Material flow analysis and resource management

Welcome to the Material Flow Analysis and Resource Management Moodle page 

This is the main repository of information and content for the course

SCHEDULE
Lectures: 8:15 - 10:00
Exercises: 13:15 - 14:00
Project sessions: 14:15 - 15:00

Course room: GR A3 30
Computer lab: CM 1 111

Please use the Forum if you have any questions.

Please find below some interesting MFA literature and inspiring material we highly recommend you to have a look at.

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Lecturer: Dr. Francisco Martin del Campo

Guest lecturer: Florian Kohler, Swiss Federal Office (FSO) - Economy-wide Material flow accounts and their extension to circular flows in Switzerland
Florian Kohler is head of the natural resources and territory group at the Federal statistical office FSO. This group produces statistics in the field of material flow accounts, economic accounts for the primary sector, analyses of agriculture and food, and territorial analyses. For more than 15 years he is responsible for the production and development of economy-wide material flow accounts for Switzerland, and in this context has also represented Switzerland in various groups and task forces of Eurostat, the European Statistical Office. Before working at the FSO, Florian Kohler obtained his PhD in ecology on a joint project between the University of Neuchâtel and the former ECOS lab of EPFL, and did a post-doc in the Netherlands at the University of Wageningen in the field of conservation biology.


CONTENT

EW-MFA: Definitions
Main material categories in EW-MFA
EW-MFA indicators
Data sources
How to perform an EW-MFA
The Swiss context: Environmental accounts at FSO

EW-MFA country comparisons

PROJECT SESSION
Project definition, goals and measures: Relevant policies interactive session
Short project proposal

Cross-country comparisons through EW-MFA
EW-MFA and adaptability to other boundaries
Example of Swiss Cantons
Validation of methodology and insights

MFA using Python

PROJECT SESSION
System and its bounderies: geographical, temporal, material
Identification of key MFA components

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Lecturer: Dr. Francisco Martin del Campo

CONTENT

EXERCISE
Social metabolic indicators and risks 

PROJECT SESSION
Strategies for data collection, data sources, data gaps, data assumptions

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Guest lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stefan Pauliuk, University of Freiburg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Stefan Pauliuk is a globally recognized sustainability scholar working on future material demand, circular economy potentials, and transformation pathways for society‘s metabolism. His work focussed on the built environment: buildings, transport, infrastructure, industry, and energy supply, from cities to the global level, and for major materials (steel, cement, wood, copper, plastics) and technology metals. Furthermore, he develops indicators, methods, models, and data infrastructure for industrial ecology and socio-metabolic research. He is professor for sustainable material and energy flow management at the Faculty for Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Germany, where he leads the research group “Industrial Ecology Freiburg”.

CONTENT
Principles and examples of Dynamic MFA
Practical approach to Dynamic MFA
Types of Dynamic models
Final reflection

EXERCISE
Dynamic MFA

PROJECT SESSION
Dynamics of the system: past & future trends / building your project's MFA diagram

For those who are interested in developing the project along the lines of dynamic MFA, here is some material (that I will also put on the moodle in the Dynamic MFA week):

• GitHub - stefanpauliuk/dynamic_stock_model: Python class for dynamic stock modelling : python class for dynamic stock modelling. You can install it using the pip install dynamic_stock_modelling command (in a terminal or run it once in your notebook). This has been developed by Stefan Pauliuk a few years ago and is no longer maintained but works well for our project. For more involved MFA projects, scientists tend to use ODYM (Open Dynamic Material Systems Model - ODYM Documentation), but the learning curve is more difficult.
• You can find usage examples at https://www.industrialecology.uni-freiburg.de/teaching under the section “Dynamic Material Flow Analysis”.

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Guest lecturer: Dr. Guillaume Massard, CEO of the Foundation for Industrial Sites (FTI) in Geneva
Dr. Massard is a Swiss environmental engineer and holds a PhD in industrial ecology from the University of Lausanne. He co-founded the consulting firm Sofies SA (now DSS+) in 2008, where he served as Scientific Director for eight years, leading participatory projects and developing innovative resource efficiency solutions. He later headed the Building, Energy & Territory unit at BG Consulting Engineers (now WSP). From 2011 to 2020, he lectured at EPFL and was a member of the Swiss Technology Fund’s Guarantee Committee. Since 2020, he has been CEO of the Geneva Industrial Land Foundation (www.ftige.ch), managing industrial and artisanal zones in the canton of Geneva.

CONTENT
Overview of industrial zone in Geneva
Missions and services
EcoParc and zero carbon industrial zones

EXERCISE
Discussion on application of dynamic MFA

PROJECT SESSION
Spatial perspective & data availability

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Guest lecturer: Dr. Vincent Moreau, EPFL
Dr. Vincent Moreau is a senior researcher in environmental and data sciences. For the past 12 years, he has been leading research work in energy efficiency and environmental assessment of economic activities. A mathematician and ecological economist by training, Vincent has expertise in input output analysis (IOA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) as well as the evaluation of policy measures at multiple scales. He regularly lectures in material flow analysis (MFA) at EPFL and MINES ParisTech PSL University.

CONTENT
Understand the use and contenf of Input-Output Tables (IOT)
Compare process MFA and Input.Output Analysis (IOA)
Learn how to apply IOA
Understand Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA)

EXERCISE
a. Exercise with IOA
b. IOA and MRIO - Notebook 4 and 5 

PROJECT SESSION
Open session with reflections & discussion

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Lecturer: Dr. Francisco Martin del Campo

CONTENT
Different spatial approaches
Temporal analysis
Spatial stock analysis

EXERCISE
Software Quantum GIS linked to case study

PROJECT SESSION
Open session, reflection on the scope of the system

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Lecturer: Dr. Francisco Martin del Campo
Guest lecturer: PhD candidate, Giulia Frigo

CONTENT
Quasi-dynamic MFA and application to Critical Raw Materials
MFA + integration of survey data

EXERCISE

a. Overview of different data  visualizations

PROJECT SESSION

Group consultations, reflections on difficulties. How to present results / tables / figures

Lecturer: Prof. Claudia Binder
Guest lecturer: Dr. Martyn Wakemann, lecturer and researcher at EPFL (Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science)

CONTENT
Understand MFA as a tool for bridging disciplines
The Human Environment System Framework
From Material Flow Analysis to Material Flow Management
Know how MFA can be combined with social science approaches
Understand how MFA has been applied in industrial processes
Case study: Industrial decarbonization of hard-to-abate materials

EXERCISE
Past exam 

PROJECT SESSION
Policy measures & recommendations 

EXERCISE
Past exam solution

PROJECT SESSION
Preparation for Group Presentations
Policy measures & recommendations

Final presentations

• 10-15 minute (MAX) presentation plus 5-10 minutes of discussion (with discussants!).
  
• Present your results as if you were a consultant reporting to stakeholders. 
  
• Assume they understands basic MFA but have not read your report and are primarily (only) interested in the environmental/economic/social/policy implications.
• They are busy and want to hear your main conclusions and suggestions, and also potential for future collaboration. 
• You may use slides but other support is acceptable.
  
  

  Group project presentation	18 Dec 2025	Asking questions 1st	Asking questions 2nd
  Mobility: Metro line M3	1:00 - 1:30 pm	White goods: Refrigerators	Heating: tech substitution scenarios
  White goods: Refrigerators	1:30 - 2:00 pm	Electronics: precious metals in computers	Mobility: Metro line M3
  Electronics: precious metals in computers	2:00 - 2:30 pm	Heating: tech substitution scenarios	White goods: Refrigerators
  Heating: tech substitution scenarios	2:30 - 3:00 pm	Mobility: Metro line M3	Electronics: precious metals in computers