Description:
Countries regularly report national physical accounts to promote the sustainable use of our natural resources. Emerging economies still exhibit high growth rates of material consumption. In this research, we apply the Stock-Flow-Service nexus to assess sustainable resource use to provide shelter, thermal comfort, and transport services in Vietnam from 2004 to 2019. We consider the material stocks and flows involved in expanding and maintaining residential buildings, roads, main household products, and vehicles. Moreover, we quantify energy flows and emissions linked to shelter, thermal comfort, and road transportation services. Finally, we analyze and compare several indicators that show the stock-flow-service relations. Results show that the stocks of constructions and products increased significantly, and most material inflows were used to expand existing stocks during 2004-2019. The stock intensity for shelter remained steady at about 1,400 kg/m2 while it increased from 4 to 7.5 kg/pop cooling degree days for thermal comfort services and decreased from 86 to 43 kg/freight-km equivalent for transportation services. The energy and emission intensities for thermal comfort services increased by 23 and 38 times, respectively, which pose a severe challenge in terms of global sustainability goals. Our findings can support Vietnam’s sustainability policies and inform national sustainable resource assessments