Resource efficiency — material resource efficiency and productivity

About the indicator

Resource productivity is defined as the ratio between gross domestic product (GDP) and domestic material consumption (DMC). DMC measures the total amount of materials directly used by an economy, and is defined as the annual quantity of raw materials extracted from the domestic territory, plus all physical imports minus all physical exports. It is expressed in tonnes per capita. This indicator is regularly published by Eurostat for individual countries and the EU as a whole.^[5][6]

DMC does not include upstream material use related to imports and exports originating outside of the focal economy. Therefore Raw Material Consumption (RMC) has been proposed as a complementary indicator, as it better accounts for resource use embedded in trade. Modelling estimates for RMC have been produced by Eurostat for the EU-27 but are only available for a few individual countries.

Policies, targets and progress

Resource efficiency is a strategic priority of the Europe 2020 Strategy, a policy response to address a wide spectrum of important economic and environmental concerns.^[7] In 2010, a flagship initiative for a resource-efficient Europe was adopted^[8] and the resulting 2011 Roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe identified milestones for specific areas and almost a hundred individual actions to be taken by the European Commission and Member States.^[4] One of the priority objectives of the 7th Environment Action Programme, which will guide European environment policy until 2020, is to 'turn the Union into a resource-efficient, green, and competitive low-carbon economy'.^[9]

However, no targets have yet been adopted for resource use or resource efficiency at a European level. In the recent communication, Towards a circular economy: a zero-waste programme for Europe,^[10] the European Commission proposed the adoption of a resource-productivity target, and it is hoped that this would provide an impetus for countries to also adopt targets. At present, only a few individual countries (e.g. Germany) have concrete and measurable targets accompanied by a deadline.^[11]

Many European countries have developed their own national programmes or strategies for resource efficiency. These initially tended to address individual topics such as energy consumption or waste recycling. However, they have gradually expanded to cover wasteful production and consumption patterns; the increasing cost of energy and raw materials; the rising global demand for raw materials; concerns over depletion of resources and the security of supply; environmental pollution; and global impacts of greenhouse-gas emissions.

A review of national initiatives shows that there is a great variety of regulatory settings and organisational arrangements in place in relation to resource-efficiency policies.^[11] National policy priorities and responses are guided by EU regulations but vary widely, driven by a combination of local economic and geographic conditions, environmental priorities, and economic concerns.

The total use of material resources is strongly correlated with the population of a country and the size and structure of its economy. In 2012, the three countries with the largest total DMC were Germany, France, and Poland, while those with the lowest were Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus. 

The economic crisis that started in 2008 has been a major factor shaping trends in resource use. In individual countries and at European level, the most significant changes in resource use took place during 2007–2011 (Figure 1). In the EU-27, DMC grew from 15.6 tonnes/capita in 2000, peaked at 16.7 in 2007, before declining by 19% to the current figure of 13.7 in 2012 (Figure 1). In 2012, the countries with the highest per capita DMC were Finland, Estonia and Ireland, while the lowest were Spain, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

Figure 1: Material resource use (DMC) per capita in 32 European countries (2000, 2007 and 2012)

There has been a reduction in per capita DMC in the majority of countries over the period 2000 to 2012. The largest decline was recorded in Ireland (50%) (Box 1) and Spain (49%) — mainly caused by a collapse in construction activities — followed by Italy (38%) and Cyprus (32%). Per capita DMC increased in 13 countries, and the largest per-capita increases over this period — primarily due to large-scale infrastructure investments — were recorded in Romania (178%), Estonia (104%), Lithuania (54%), Bulgaria (46%) and Turkey (44%).

Figure 3: Resource productivity (GDP/DMC) in 32 European countries (2000 and 2012)

Resource productivity, expressed as a ratio of GDP to DMC, links overall resource use to economic activity. Between 2000 and 2012, it increased markedly in the European Union (by 29% for the EU-27 and by 39% for the EU-15), a sign that European economies are creating more wealth out of the material resources that they use, although it also reflects changes in material use and the structure of economies.

The country with the highest resource productivity over the available time series is Switzerland. Switzerland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have consistently been the most resource-efficient economies in Europe between 2000 and 2012. The increase in resource productivity between 2000 and 2012 was highest in Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. Only two countries — Romania and Estonia — experienced a decline in resource productivity in the same period.

There are large differences amongst countries, with little evidence of convergence of resource-productivity rates between 2000 and 2012. Resource productivity is lower in the new member states and in non-EU members. This is partly due to construction sector activity, which dominates material use in many countries.

Prospects

Many factors determine resource use and productivity, including climate, population density, infrastructure needs, domestic availability of raw materials versus reliance on imports, prevailing fuel in the power generation sector, the rate of economic growth, technological development, and the structure of the economy.^[12] There is also the long-term tendency for absolute amounts of resources used to increase in tandem with economic growth despite technological progress (the 'rebound' effect).

The long-term objective of current European environmental policies is that the overall environmental impact of all major sectors of the economy should be significantly reduced, and resource efficiency increased.^[9] This policy goal — a double decoupling of resource use from both economic growth and environmental impacts — provides a framework and direction for national policies.^[8]

The large differences in resource-efficiency performance amongst countries — and the fact that the same half-a-dozen countries have remained at the bottom of resource efficiency rankings since 2000 — indicates opportunities for improvements and actions.

Efforts to support the exchange of good practice in policy design could be one tool to facilitate faster uptake of the most effective solutions. In addition, the use of indicators such as RMC will give a broader perspective on resource productivity, incorporating upstream material use. However, the link to the overall environmental impact of resource use is still not easily captured within available indicators.