Intensity (Input-Output multipliers)

The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) allows the calculation of the intensity of consumption and emissions (physical units per thousand current dollars of production). The intensity measure is composed of the direct and the indirect intensities. The direct plus indirect intensities are input-output multipliers derived from the input-output tables. Essentially, the derivation of the multipliers involves multiplying the direct intensity of the environmental flow for each industry by the structure of inputs and outputs by industry.

The multipliers are used to assess the effects on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of an exogenous change in final demand for the output of a given industry. In other words, they provide a measure of the interdependence between industries, the rest of the economy, and the use of energy or production of greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. a change in one industry will also lead to changes in environmental pressures in other industries through the direct and/or indirect demand that is generated).
Direct effects measure the initial requirements for an extra dollar's worth of output of a given industry.

The direct effect on the output of an industry is a change in output equal to the change in final demand. Indirect effects measure the changes due to inter-industry purchases as they respond to the new demands of the directly affected industries. This includes the chain reaction of output up the production stream since each of the products purchased will require, in turn, the production of various inputs. Note that the energy calculations include an adjustment to account for the production of electricity from fossil fuels which would be double-counted if both the electricity consumption and the fossil fuel consumption used to produce it were included in the model. Induced effects measure the changes in the production of goods and services in response to consumer expenditures induced by additional households income (i.e., wages) generated by the production of the direct and indirect requirements.

Statistics Canada compiles intensities measures for energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Input-output multipliers are treated in the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Applications and Extensions manual, section 3.3.2.

Access the data table and methodological information through the following link: