Toyama, Japan, 15 May 2016 - More efficient use of natural resources, together with ambitious global action on climate change, could achieve big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time adding to economic growth.
The International Resource Panel, composed of eminent scientists and experts in natural resource management, and hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 2007, today released a summary of the findings of its latest report, Resource Efficiency: Potential and Economic Implications, at the G7 Environmental Minister's Meeting in Toyama, Japan. The full report will be released later this year.
The report, based on new modelling carried out for the IRP by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Austria's International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), projects that under existing trends - increasing population, urbanization, and an expanding global middle-class - natural resource extraction will increase from 85 to 186 billion tonnes over the next 35 years. However, it suggests that effective resource efficiency policies and ambitious global action on climate change could:
- reduce global resource extraction by up to 28 per cent by 2050, compared to a reference scenario based on existing trends;
- cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 74 per cent by 2050; and
- increase economic output (GDP) by 1 per cent in G7 countries and globally.
The report also finds that the 1 per cent potential increase in GDP is at the low end of results from a compendium of other studies on increased resource efficiency, using different kinds of macroeconomic models. This evidence suggests that addressing issues of climate change mitigation and efficient use of natural resources together can generate increased economic output and employment while meeting the climate targets in the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "The potential positive impact of greater resource efficiency on tackling climate change is massive. But building a resource-efficient economy will require all countries to change the way natural resources are used, managed and conserved. Only effective international cooperation can accelerate the transition to a resource-efficient future, which in turn will create new jobs and drive sustainable development."
The IRP says that markets will be unable to achieve higher rates of resource efficiency on their own. "Rather," the report says, "higher growth and employment arising from greater resource efficiency will only be brought about through higher rates, and different directions, of innovation and technical change than those driven just by markets. It will require higher investments in resource-efficient infrastructure and products, and intelligent, targeted regulation."
Less than a year ago, at the G7 Summit in Germany, the leaders of the seven largest economies expressed a commitment to promoting resource efficiency as a key element of sustainable development, and asked the IRP to prepare this report on the potential and promise of resource efficiency. The report demonstrates that while it is significant for the G7 to champion resource efficiency, that alone will not be sufficient; global cooperation will be crucial to realizing climate change and sustainability targets.
To download a copy of the summary report, please visit: http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/.
The IRP report was released alongside the OECD's Policy Guidance on Resource Efficiency,which says advanced economies have room to do much more to design and produce goods in a way that uses fewer natural resources and produces less waste.
The OECD report can be found here.
Contacts Shereen Zorba, Head, UNEP News Desk, Nairobi. Tel: +254 20 762 5022 / +254 788 526 000. Email: shereen.zorba@unep.org Or contact the UNEP newsdesk on unepnewsdesk@unep.org Moira O'Brien-Malone, Head, Communications, UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, Paris. Tel: +33 1 44 37 76 12 / +33 6 82 26 93 73. Email: moira.obrien-malone@unep.org About the International Resource Panel
The International Resource Panel was set up by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2007 to build and share the knowledge needed to improve our use of resources worldwide. It comprises eminent scientists, highly skilled in natural resource management issues. The IRP's peer-reviewed reports distil the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic findings around global resource use. These assessments are a guide to more sustainable and equitable practices that steer us away from overconsumption, waste and ecological harm to a more prosperous and sustainable future. The IRP provides advice and connections between policy-makers, industry and the community on ways to improve global and local resource management, showing a way forward to achieving a healthier planet, and so healthier lives and livelihoods for all.
About UNEP
Created in 1972, UNEP represents the United Nations' environmental conscience. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, its mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics - based in Paris - helps governments, local authorities and decision-makers in business and industry to develop and implement policies and practices focusing on sustainable development. The Division leads UNEP's work in the areas of climate change, resource efficiency, and chemicals and waste. For more information:
About the report
The lead authors of IRP's report on resource efficiency were Professor Paul Ekins, an IRP member, and Dr Nick Hughes from the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London, with input from many other IRP members and other resource efficiency experts.
