About

About the Global Metabolism Initiative

The GMI aims to bridge global monitoring and local decision-making through open data.

Year on year structure

Every year, the GMI will add more data into our publicly accessible tool, and dive into the critical flows and impacts of more and more sectors.

The GMI is action-oriented, going from big data and complex systems – their dynamics, drivers, and barriers – into implementable short-, medium- and long-term transition pathways.

Recommendations and roadmaps support stakeholders across industry, society, and policy to prioritize and take the urgent action needed to transition our global economy to a fundamentally sustainable state in the short timeframe we have left.

In the first year, we are focusing on mapping and understanding the bioeconomy: all organic materials produced by humans. All the food, wood, wool and cotton, all the paper, all the bioenergy in the world.

Learn more about the bioeconomy

In the first year, the GMI will answer critical questions such as:

  • How much biomass is consumed in our global economy on an annual basis?
  • How has global consumption of biomass changed from 2000 to 2020?
  • What is the current and projected cross-sectoral demand for biomass, considering energy, food, chemicals, textiles, the built environment, and manufacturing/consumer goods?
  • What effects will factors such as population growth and climate change have on biomass productivity in coming years?
  • What new sources of biomass are we increasingly using, and what are the associated risks with these new sources?
  • What risks and impacts are associated with projected rise in demand and use of biomass?
  • What sector-specific leverage points and interventions can increase the circularity and regenerative nature of the global bioeconomy?

The GMI team

GMI partners