To the International Wuppertal Colloquium on „Sustainable Growth, Resource Productivity and Sustainable Industrial Policy – Recent Findings, new Approaches for Strategies and Policies” Wuppertal, Sep 17 – 19, 2008

Wuppertal Institute 1 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Issue and Scope  Management of resources: implications for growth, development and industry  Contribution of increasing resource productivity to sustainability  Colloquium accompanies a large research project on “Material Efficiency & Conservation of Resources”  Designed as expert meeting with selected young researchers  Focus on economics  Eight Sessions with invited presentations and time for discussion and conclusions

Wuppertal Institute 2 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Perspective  Three years perspective (2008, 2009, 2010)  Next years likely to focus on  drivers and barriers, rebound effect, industrial dynamics, visions and possible lighthouses (2009)  Sustainable industrial policy, incentives, governance, economic impacts, international mechanisms (2010)  Publication of proceedings intended (Springer Publishing House)  Additional journal publication (central findings co-authored by participants) desirable

Evidence for decoupling GDP from resource use in Europe: trends and drivers Prof. Dr. Raimund Bleischwitz Sören Steger Research Group „Material Flows and Resource Management“ Presentation at the International Wuppertal Colloquium on „Sustainable Growth, Resource Productivity and Sustainable Industrial Policy – Recent Findings, new Approaches for Strategies and Policies” Wuppertal, Sep 17 – 19, 2008

Wuppertal Institute 4 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Contents 1.Definition 2.Country results 3.Rotterdam-Effect: why measurement may matter 4.Competitiveness and Resource Productivity 5.EU: costs for importing raw materials and resource use 6.Conclusions

Wuppertal Institute 5 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Definitions / Measurements of RP Resource productivity = Y / M GDP = Gross Domestic Product GVA = Gross Value Added Final use Production value … DMI = Direct Material Input DMC = Domestic Material Consumption TMR = Total Material Requirement EMC = Environmentally weighted Material Consumption … M = physical indicator for resourcesY = monetary (economic) indicator Empirical Analysis Methods: Economic Policy Analysis MFA-Methodology (OECD 2008, Eurostat, WI)

Wuppertal Institute 6 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium MFA Methodology (OECD 2008)

Wuppertal Institute 7 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Resource Productivity compared: huge differences in level and performance

Wuppertal Institute 8 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Resource Productivity compared for EU 25 and USA

Wuppertal Institute 9 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Correlation GDP and DMC (pc 2000)

Wuppertal Institute 10 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Clustering countries according to RP / cap (2000) 1.Poor RP Finland Greece [NMS] 2.Fair RP [Ireland], Portugal, Sweden, Denmark 3.Good RP A, BE, DE, [ES] 4.Top-Runner UK, I, FR, NL

Wuppertal Institute 11 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Countries 4: Top-Runner in RP Performance

Wuppertal Institute 12 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Countries 3: Good Performer

Wuppertal Institute 13 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Countries 2: Fair Performer

Wuppertal Institute 14 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Countries 1: poor performance

Wuppertal Institute 15 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium 2.3. Rotterdam-Effect: why measurement may matter DMC is favourable to export-oriented countries such as BE, NL

Wuppertal Institute 16 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Competitiveness and RP – some positive correlation (with exceptions)

Wuppertal Institute 17 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Resource intensity differs among economies Potential performance improvement towards Top - Runners by a factor 4

Will be updated

Wuppertal Institute 19 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium EU costs for importing selected raw materials: 135 bn € in 2004, about 12,38 % of total imports

Wuppertal Institute 20 Sep 2008Wuppertal Colloquium Conclusions Good evidence for relative decoupling and increase of resource productivity over time. Poor evidence for absolute decoupling and „Dematerialisation“ so far. (Germany and a few others may have encountered specific factors). RP performance measurement offers rich insights (compared to status quo). Huge differences exist among countries which might be interpreted as potential to catch up to top runners: a factor 4 for underperformers and a factor 2 for others seem plausible. There seems to be a minimum level of DMC / cap in the order of 12 t / cap for OECD countries (Japan not yet checked). Few countries with excellent competitiveness rankings perform poor in resource productivity (Scandinavian states) – however in general both factors are positively correlated.

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