The IPAT equation made a contribution to understanding the multiple causes of environmental impact, and it continues to be developed as a method for improving our understanding of these issues. It has not helped in identifying sustainable scale, but reducing environmental impacts by reducing various types of throughput.
the IPAT equation1. It describes the multiplicative contribution of population (P), affluence (A) and technology (T) to environmental impact (I). Environmental impact (I) may be expressed in terms of resource depletion or waste accumulation; population (P) refers to the size of the human population; affluence (A) refers to the level of consumption by that population; and technology (T) refers to the processes used to obtain resources and transform them into useful goods and wastes. The formula was originally used to emphasize the contribution of a growing global population on the environment, at a time when world population was roughly half of what it is now. It continues to be used with reference to population policy.