracing and comparing different environmental pressures and related impacts occurring at the different stages of even very complex supply chains, and allocating them to the country of final consumption or sectoral production.
Lenzen, M., Geschke, A., West, J., Fry, J., Malik, A., Giljum, S., Milà i Canals, L., Piñero, P., Lutter, S., Wiedmann, T., Li, M., Sevenster, M., Potočnik, J., Teixeira, I., van Voore, M., Nansai, K., Schandl, H., 2021. Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12. Nat. Sustain. 112, 6271. 10.1038/s41893-021-00811-6
- Malik, A., Lenzen, M., Li, M., Mora, C., Carter, S., Giljum, S., Lutter, S., & Gómez-Paredes, J. (2024). Polarizing and equalizing trends in international trade and Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability, 7(10), 1359-1370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01397-5
- Lenzen, M., Geschke, A., West, J., Fry, J., Malik, A., Giljum, S., Milà i Canals, L., Piñero, P., Lutter, F. S., Wiedmann, T., Li, M., Sevenster, M., Potočnik, J., Teixeira, I., Van Voore, M., Nansai, K., & Schandl, H. (2021). Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12. Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00811-6
IRP Global Material Flows Database
UNEP IRP 2025. Global Material Flows Database. United Nations Environment Programme, International Resource Panel. Available at: https://www.resourcepanel.org/global-material-flows-database
- Schandl, H., Marcos‐Martinez, R., West, J., Miatto, A., Lutter, S., Lieber, M., Giljum, S., Lenzen, M., Li, M., Wang, H., Tanikawa, H., Krausmann, F., Eisenmenger, N., & Fischer‐Kowalski, M. (2024). Global material flows and resource productivity: The 2024 update. Journal of Industrial Ecology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13593
- Schandl, H., Fischer-Kowalski, M., West, J., Giljum, S., Dittrich, M., Eisenmenger, N., Geschke, A., Lieber, M., Wieland, H., Schaffartzik, A., Krausmann, F., Gierlinger, S., Hosking, K., Lenzen, M., Tanikawa, H., Miatto, A., & Fishman, T. (2017). Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity: Forty Years of Evidence. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(4), 827 - 838. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12626
Visualisation tools
GRU’s visualisation tools aim at supporting the interpretation of complex scientific data and socio-economic interrelationships to ultimately foster science-based policy design.FABIO Viewer
The FABIO Viewer is an open-source visualization tool powered by the hybrid FABIO v1.0 model, offering an intuitive way to explore biomass flows from production regions to consuming regions and vice versa.
FABIO v1.0 provides comprehensive multi-regional physical supply-use and input-output tables, covering agriculture and forestry flows as well as embodied land use across global supply chains, spanning 191 countries and 130 products from 1986 to 2013. This powerful tool enables users to delve into the intricate connections between production, trade, and consumption, revealing the environmental and resource implications of global biomass use.
The figures generated by the FABIO Viewer are licensed under CC BY 4.0.
WU Vienna (2019): Visualizations based upon the hybrid FABIO model, v1.0. Vienna University of Economics and Business. Online available at: fineprint.global/fabio-viewer (licensed under CC BY 4.0)
FINEPRINT Viewer
WU Vienna (2023): FINEPRINT Viewer. Geospatial visualisation of global mining data. https://www.fineprint.global/viewer
- Jasansky, S., Lieber, M., Giljum, S., & Maus, V. (2023). An open database on global coal and metal mine production. Scientific data, 10(1), Article 52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-01965-y
- Giljum, S., Maus, V., Kuschnig, N., Luckeneder, S., Tost, M., Sonter, L. J., & Bebbington, A. J. (2022). A pantropical assessment of deforestation caused by industrial mining. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(38), Article e2118273119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2118273119
- Wegner Maus, V., Giljum, S., da Silva, D., Gutschlhofer, J., da Rosa, R., Luckeneder, S., Gass, S., Lieber, M., & McCallum, I. (2022). An update on global mining land use. Scientific data, 9(433), 1 - 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01547-4
- Wegner Maus, V., Giljum, S., Gutschlhofer, J., da Silva, D. M., Probst, M., Gass, S. L. B., Luckeneder, S., Lieber, M., & McCallum, I. (2020). A global-scale data set of mining areas. Scientific data, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-00624-w
SCP-HAT
UNEP (2024). SCP-HAT database v3.0. UN Life Cycle Initiative, UN One Planet Network, UN International Resource Panel. Paris. https://scp-hat.org