Identifying resource productivity for five key economic sectors in the South West region

This research paper, published by the Stockholm Environment Institute in 2008, provides an environmental scoping study of five key economic sectors in the South West region of England. Using the Triple Bottom Line (BL3) software tool, the study estimates the carbon and ecological footprints of these sectors, benchmarking their resource productivity against UK national averages to inform regional debates on environmental limits.

• Across all five analysed sectors, the largest single source of CO2 emissions is linked to direct on-site operations of manufacturing and services. For indirect emissions, the majority are generated by the sector's direct suppliers.
• The SW Food and Drink sector recorded the highest overall CO2 emissions among the five sectors, followed by Business Services, Transport Equipment manufacture, Motor Vehicle production, and Hotels and Catering services.
• When measuring impact intensities per £ spent, the SW Motor Vehicle production sector was the most efficient compared to the UK average, while Business Services were the least efficient.
• In terms of CO2 emitted per £m of Gross Value Added (GVA), the SW Motor Vehicle manufacture sector was the least efficient, exceeding the UK average by 185%. Business Services were 95% less efficient, Hotels and Catering services 35%, Transport Equipment manufacture 5%, and Food and Drink production 1%.
• In the SW Transport Equipment sector, 87% of on-site emissions are attributed to electricity use specifically for the manufacture of aerospace equipment.
• The SW Motor Vehicles sector performed better than the UK average for both ecological and carbon footprints per £ spent, despite its energy consumption being 10% higher than the national average.
• For the SW Hotels and Catering sector, the fishing industry was the largest contributor to the ecological footprint, while the sector itself caused the highest CO2 emissions in its supply chain.
• In the SW Food and Drink sector, the highest total CO2 emissions occurred on-site, followed by agriculture and other food and drink sectors. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions were almost entirely linked to livestock production.
• The SW Business Services sector's highest CO2 emissions were caused by the sector itself, primarily due to on-site electricity consumption, followed by road transport services and electricity producers.
• The study concludes that efficiency gains in industrial sectors may be offset by increased final demand for resources in the region, as the Regional Economic Strategy (RES) prioritises infrastructure projects and lacks CO2 reduction targets.

APA

Frey, S., & Wiedmann, T. (2008). Identifying resource productivity for five key economic sectors in the South West region. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Future/identifying_resource_productivity_southwest_region.pdf

Chicago

Frey, Sibylle, and Thomas Wiedmann. Identifying resource productivity for five key economic sectors in the South West region. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2008. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Future/identifying_resource_productivity_southwest_region.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Frey |first1=Sibylle |last2=Wiedmann |first2=Thomas |title=Identifying resource productivity for five key economic sectors in the South West region |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2008 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Future/identifying_resource_productivity_southwest_region.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{frey2008identifying, author = {Frey, Sibylle and Wiedmann, Thomas}, title = {{Identifying resource productivity for five key economic sectors in the South West region}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2008}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Future/identifying_resource_productivity_southwest_region.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }