Ecological Budget UK is one of the Biffaward funded mass balance projects. It seeks to provide powerful & comparable information together with a software tool REAP to inform decisions aimed at reducing our environmental impacts.
Ecological Budget UK aims to enable the development of more sustainable policies & decision making on resource consumption. The project will deliver a detailed mass balance, material flow analysis and Ecological Footprint of the UK by English region and devolved country. The project will ensure that existing and new regional / devolved material flow analyses and footprint results are updated, calibrated to a standard baseline year (2001) and presented in a transparent way.
The outputs of the Ecological Budget UK project between June 05 and March 06 are as follows:
Development and Management of a National Steering Group
Sustainable Production and Consumption (SCP)
Network & Website
REAP Technical Reports – Every 3 Months
Ecological Budget UK Report : A complete set of national mass balance, material flow and footprint accounts by English Region and Devolved Country.
Regional Pilot Projects Reports
North East (Local to Regional) – Focus on Sunderland City.
West Midlands (Regional to Local) – Focus on regional strategies and homes/communities.
Anticipated project achievements
Estabishment of a linked Sustainable Production and consumption network and website.
Ecological Footprint adopted as an indicator for sustainable development for each devolved country and English region.
Communities able to make decisions at local level to reduce their global Ecological Footprint
Resource and Energy Analysis Programme (REAP)
All the data and results will be included in a web-based resource accounting software tool, REAP (Resource Energy Analysis Program), which will be available FROM November 2005. The tool can devise scenarios to inform policy (spending review, sustainability strategies, etc).
Key indicators such as Total Material Requirement and CO2 of consumption,as well as the Ecological Footprint, will be generated.
More information can be found at www.ecologicalbudget.org.uk