Sustainable Resource Management is the result of years of exhaustive research by Germany's Wuppertal Institute. Looking at material flows, industrial and societal metabolism and their implications for the economy, this important new book provides radical perspectives on how the global economy should use natural resources in intelligent ways that maximise well-being without destroying life-supporting ecosystems. It presents a vision of the future and the fundamental elements necessary for the sustainable management of the Earth's resources. It argues that the need to manage the use of our natural resources at a sustainable level can be shaped into a great opportunity for innovation and for new institutions to govern change.Sustainable Resource Management first provides an overview of the methods it has used to analyse the physical basis of our economies, from the product and firm level through to sectors and whole countries, considering material flows and life-cycle-wide impacts on the environment. Indicators are described that reflect the volume, structure and physical growth of the socio-industrial metabolism, resource productivity and the share of domestic and foreign resource use. By accounting for the global land use of different countries and regions, the book aims to better assess the global implications of domestic activities. For example, linkages are made between the consumption of food and non-food to land use change, such as the expansion of cropland at the expense of natural ecosystems.Sustainable Resource Management presents a number of key findings. Comparing the resource use of the EU with the USA, Japan and China, it determines why there is a difference. It provides evidence about the decoupling of resource use from economic growth, at the expense of an increased reliance on foreign supply. There are two closely analysed case studies, on platinum group metals (PGM) and biofuels, which provide insights into the key drivers of resource use and related problem shifting. Another key finding is that only a limited number of sectors, both on the production and consumption side, are actually associated with major resource requirements and atmospheric emissions - so synergies between resource conservation and climate protection can be found. Evidence is also given of a possible link between a low level of resource productivity and a high risk of unemployment.Sustainable Resource Management also looks into the future and provides visions of sustainable resource use, including the necessary conditions for a sustainable metabolism in the EU. Four example-rich visions are laid out approaching the future from different angles: the resource-efficient and recycling-based industry, the steady-stocks society, the solarised technosphere, and the balanced bio-economy. Each examines key conditions for a low-risk and high-opportunity future, while accounting for likely trade-offs between dematerialisation and rematerialisation, between renewable energy sources and non-renewable materials, between construction and deconstruction of buildings and infrastructures, and between domestic production and the import of biomass products.Finally, Sustainable Resource Management provides a blueprint for how a more sustainable future may be achieved. It analyses the legitimacy of public policies for sustainable resource management, looks at market deficits and barriers, and considers the global nature of the challenge. Crucially, it lays down the key elements of a strategy roadmap: First, better information, dissemination and knowledge generation. Second, innovative market policies to encourage new business models. Third, industry-specific policies - particularly where current resource use patterns are significant and a huge demand for adaptation and system innovation exist, such as in automotive or metal production. Last but not least, an international convention on sustainable resource management is proposed.This significant new book will be essential reading for researchers, EU and national governmental officials; and business and NGOs with an interest in concepts, strategies and instruments to improve resource productivity and sustainable resource management from the regional and sectoral levels to the international level.

In addition to environmental change, the structure and trends of global politics and the economy are also changing as more countries join the ranks of the world's largest economies with their resource-intensive patterns. The nexus approach, conceptualized as attention to resource connections and their governance ramifications, calls attention to the sustainability of contemporary consumer resource use, lifestyles and supply chains. This book sets out an analytical framework for understanding these nexus issues and the related governance challenges and opportunities.

It sheds light on the resource nexus in three realms: markets, inter-state relations, and local human security. These three realms are the organizing principle of three chapters, before the analysis turns to cross-cutting case studies including shale gas, migration, lifestyle changes and resource efficiency, nitrogen fertilizer and food systems, water and the Nile Basin, climate change and security and defense spending. The key issues revolve around competition and conflict over finite natural resources. The authors highlight opportunities to improve both the understanding of nexus challenges and their governance. They critically discuss a global governance approach versus polycentric and multi-level approaches, and the lack of those dimensions in many theories of international relations.

In addition to environmental change, the structure and trends of global politics and the economy are also changing as more countries join the ranks of the world's largest economies with their resource-intensive patterns. The nexus approach, conceptualized as attention to resource connections and their governance ramifications, calls attention to the sustainability of contemporary consumer resource use, lifestyles and supply chains. This book sets out an analytical framework for understanding these nexus issues and the related governance challenges and opportunities.

It sheds light on the resource nexus in three realms: markets, inter-state relations, and local human security. These three realms are the organizing principle of three chapters, before the analysis turns to cross-cutting case studies including shale gas, migration, lifestyle changes and resource efficiency, nitrogen fertilizer and food systems, water and the Nile Basin, climate change and security and defense spending. The key issues revolve around competition and conflict over finite natural resources. The authors highlight opportunities to improve both the understanding of nexus challenges and their governance. They critically discuss a global governance approach versus polycentric and multi-level approaches, and the lack of those dimensions in many theories of international relations.

Written by international experts in their respective fields, Sustainable Growth and Resource Productivity provides a comprehensive overview of global issues of raw materials supply and resource use. It also introduces new views and perspectives on the sustainable growth of emerging economies and develops a rationale for a new resource economics. This book emphasises why resources are back on the agenda: firstly, because of their fundamental economic role in technological progress and long-term prosperity; secondly, because deficits in raw material markets are now intertwined with deficits in the financial markets; and, thirdly, because the sustainable management of natural resources is a crucial element in responses to new global challenges such as climate change. Sustainable Growth and Resource Productivity analyses raw materials supply and resource use in a global context. The contributions present state-of-the-art results and perspectives on the availability of resources and discuss factors such as limited supply, demand from emerging and other economies and the critical shortage of some materials - particularly some metals - that are essential inputs in many high-tech processes and may put certain industries at risk. Sustainable Growth and Resource Productivity sheds new light on the economics of sustainable growth. Linking the current financial crisis with stock market pricing and innovation dynamics, it argues for reforms in international macro-economic policies. It also critically discusses the implications of valuing labour productivity over capital and resource productivity and argues that policies favouring capital productivity will increase both social and economic sustainability. Further contributions are made on the business dimensions of material efficiency as well as on policy recommendations. The book examines the overall empirical trend towards decoupling resource use from economic growth. It undertakes a rigorous cross-country comparison and looks in more detail at the cases of Finland and Greece, as well as at emerging economies and their role in the global governance of natural resources. A key focus is placed on China, with discussion of recent findings regarding Chinese domestic policy on energy, climate and resources as well as on developing Chinese foreign policy in Africa. The book concludes with the positing of a new theory of resource economics: an emerging sub-discipline that puts resources at its heart but clearly aligns with other fields of economics, and transcends the borderlines of geology, geography, material science, recycling and waste, as well as elements of other social sciences. This important new book will be essential reading for economic researchers, governmental officials, businesses and NGOs with an interest in understanding the policy links to sustainable growth and in learning more about the emerging field of resource productivity.

This book considers the corporate governance of sustainability from a co-evolutionary perspective, exploring the linkages between pro-active approaches at the corporate level, market-based incentives and environmental networks.The contributors contend that governance for sustainable development has not yet been fully formulated, and requires further analysis in the context of policies, the role of the state and the inclusion of corporate and private actors. They question whether the governance of sustainable development goes beyond traditional, state-centred policy-making by aiming for proactive changes of private actors' behaviours at different levels. The discussion also encompasses relevant theory on corporate governance, competition, market failures and regulatory tools. An assessment methodology suitable for empirical network analysis at the meso-level is introduced, and its application is demonstrated using eight case studies. Raimund Bleischwitz and his team of contributing authors draw important conclusions for policy analysis and sustainability assessments and the actors involved. The book will therefore prove an invaluable resource for academics, scholars and policymakers focussing on applied sustainability research, policy analysis and evaluation.

Human societies face a threatening future of resource scarcity and environmental damages. This book addresses the challenge of turning these risks into opportunities and policies. It is a collection of high level contributions from experts of sustainable growth and sustainable resource management. Focussing on economics, sustainability, technology and policy, the book highlights system innovation, leapfrogging strategies of emerging economies, possible rebound effects and international market development. It puts natural resources centre stage and will make an important contribution to achieving the goal of a 21st century Green Economy.

In recent years the concept of the resource "nexus" has been both hotly debated and widely adopted in research and policy circles. It is a powerful new way to understand and better govern the myriad complex relationships between multiple resources, actors and their security concerns. Particular attention has been paid to water, energy and food interactions, but land and materials emerge as critical too. This comprehensive handbook presents a detailed review of current knowledge about resource nexus-related frameworks, methods and governance, including a broad set of inter-disciplinary perspectives. Written by an international group of scholars and practitioners, the volume focuses on rigorous research, including tools, methods and modelling approaches to analyse resource use patterns across societies and scales from a "nexus perspective". It also provides numerous examples from political economy to demonstrate how resource nexus frameworks can illuminate issues such as land grabs, mining, renewable energy and the growing importance of economies such as China, as well as to propose lessons and outlooks for sound governance. The volume seeks to serve as an essential reference text, source book and state-of-the-art, science-based assessment of this increasingly important topic - the resource nexus - and its utility in efforts to enhance sustainability of many kinds and implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in an era of environmental and geopolitical change.

Die Idee einer wirtschaftIich attraktiven Effizienzrevolution, die zugleich der Umwelt hilft, findet immer mehr Anhanger in Unternehmen und in der Politik. Dazu gehoren beispielsweise Claude FussIer von Dow Chemical Europe sowie Netzwerke wie der "World Business Council for Sustainable Development" und das von Mitsubishi initierte "Future 500." Verschiedene Anleger haben Fonds oko effizienter Unternehmen aufgelegt, des sen Aktienwerte sich besser zu entwickeln scheinen als herkommliche nach dem sogenannten MSCI-Index. Die UN-Sonder generalversammlung zu Umwelt und Entwicklung hat im Juni 1997 einen Faktor Vier bis Zehn fUr moglich und wunschenswert erklart. Eine hochrangige Berater gruppe empfahl ?em OECD-Generalsekretar im November 1997, der Ressourcen produktivitat in Zukunft die gleiche Aufmerksamkeit zu widmen wie bisher der Arbeitsproduktivitat. Andreas Troge, der Prasident des Umweltbundesamtes, hat einen Faktor Vier zum Leitbild der Klimapolitikberatung seiner Einrichtung dekla riert. 1m Juni 1998 wird sich die Karntner Messe Klagenfurt mit dem Faktor Vier beschaftigen. Diese wenigen Aussagen zeigen, daB ein wahrer Kontinent neuer und faszinie render Moglichkeiten vor uns liegt. Es geht urn eine Richtungsanderung des tech nischen Fortschritts, die bei einem schrittweise deutIich reduzierten Naturver brauch ein mehr an Wohlstand und Lebensqualitat bewirkt. Das bedeutet Markte fur neue Produkte, Stoffe und DienstIeistungen, verbesserte Organisationsver fahren innerhalb und zwischen Unternehmen, Chancen fur Industrie, DienstIeister und Handwerk. Sie aIle tragen dazu bei, die Innovationsdynamik von der Arbeits auf die Ressourcenproduktivitat umzulenken. Ressourcenproduktivitat ist ein kommender Trend."

Deshalb haben sich die Umweltorganisationen Bund fur Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) und die Organisation der Entwick- lungszusammenarbeit MISEREOR zusammengetan und gemeinsam beim Wuppertal Institut fur Klima, Umwelt, Energie die Studie Zukunftsfahiges Deutschland - ein Beitrag zu einer global nachhaltigen Entwicklung in Auf- trag gegeben. Mit der Vorstellung der Forschungsergebnisse wollen die Auftraggeber nicht ein neu es Modell Deutschland propagieren. Es geht vielmehr darum, der Frage nachzugehen, wie das Leben in einem Zukunfts- fahigen Deutschland aussehen koennte, wenn nachhaltige Entwicklung mehr sein soll als Bestandteil der Rhetorik internationaler Konferenzen und politischer Sonntagsreden. Die Studie vereint verschiedene Themenfelder: Es werden die Grenzen der oekologischen Belastbarkeit benannt, Umweltziele formuliert, Reduktions- ziele errechnet und schliesslich Wege aufgezeigt, wie diese Ziele erreichbar sind. Doch der Kern der Studie sind die Leitbilder. Sie umreissen Antworten auf grundlegende Fragen, die in der tagespolitischen Diskussion vergessen werden. Wie kann sich ein demokratisch verfasster Industriestaat so veran- dern, dass oekologische Grenzen eingehalten werden? Dass die Verhaltnisse zwischen Nord und Sud gerechter werden? Welche politischen und wirt- schaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen sind noetig? Die Studie macht deutlich: Ein gutes Leben ist nicht abhangig von stei- gendem Bruttosozialprodukt, wachsenden Stoffstroemen und immer hoehe- rem Energieverbrauch. Sie zeigt das Moegliche auf, Alternativen zu Vor- warts in den Abgrund und Zuruck in die Steinzeit. Zweifellos bleiben noch offene Fragen. Manches wird Widerspruch ausloesen. Aber die Studie zeigt Perspektiven fur eine lebenswerte Zukunft und eine globale Partner- schaft auf, fur die es sich lohnt, technischen Erfindungsgeist und soziale Kreativitat einzusetzen.