Illuminating Sustainable Pathways with M

Material flow analysis (MFA) is a foundational tool for aiding decisions concerned with the physical aspects of sustainability. MFA fills crucial data gaps on the state of society’s resource use and provides insights such as inefficiencies in urban systems, misallocation of useful products into landfill, risks in resource security, and business opportunities for enterprises. 

These qualities make MFA a premiere tool for enabling the transition to a circular economy at the local, regional, national, and global levels. 

As a topic embraced by the International Resource Panel of the United Nations Environment Program, MFA will equip students with a systems view and a versatile skill that will be instrumental for working on many sustainability topics, including a connection with advanced life cycle assessments. Students may particularly be fascinated by the ability of MFA to derive the material footprints of nations and to inform environmental policies. The addition of an MFA course to the Sustainability Management curriculum will contribute greatly to the program’s track record of producing students that “transform organizations by formulating and implementing the sustainability strategies necessary to compete and win in the 21st century.” 

The skill is sought after especially in the European Union, where annual reporting of material accounts by member states is mandated. There is also increasing demand of MFA practitioners from local entities, most recently the municipal governments of Portland and Copenhagen, in support of their circular economy and sustainability initiatives.