The main challenge addressed by SCP-HAT was the identification of strategic priorities on which the Sustainable Strategy of Argentina should focus. The tool was used as a guide to ensure that efforts and policies would first and foremost tackle socio-economic sectors or activities that lead to the greatest impacts.

Training of the SCP-HAT tool was delivered to UN Country Team of Argentina and the national government.

The tool was used as a methodological guide to design the country´s SCP strategy, “Methodological criteria to select the strategic priorities”. It enabled a large-scale analysis and gave an overview of the general socio-economic trends in Argentina from 1990 to 2018.

The tool is maintained and updated overtime. It was overall identified that the material footprint of Argentina increased by 107.1 % from 1990 to 2018. At the same time, GDP increased by 119.5 %. Hence, material productivity, measured.

The SCP-HAT allowed the examination of decoupling trends, such as how raw material use evolved in relation to GDP growth during this period. A slight progress in relative decoupling was noticed and the possibility to adopt both the consumption and production perspectives was also deemed useful.

The country´s Strategy highlights that the tool enabled to check the coherence of production and consumption patterns within the economy. For example, since Argentina exports significant amounts of raw materials, it is logical that domestic extraction is greater than the demand.

By benchmarking Argentina’s performance with other countries, the following was concluded: Material footprint: The comparison of the per-capita material footprint of Argentina (16.8 tonnes per capita) with other countries in the region shows that Argentina ranked 19., 27.9 % above the regional average of 13.2 tonnes per capita.

Carbon footprint: Via its international trade relations, Argentina is responsible for GHG emissions in almost all countries in the world. The sum of all these GHG emissions caused by final consumption in Argentina is called “carbon footprint”. The carbon footprint of Argentina increased by 34.8% from 1990 to 2018. 

Pollution footprint: Argentina is responsible for air pollution impacts in almost all countries in the world via its international trade relations. The sum of all these air pollution impacts caused by final consumption in Argentina is called “air pollution footprint”. The air pollution footprint of Argentina increased by 149.1 % from 1990 to 2018.