COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS On the Progress of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
Date: 2011-09-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: conservation of resources, disclosure of information, environmental cooperation, environmental impact, intergovernmental cooperation (EU), management of resources, on line data service, sustainable development

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 20.9.2011 
SEC(2011) 1068 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

On the Progress of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources 

{COM(2011) 571 final} 
{SEC(2011) 1067 final} 

 
 
 
 
  
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

On  21  December  2005  the  Commission  adopted  its  Communication  "Thematic  Strategy  on 
the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources"1 (hereafter referred to as the Resource Strategy) in 
response  to  the  growing  evidence  that  the  intensive  use  of  world’s  resources  is  putting 
increasing pressure on the planet, and that the current patterns of resource use are threatening 
our  future  prosperity.  This  document  is  a  progress  report  on  the  implementation  of  that 
Strategy.  The  lessons  learnt  from  this  anlysis  have  been  fed  in  to  the  new  Roadmap  for  a 
Resource Efficient Europe, that is published at the same time. 

The  need  to  address  the  challenge  of  the  unsustainable  use  of  natural  resources,  within  and 
outside  of  the  EU,  had  been  recognised  before  in  several  high  level  policy  documents.  The 
Sixth  Environment  Action  Programme2  included  the  sustainable  use  and  management  of 
resources as  one of the priority areas for action and foresaw the development of  a thematic 
strategy  on  natural  resources.  The  Lisbon  Strategy3  and  the  EU  Sustainable  Development 
Strategy4 reiterated the need for more efficient use of resources to ensure sustainable growth 
in the future. 

The  Resource  Strategy  defined  the  broad  meaning  of  natural  resources  as  encompassing  all 
raw  materials  including  minerals,  biomass  and  biological  resources;  environmental  media 
such as air, water and soil; flow resources such as wind, geothermal, tidal and solar energy; 
and space (land). The Strategy recognised that the environmental impacts of resource use are 
distributed  along  the  value  chains  of  those  resources,  often  occurring  far  from  where  these 
resources are finally consumed. Therefore the Resource Strategy emphasised the need to take 
into account the life-cycle and global perspective when tackling unsustainable use of natural 
resources. 

The  overall  objective  of  the  Resource  Strategy  was  to  reduce  the  negative  environmental 
impacts  generated  by  the  use  of  natural  resources  in  a  growing  economy.  This  is  a  dual 
objective  which  requires:  (1)  to  decouple  the  use  of  a  resource  from  its  driver  (that  is, 
economic  growth),  thus  improving  resource  productivity  and;  (2)  to  decouple  the 
environmental  impacts  from  their  related  resource  use,  also  expressed  as  resource  specific 
impacts.  For  renewable  resources  this  also  means  staying  below  the  threshold  of  over-
exploitation. The achievement of this dual objective would mean improving eco-efficiency, or 
resource efficiency. 

In  order  to  reach  this  overall  objective,  the  Resource  Strategy  set  the  following  operational 
objectives: 

•  improving  our  understanding  and  knowledge  of  European  resource  use,  its  negative 

environmental impact and significance in the EU and globally; 

•  developing tools to monitor and report progress in the EU, Member States and economic 

sectors; 

1 
2 
3 
4 

COM(2005) 670. 
Decision 1600/2002/EC 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm 
COM(2001) 264 

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•  promoting the application of strategic approaches and processes both in economic sectors 
and in the Member States and encourage them to develop related plans and programmes, 
and;  

•  raising  awareness  among  stakeholders  and  citizens  of 

the  significant  negative 

environmental impact of resource use.  

The  Resource  Strategy  aimed  at  enabling  knowledge  of  resource  use  in  the  economy  to  be 
brought together quicker and more easily. This would facilitate the identification of the most 
serious environmental impacts and the measures to mitigate them. It called for a strengthening 
of  the  resource  use  dimension  in  existing  polices  as  well  as  for  the  development  of  new 
initiatives  to  integrate  life  cycle  thinking  in  policy  formulation,  setting  the  time  horizon  for 
this process in 25 years. The Resource Strategy explicitly avoided setting quantitative targets 
as the level of knowledge and data available at the time was not sufficient to develop suitable 
indicators and targets. 

This report will evaluate to what extent the objectives of the Resource Strategies have been 
met so far: Firstly, it will analyse how the strategic approach, objectives and principles of the 
Strategy  were  integrated  into  policies  at  EU,  Member  State  and  at  international  levels. 
Secondly, it will evaluate the status in the implementation of the specific actions proposed in 
the Strategy. Finally the report will provide recommendations for further action.  

The  concept  of  sustainable  use  of  natural  resources  attained  a  new  level  of  strategic 
importance  recently.  Resource  efficiency  was  recognised  as  critical  for  further  economic 
development in the EU and became a focus of one of the seven flagship initiatives within the 
Europe 2020 Strategy5. This Strategy aims to support the shift towards a resource efficient 
and  low-carbon  economy  and  decouple  economic  growth  from  resource  and  energy  use.  It 
stresses how resource efficiency will prevent environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and 
unsustainable use of resources. The communication A resource-efficient Europe – Flagship 
initiative under the Europe 2020 Strategy6 sets out a framework to ensure that policies in 
all  relevant  areas  produce  results  on  resource  efficiency,  with  the  actions  set  out  in  the 
Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe. It explains how the focus on resource efficiency 
in policy making is both a necessity and an opportunity for the EU. It argues that coordinated 
action  across  a  wide  range  of  policy  areas  is  necessary  because  of  potential  synergies  and 
trade offs and that the action has to be taken now due to long lead-times for systemic changes. 
It also emphasises the need for a move towards resource efficient consumption. This paper, 
which is effectively and analysis on the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural 
Resources, has been used to inform the Roadmap. 

2. 

PROGRESS  IN  THE INTEGRATION  OF  THE  RESOURCE STRATEGY'S APPROACH  AND 
OBJECTIVES INTO OTHER POLICIES 

With its 25 years time horizon and its broad approach, the Resource Strategy aimed to ensure 
that relevant sectoral policies encourage sustainable use of natural resources. The strategy is 
set  as  a  framework,  which  lays  down  principles  and  concepts  to  be  integrated  in  or 
strengthened in existing policies and used as guidance for emergning and future initiatives.  

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COM(2010) 2020 
COM(2011) 21 

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Six years after its adoption, the Resource Strategy's objectives and concepts7 are embedded in 
many  policy  initiatives.  These  initiatives  within  the  EU  include  transversal  ones  but  also 
cover specific resources and sectors, and both demand and supply aspects. Examples of this 
are given in annex II, together with interesting initiatives outside the EU. 

It  can  be  concluded  that  the  objectives  and  concepts  presented  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Resource Strategy back in 2005 have later on been referred to in EU policies, however these 
rarely  deal  with  the  full  set  of  concepts  proposed  by  the  Resource  Strastegy.  Even  though 
resource  efficiency  and  decoupling  are  mentioned  as  such,  it  is  often  with  only  the 
competitiveness  aspect  in  mind  while  less  attention  is  given  to  the  related  environmental 
impacts.  Moreover,  although  the  Resource  Strategy  highlights  the  importance  of  the 
international  dimension,  the  increasing  import  of  resources  and  their  related  environmental 
impacts outside Europe was not sufficiently addressed in EU policies.  

3. 

STATE  OF  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  SPECIFIC  INITIATIVES  INCLUDED  IN  THE 
RESOURCE STRATEGY 

3.1. 

TO DEVELOP A DATA CENTRE ON NATURAL RESOURCES 

The  Resource  Strategy  called  to  set  up  "a  Data  Centre  for  policy-makers  to  enhance  and 
improve the knowledge base on resource use and its environmental impacts". Information is 
often not readily accessible in a usable form for policymakers and a central service is needed 
to act as an “information hub” bringing together all available, relevant information, to monitor 
and analyse it and to provide policy-relevant information to decision makers.  

From the launch of the Resource Strategy, it was decided that ESTAT would act as the Data 
Centre for natural resources, jointly with the Data Centres for products and waste, covering 
the whole life-cycle8, in collaboration with DG Environment, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) 
and the European Environment Agency (EEA).  

The main achievements to date are the following  

(1) 

(2) 

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8 

9 

Improved information flow and increasing cooperation between the different partners 
of the Data Centre;  

Pulling together existing basic data on the use of natural resources and its associated 
environmental  pressures  including  socio-economic  driving  factors  and  providing 
access to this information to the public, through a web-based information system9. The 
general  purpose  is  to  provide  access  to  existing  basic  data  at  Eurostat  and  external 
international institutions such as OECD, IEA, FAO and EEA.  

Sustainable use of natural resources, decoupling, eco-efficiency, life cycle thinking 
Through  a  collaboration  agreement  of  three  Services  of  the  European  Commission  (DG  ENV,  DG 
ESTAT,  DG  JRC)  and  the  European  Environment  Agency  (EEA),  in  total  ten  Data  Centres  were 
established, as follows: EEA acts as Data Centre for air, climate change, water, biodiversity and land 
use;  JRC  acts  as  Data  Centre  for  soil  and  forestry;  ESTAT  (unit  "Environmental  Statistics  and 
Accounts") acts as the Data Centre for waste, natural resources and products 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Environmental_Data_Centre 
_on_Natural_Resources_and_Products 

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(3) 

(4) 

The  "information  hub10",  a  network  of  internal  and  external  experts  and  institutes 
providing  answers  on  specific,  policy  relevant  question  to  key  users  like  DG 
Environment and other EU bodies on a short term basis;.  

A clear framework for indicators' development, encompassing different environmental 
impacts  at  various  stages  over  the  life-cycle  (see  3.2.  in  this  report  on  "To  develop 
indicators for measuring progress"). The Resource Strategy moreover implied an extra 
policy  demand for  the  provision of  life cycle  assessment  data  and  methodology  and, 
hence, further pushed for the development of Life Cycle Assessment data, originally 
conceived  as  an  output  of  the  Integrated  Product  Policy  initiative.  A  database  was 
developed and established by JRC and is supporting ongoing work at the Data Centre 
on indicator development. 

Despite the above mentioned progress, the translation of knowledge development into policy 
information  can  be  further  improved,  as  can  the  knowledge  on  environmental  impacts 
throughout the life-cycle. 

3.2. 

TO DEVELOP INDICATORS FOR MEASURING PROGRESS 

The  Resource  Strategy  expressed  the  aim  of  having  a  headline  indicator  for  environmental 
impacts that could be compared with GDP. Such an indicator should measure the decoupling 
of  environmental  impacts  from  economic  growth.  Further  indicators  are  needed  to  measure 
progress  in  achieving  the  Resource  Strategy's  operational  objectives,  to  steer  the  focus  on 
those resources whose uses cause the most significant environmental impacts, and to enable 
the possibility of setting quantitative targets.  

Measuring specific resource streams is in principle not difficult but measuring environmental 
impact  is  complex.  Work  is  ongoing  by  DG  Environment11,  Eurostat,  JRC12  and  EEA13  but 
this  has  not  yet  resulted  in  a  recommended  set  of  headline  indicators.  In  general,  a  major 
challenge is to translate a large set of data into one single value for environmental pressure or 
impact and no indicator so far appears to be the ideal decoupling indicator. The assessments 
have in particular been focusing on the Environmentally-weighted Material Consumption and 
the Ecological Footprint (see further on Annex III) but also on the potential of complementing 
these  two  with  Human  Appropriation  of  Net  Primary  Production  and  Land  and  Ecosystem 
Accounts in a very small indicator set. 

At  present,  there  are  two  streams  of  ongoing  development  work.  One  is  exploring  a  set  of 
consumption based – footprint like – indicators on land, materials, water and carbon/energy. 
This  highlights  the  most  important  areas  of  resource  efficiency  and  it  points  to  the 
dependency  of  EU  economy  on  directly  and  indirectly  imported  resources.  Data  sets  are 
however  not  yet  complete.  An  on-going  study  on  the  Assessment  of  resource  efficiency 
indicators and targets14 is investigating the feasibility of various options and should be ready 
to present results early 2012.  

10 
11 

12 

13 
14 

http://www.eu-smr.eu/infohub/ 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/natres/studies.htm; In particular: 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/natres/pdf/footprint.pdf. 
In particular the development of “Life Cycle Thinking and Assessment” 
(http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/assessment ), by the JRC in close coordination with ESTAT.  
http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes  
http://resource-indicators.eu-smr.eu/ 

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The  other  line  of  work,  also  consumption  based, is  conducted  by  JRC,  which is working to 
establish aggregated indicators on 8 to 10 environmental impact categories based on life cycle 
analysis  data  for  the  full  production  and  consumption  chains.  The  coherent  framework  of 
indicators  includes  eco-efficiency/decoupling  indicators,  basket  of  products  indicators  and 
waste management indicators. This work should deliver first pilot results by the end of 2011. 
Such indicators can be related to GDP or to the value added of a given sector and, thereby, 
can provide an indication on eco-efficiency, as requested by the Resource Strategy.  

3.3. 

TO DEVELOP EU APPROACHES AND STRUCTURES FOR RESOURCE EFFICIENCY  

The Resource Strategy foresaw to set up a High-Level Forum to facilitate the development of 
national measures by identifying actions to promote, exchange best practices and to provide 
assistance  to  Member  States.  As  a  preliminary  phase,  the  Resource  Strategy  recommended 
Member States to develop their own measures and programmes to achieve a sustainable use 
of natural resources.  

Very  few  countries  take  an  integrated  approach  and  have  a  dedicated  strategic  policy 
document  for  resource  efficiency.  Instead,  some  broad  economy-wide  types  of  strategies  or 
action  plans  commonly  include  references  to  resource  efficiency  and  sustainable  material 
management  taking  different  forms  such  as,  for  example:  national  sustainable  development 
strategies,  national  environmental  strategies/action  plans,  sustainable  consumption  and 
production  action  plans,  raw  materials  plans  and  strategies,  strategies  and  plans  related  to 
climate  change  and  economic  reform  programmes.  It  rarely  features  in  national  industrial 
competitiveness policies. 

Strategic  objectives  for  resource  efficiency  tend  to  be  fairly  general,  often  referring  to 
sustainable  use  of  natural  resources,  improving  energy  or  resource  efficiency,  increasing 
waste  prevention  and  recycling,  reducing  the  use  of  energy  and  water  but  also  improving 
water  quality  and  protecting  biodiversity.  There  are  few  examples  of  absolute  targets  of 
resources used, however some aim at increasing resource/material productivity with a certain 
factor.  Only  Sweden  has  strategic  objectives  related  to  reducing  the  global  environmental 
impacts  of  national  consumption  but  the  Netherlands  has  objectives  reflecting  the 
environmental  imapct  embodied  in  trade.  There  is  a  general  lack  of  concrete  targets,  which 
makes progress monitoring difficult in the long term. Existing ones are most common in the 
areas of waste, energy, GHG emissions, water use and land use for organic farming. Many of 
those  are  driven  by  EU  requirements  but  also  local  conditions  can  act  as  drivers.  Linked  to 
this, indicators in place mainly deal with material use, waste, energy use, water and land use. 
Indicators taking into account pressures embedded in imported goods are rare and no country 
seem to have indicators on the environmental impacts from resource use. 

More  specifically,  the  energy  and  waste  management/recycling  sectors  take  the  sustainable 
material  management/  resource  efficiency  aspects  more  systematically  into  account  in  their 
policies.  The  public  sector  (in  the  context  of  Green  Public  Procurement),  building  and 
construction,  water  management,  transport  and  food  are  other  policy/consumption  areas  in 
which  resource  efficiency  often  features  and  have  objectives  or  even  targets  set  in  several 
Member  States.  These  objectives  aim  in  most  cases  at  improving  technological  efficiency 
rather than addressing consumption by managing demand. 

Several  Member  States  have  deployed  awareness  raising  initiatives  to  promote  a  more 
sustainable use of resources. However, setting up and implementing policies is a much more 
challenging  task  and  experiences  at  Member  State  level  often  show  that  there  is  no  clear 

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definition or understanding of the resource concept and it is sometimes reduced to materials 
only.  Varying  ministries  are  often  involved  without  any  coordinated  work  and,  as  a 
consequence,  frameworks  for  national  action  tend  to  be  dispersed,  with  overlapping  and 
unclear responsibilities.  

The  EEA  has  recently  conducted  a  survey  of  resource  efficiency  policies  in  EEA  members 
and  cooperating  countries.  Preliminary,  the  analysis  concludes  that  Member  states  have  a 
need  to  know  how  to  best  integrate  resource  efficiency  into  other  policies,  on  policy 
implementation  and  effectiveness  evaluation,  how  to  work  with  strategic  objectives,  setting 
targets and measuring progress and how to use market based instruments in order to give the 
right price signals. Such  instruments or  measures are being used in certain countries, which 
often have positive experiences to share. After an initial period in growing understanding and 
starting  implementation,  the  Commission  considers  that  the  moment  is  ripe  for  the 
establishment of the High-Level Forum foreseen in the Strategy. Among other tasks, the High 
Level Forum should provide assistance to Member States, by identifying actions to promote 
the  exchange  best  practices  and  facilitating  the  development  of  further  national  measures. 
Annex I to this report presents a summary of important initiatives at Member State level. 

3.4. 

INTERNATIONAL PANEL FOR SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT  

The  “Resource  Panel”15  was  set  up  in  2007  under  the  auspices  of  the  United  Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide authoritative and independent advice to decision 
makers globally, as called for by the Resource Strategy.  

Its  members  16are  recognised,  leading  experts  in  their  field  with  good  geographic  coverage 
and  discipline  balance.  The  expansion  of  the  panel,  to  include  even  more  countries,  is  an 
ongoing process. The Panel is supervised by a Steering Committee, which covers more then 
20  countries  and  organisations  coming  from  both  the  developed  and  developing  world.  The 
European  Commission  is  a  major  contributor  to  the  Panel  and  co-chairs  its  Steering 
Committee.  

The  Panel  conducts  policy  relevant  assessments,  focussing  on  areas  with  significant 
environmental impact but at the same time with possibilities for substantial improvements. It 
has  so  far  finalised  and  published  five  reports,  "Assessing  the  environmental  impact  of 
consumption  and  production  –  Priority  products  and  materials"17,  "Assessing  Biofuels", 
"Metal  stocks  in  society",  "Decoupling  the  use  of  natural  resources  and  environmental 
impacts  from  economic  activity:  Scoping  the  challenges"  and  "Recycling  rates  of  metals:  A 
status report". To measure the impact of the Panel's work, it will suffice to say that the first 
report  has  been  down-loaded  over  half  a  million  times  already  since  its  publication  in  June 
2010. 

A recent independent evaluation of the Panel's work with the first three reports concluded that 
the  reports  were  outstanding,  have  been  produced  in  an  independent  way  and  are  highly 
policy  relevant.  The  evaluation  however  also  expressed  an  important  concern,  that  of  the 
necessity to better translate the reports into policy relevant outcomes such as policy measures. 
Outputs of the Panel's work must be more widely used as policy recommendations, be better 
disseminated  and  with  a  stronger  involvement  of  governments  and  other  stakeholders.  The 

15 
16 
17 

http://www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/ http:-NaturalResources.pdf 
http://www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/members.htm 
http://www.uneptie.org/scp/publications/details.asp?id=WEB/0165/PA 

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Commission will use its steering role in the Panel to implement this recommendation and to 
further  enhance  the  policy  relevance  of  the  Panel's  work,  in  particular,  the  set  of 
recommendations drawn up in its different reports. It needs to be assessed if the endorsement 
of reports by Member States18 would be desirable. 

The  foundation  is  clearly  laid  for  important  assessment  reports  that  will  be  valuable  for  the 
future  development  of  policy  in  EU  and  beyond.  In  future,  the  Panel  will  not  only  look  at 
relevant resources as such but also take the perspective of the services or functions that the 
resource use delivers. Topics to be addressed during 2012 and 2013 will include "Decoupling 
(Technology and Policy)", "Metals" (covering a wide range of aspects such as environmental 
impact  of  metals  over  the  life  cycle,  geological  stock,  recycling  opportunities  and 
technologies,  demand  scenarios  and  policy  options),  "Water  Efficiency",  "Sustainable 
management  of  land  and  soil  resources",  "Low-carbon  technologies  and  their  impact  on 
environment and resource use", "Translocation of environmental impacts through Trade" and 
"Decoupling in urbanization". 

4. 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER ACTION 

The trends in the natural resource use show that the use of resources remains intensive and it 
continues  to  cause  global  environmental  pressures  that  undermine  the  basic  supportive 
functions  of  the  environment.  Despite  certain  achievements  in  resource  productivity  and 
reduction of resource specific environmental impacts within the EU, there is clearly a need for 
continuous  improvement  in  both  these  aspects  of  resource  efficiency.  The  rationale  for  a 
strategic guidance at EU level remains.  

The continuous need for a comprehensive and strategic approach is supported further by the 
fact that many resources used and consumed in Europe come from third countries and have 
significant amount of embedded impacts affecting the resource base and the environment in 
those  countries. These indirect impacts  of the domestic resource use, the  dependency of  the 
EU on imported resources and growing competition for available resources make the need for 
an effective resource efficiency policy more important than ever. 

The analysis of policies related to resource use at EU and Member State level showed that the 
policy responses driven by the Resource Strategy had been fragmented and incoherent. Only a 
few countries have a dedicated strategic document on resources. Resource related policies had 
often  limited  scope  and  focused  on  a  particular  resource,  usually  waste.  Policies  sometimes 
lacked clear objectives and effective measures to increase resource productivity or address the 
associated environmental impacts. Market based instruments were not considered or used to 
their full potential. It could be concluded that the Resource Strategy should be complemented 
by  a  more  detailed  guidance  from  the  Commission  that  would  facilitate  the  development  of 
comprehensive and effective policies both at EU and Member State level. 

This need was recognised by the EU 2020 Strategy and the flagship initiative "A Resource-
Efficient Europe" which sets out a framework for future polices related to resource efficiency. 
The initiative emphasised the economic dimension and the need to build synergies in order to 
create  new  opportunities  for  economic  growth  while  reducing  resource  use.  It  identified  the 
main  resources  and  policy  areas  where  resource  efficiency  needs  to  be  integrated.  It  also 

18 

Such  as  is  the  case  for  the  Intergovernmental  Panel  on  Climate  Change  and  the  Intergovernmental 
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. 

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foresees  a  mix  of  policy  instruments  including  market  based  instruments,  stimulation  of 
innovation  and  addressing  the  consumer  demand.  In  line  with  the  Resource  Strategy  the 
flagship initiative also recognises the need to further build the knowledge on the resource use 
and  associated  environmental  impacts  as  well  as  on  an  effective  policy  response.  Global 
aspects and the need to deepen international cooperation on resource efficiency are recognised 
as well. 

The  flagship  initiative  is  followed  up  with  the  "Roadmap  for  a  Resource  Efficient  Europe", 
published alongside this document. It paves the way to specific delivering initiatives such as 
those included in Annex 1 of the flagship and others that may follow in 2012 and beyond, the 
Roadmap  proposes  actions  aimed  at  increased  resource  productivity  and  reduction  of 
environmental impacts.  

The EU Resource Efficiency policy as defined in the three policy documents mentioned above 
–  The  EU  2020  Strategy,  the  flagship  initiative  "A  Resource-Efficient  Europe"  and  the 
Roadmap for a Resource-Efficient Europe - provide a comprehensive strategic framework for 
sustainable  use  of  natural  resources  for  the  EU  and  for  Member  States.  This  policy  will 
supersede  the  Resource  Strategy.  There  will  be  no  added  value  in  maintaining  a  parallel 
strategic track on the same policy subject. 

The Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe, which this document complements, as well as 
the  implementing  actions  which  will  follow,  has  taken  into  account  the  following  lessons 
learned from the implementation of the Resource Strategy: 

•  General  integration  of  the  main  concepts  of  the  resource  strategy  into  public  policies 

should be fostered, in transversal and sector specific policies; 

•  The  role  of  national  policies  should  be  further  enhanced.  Some  Member  States  have 
exemplary  measures  in  place  but  many  are  still  lagging  behind.  Sharing  of  best  practice 
will be essential. A High-Level Forum or similar structure could facilitate this process.  

•  The  reports  prepared  by  the  Resource  Panel  should  be  more  widely  used  as  policy 
recommendations  and  should  see  a  stronger  involvement  of  governments  and  other 
stakeholders. 

•  Quantitative targets should be set once data and indicators could back up such a process. 
Setting targets on resource use or related environmental impacts is a complex matter and 
there are few examples of this on national level.  

•  The  use  of  market-based  instruments  in  managing  natural  resources  is  particularly 

important in order to give correct price signals to economic operators.  

•  Priority resources should be identified and addressed by specific and more detailed action 

programmes.  

•  The  risks  of  scarcity  of  natural  resources  (including  bottlenecks  of  availability  and 
inhibiting  price  increases)  should  be  investigated.  It  should  be  analysed  how  this  can 
influence the objectives and possible implementation measures of future policies related to 
resources.  

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•  Investment  in  further  research  is  necessary,  e.g.  on  the  links  between  resource  use  and 
environmental impact and on the resource use outside of the EU driven by consumption in 
Europe. 

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ANNEX I 

INITIATIVES IN MEMBER STATES LINKED WITH THE SUSTAINABLE 
MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Resource  Strategy  recommends  the  member  states  to  develop  their  own  measures  and 
programmes to achieve a sustainable use of natural resources. The responsibility is however 
left  with  Member  States,  to  take  the  strategy's  key  concepts  into  account,  when  developing 
their national resource policies.  

Member States employ different kinds of initiatives in order to achieve these objectives such 
as strategies, programmes, road maps and market based instruments and a sample is presented 
below.  The  measures  either  cover  natural  resources  in  general  or  focus  on  a  specific 
individual  or  group  of  resources  and  they  may  moreover  target  specific  stages  of  the  life 
cycle. Depending on the aimed resources and life cycle stages, various sectors can be targeted. 
The  various  initiatives  moreover  focus  on  different  economic  agents,  such  as  consumers, 
citizens, producers and SMEs, and can aim at changes from the micro to the macro scale. 

Below  follows  a  presentation  of  some  interesting  examples  of  member  states  initiatives  on 
various levels. In many cases, the initiatives are too recent to be able to properly assess their 
impact at this stage.  This is in no way an  exhaustive list but serves to illustrate the varying 
kinds of approaches taken across the EU. 

2. 

NATIONAL SECTIONS 

Austria 

The  country  has  experienced  relative  decoupling  during  the  period  1990  to  2007  but  with 
continuing  increasing  domestic  material  input.  The  strong  growth  of  imports  makes 
estimations of related hidden or indirect material flows a very important topic. 

In  order  to  deal  with  these  issues,  the  country  is  developing  a  national  resource  efficiency 
action plan, which aims to achieve an absolute decoupling of economic growth from resource 
use  and  environmental  impacts.  The  plan  considers  equally  the  reduction  of  environmental 
impacts  and  the  reduction  of  primary  resource  consumption  including  the  potential  for 
efficiency gains over the whole life cycle in a systematic way.  

The basic idea is to gain good knowledge on the existing initiatives and develop good contacts 
with the stakeholders involved. It is clear that several initiatives already exist which address 
certain potentials for efficiency improvements on different stages of the life cycle and the task 
of  the  action  plan  is  partly  to  give  these  a  common  direction  and  guidance  for  becoming 
mutually  supportive  and  at  the  same  time  coordinate  relevant  stakeholders.  New  measures 
have also been suggested such as strategies on the level of enterprises, support of eco-efficient 
innovative  technologies,  communication  of  efficient  technologies,  techniques  and  use  and 
improvement of indicators and data. 

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The aim is to see total resource consumption decreasing in absolute in the long term and the 
resource productivity increasing by a factor 4. Domestic Material Input by material category, 
per  GDP  and  per  capita  but  also  Raw  Material  Consumption  expressed  as  Raw  Material 
Equivalent are used as progress indicators.  

Denmark 

Denmark  is  set  to  gradually  see  a  tax  reform  come  into  force  2010-2019,  which  reforms  or 
establishes  environmental  and  energy  taxes  with  the  specific  aim  of  changing  behaviour 
towards  less  resource  use  by  increasing  the  relative  cost  of  resource  intensive  products, 
technologies, energies and habits. 

Industries from all sectors will be affected and so will households but the increase in taxes on 
energy  by  about  15%  will  obviously  mainly  impact  energy-intensive  sectors.  This  tax  is 
differentiated  between  space  heating  and  energy  used  in  production  processes  and  it  is 
balanced  according  to  the  energy  content  in  different  fuels.  The  tax,  which  is  effective  for 
diffuse polluting sources, is used in parallel with the EU emission trading scheme, which in 
turn is adapted to a relatively small number of polluters generating high levels of pollution. 
The  instruments  thus  complement  each  other  and  considerations  will  be  given  to  avoid 
double-taxation. Households using fossil fuels for heating will also be affected. A green check 
will  be  provided  to  households  in  order  to  mitigate  a  negative  short-term  impact,  instead 
aiming  at  a  neutral  one.  In  the  long  term,  on  the  contrary,  as  they  adapt  their  behaviour  in 
terms  of  energy  consumption  and  turn  to  more  energy-efficient  technologies  and  while  still 
enjoying the green check, households may well benefit from the scheme. In addition to this, 
households will benefit from the global shift of taxation burden from labour to energy as the 
tax  reform  aims  at  reducing  the  marginal  income  tax  for  all  people  active  on  the  labour 
market. 

It has been shown previously that energy taxes have not managed to have an important impact 
on the transport sector. In the coming reform, this sector will instead be targeted by a specific 
set  of  taxes  including  road  pricing  for  lorries,  tax  on  vans  depending  on  fuel  consumption 
standards, tax on company cars etc, all with the intention of promoting a shift towards more 
sustainable and low-carbon transportation modes. Moreover, the 50% rise of the waste water 
tax  targeting  phosphorus  and  nitrogen  gives  incentives  to  discharge  less  polluted  water. 
Regarding waste, several changes are foreseen. 

The main difficulty as regards the implementation of the reform as seen from the business is 
the potential impact on the country's economic competitiveness. Taxation is however likely to 
reduce  the  overall  consumption  bills  and,  thus,  the  production  costs,  but  the  timing  for  this 
may  obviously  depend  on  the  sector  and  the  respective  potential  technology  lock-ins.  It 
should be mentioned that even though all member states have energy taxes, only a few have 
CO2  taxes.  Sweden  and  Finland  introduced  this  jointly  with  Denmark  in  the  early  90s  and 
Slovenia now has a similar tax.  

There are no direct targets on resource use but the ones to be used are linked to greenhouse 
gas emissions, to recycling and landfill and to the reduction of discharge of phosphorus and 
nitrogen  in  water.  Indicators  are  closely  linked  to  these,  such  as  fossil  fuel  domestic 
consumption, waste generation and water consumption and quality. 

Estonia 

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Estonia has adopted several policy documents governing mineral resource extraction, which 
provides the rules and principles for the exploration, protection and use of the minerals, with 
the  purpose  of  ensuring  an  economically  efficient  and  environmentally  sound  use  of  the 
earth's crust.  

There is a range of instruments to foster better extraction practices as e.g. minimum standards 
for extraction permits, mining land rent, minimum standards and periods of restoration time 
for  disturbed  land,  national  annual  extraction  quotas  and  taxes,  standardised  environmental 
impact  assessments  and  extraction  volumes  reporting.  Quantitative  targets  are  being  used, 
such  as  the  reuse  of  construction  demolition  waste  from  40%  in  2008  to  60%  in  2020. 
Specific  targets  and  linked  indicators  are  linked  to  rate  of  consent  from  local  authorities 
allowing  extraction  activities,  reduction  in  breaches  of  extraction  regulation  due  to  new 
control  system,  rate  of  regular inspection  of  mining  sites,  increased  rate  of  reuse  of  various 
by-products  from  extraction  of  natural  resources  and  of  construction  demolition  waste  and 
reduction  of  waste  material  from  processing  slate  gravel.  Initiatives  are  too  recent  to  be 
consistently  assessed  but  they  are  overall  considered  as  successful  even  though  certain 
guidance is still thought to be too vague.  

Finland 

The 2009 Natural Resource Strategy  presents a vision for Finland for 2030 and  it promotes 
the  concept  of  using  resources  in  an  intelligent  way  by  aiming  at  four  key  strategic  goals; 
becoming a thriving bio-economy generating high added value, utilising and recycles material 
flows  effectively,  regional  resources  generating  both  national  added  value  and  local  well-
being and, finally, taking initiatives and leading the way in related topics. While the level of 
domestic  resource  usage  has  been  stable  during  the  last  years,  the  volume  of  imported 
materials is increasing rapidly. 

The  strategy  takes  a  long  term  and  holistic  approach  of  the  use  and  conservation  of  natural 
resources and it does so for a range of resources (however climate change and water footprint 
are  probably  the  most  important  environmental  impacts  for  the  strategy)  and  across  sector 
borders. It seeks to involve all industrial as well as social sectors. This together with the fact 
that  it  integrates  resources  efficiency  with  business  opportunities  makes  it  a  quite  unique 
initiative in Europe even if it is still too early to properly assess its efficiency and impact. It 
however gives future orientation on a range of topics including e.g. enhanced control of the 
material cycle, product-centred resource efficiency and the interaction between rural areas and 
growth centres.  

As  already  mentioned,  its  implementation  follows  a  work  plan,  with  a  step  wise  iterative 
process  working  against  strategic  goals,  which  are  being  reviewed  periodically.  A  set  of 
development projects (e.g. the development of expertise on the reserves and characteristics of 
various  types  of  biomaterials,  the  establishment  of  biorefineries  and  the  development  of 
calculation methods and measures to express the use of natural resources and material flows) 
are  implemented  to  translate  the  strategy's  principles  into  concrete  actions.  The  targets 
presented are mostly related to municipal waste. 

Germany 

Since 2002, Germany is pursuing the target of doubling the raw abiotic material productivity 
from 1994 to 2020 (the amount of abiotic primary material used to produce one unit of GDP). 
The Ministry of Environment strengthens this even further in their 2008 Resource Efficiency 

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Strategy, by promoting the factor 4 (quadrupling the resource productivity) beyond 2020. This 
is a rare attempt in the EU to set quantified targets regarding overall resource use. Based on 
these  ambitious  targets,  policy  processes  as  well  as  practical  initiatives  are  structured.  All 
industrial  sectors  including  final  consumers  and  public  purchasers  are  targeted,  but  with 
special  focus  on  steel,  copper,  housing,  construction  and  environmental  technologies 
industries. 

Fact-finding studies and a dialogue process have been implemented, and other tools have been 
proposed  such  as  strengthening  of  existing  as  well  as  new  limit  values  for  products  and 
technologies,  strengthening  of  reporting  and  labelling  requirements,  stronger  take  back 
obligations and minimum recycling quota, green public purchasing, determination of resource 
efficiency  potentials  in  core  branches  and  development  of  integrated  strategies,  analyses  of 
resource use and related environmental impacts by branches, material systems and functions.  

The overall raw material productivity in Germany increased with 35% from 1994 to 2007 and, 
thus,  progress  remains  to  be  made  to  reach  the  2020  target.  The  needed  progress  becomes 
even more evident if taking into account the larger hidden flows, or the "backpacks", of the 
increasingly  imported  finished  and  semi-finished  products.  Studies  attempting  to  take  these 
into consideration result in strikingly lower material productivity. Whatever method used, it is 
still too early to separate any impact from the strategy from the general trend. E.g., the recent 
increase  in  price  volatility  of  imported  metals  has  resulted  in  a  higher  awareness  of  the 
scarcity of raw materials and this also drives resource efficiency regardless of the strategy. 

A  major  part  of  the  ongoing  work  is  the  development  of  a  number  of  local  initiatives  in 
different  Länder.  One  of  them  is  the  Efficient  Agentur  set  up  in  North  Rhine  Westphalia, 
which has developed a tool box with a range of consulting service, aiming at helping SMEs 
improving  their  resource  efficiency  through  their  production  processes,  avoiding  waste  and 
hazardous  emissions  with  instant  results  (as  opposed  to  "just"  comply  with  environmental 
legislation). One of the tools is the so called PIUS-check, an auditing system, which allows 
analysing  the  relevant  material  flows,  comparing  the  efficiency  of  current  production 
technology  with  best  available  technologies  and  to  conclude  recommendations  for 
improvements.  Part  of  the  costs  of  this  service  is  covered  by  the  national  clean  production 
programme. Since the beginning of the programme in 2000, more than 500 PIUS-checks have 
been  conducted  (more  than  4%  of  all  SMEs  in  industrial  production)  with  a  substantial 
amount  of  measures  with  a  pay-back  time  shorter  than  two  years  were  identified.  In  about 
70% of the PIUS-checks, the suggested measures include implementation of new production 
equipment and in the remaining 30% organisational changes. The progress indicators used are 
typically  total  production  cost,  raw  material  cost,  energy  consumption,  water  consumption 
greenhouse-gas  emissions.  The  companies  are  assisted  in  applying  for  financial  support  to 
implement the proposed measures. The available funding schemes are an important driver for 
the SMEs to adopt cleaner production methods and more than 40% of the audited SMEs did 
so. It is estimated that, for every euro invested, 2.4 Euros were saved.  

The  Agentur  actively  approaches  companies  that  may  benefit  from  the  PIUS-check  but  in 
about half of the cases the contact was initiated by the companies themselves.  

This  programme  has  been  particularly  successful  in  assisting  SME  with  adopting  clean 
production processes and to create greener products faster, especially in the metal processing 
and finishing sectors as well as in the food processing industry. A major success factor is the 
clear  communication  of  transparent  quantification  of  costs  and  potential  savings  linked  to 
resource use, on the company level, as opposed to presenting macroeconomic figures. Success 

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can  however  also  be  attributed  to  the  good  cooperation  between  industries,  industry 
associations, regional government and national institutions as well as the mix of consulting, 
information, dissemination networking and organisational and financial support.  

The Netherlands 

In  the  Netherlands,  with  the  experience  of  increasing  use  of  biomass  and  the  expected 
continuing increase in order to achieve the Dutch target regarding share of renewable sources 
in  the  2020  final  energy  consumption,  imports  of  biomass  are  becoming  increasingly 
important. In order to achieve the national objective of 23% of biomass in the energy mix by 
2030, as much as 60-80% of bio-based material would have to be imported. The net reduction 
in greenhouse gas emissions is however questioned in case land-use for biomass is associated 
with clearing forest, with conversion of peat land as well as with high fossil energy inputs for 
machinery,  fertilisers  and  other  agrochemicals.  The  use  of  biomass  must  thus  meet  certain 
sustainability criteria in order not to shift the environmental burden to other resources or other 
places, the latter being of particular importance with increasing imports. 

The  Netherlands  Standardisation  Institute  is  developing  standards  to  ensure  the  sustainable 
production  of  biomass  along  the  whole  chain,  with  the  aim  to  help  companies  as  well  as 
consumers  adopting  more  sustainable  consumption  patterns.  The  instrument  builds  on 
voluntary commitments by companies involved in the production, processing use of biomass 
and  it  sets  out  specific  criteria  based  on  minimum  requirements  for  sustainable  biomass 
production. Linked to this is a certification system where audits are to be performed in order 
to verify that applicants meet the sustainability criteria regarding greenhouse gas  emissions, 
competition  with  food  or  other  local  application,  biodiversity,  environment,  prosperity  and 
well-being.  The  measure  is  not  yet  in  place  but  is  thought  to  provide  for  a  transversal  and 
systemic approach that considers potential impacts of biomass production and use on a large 
range of natural resources and the standards are likely to be adopted at a larger scale in the 
upcoming  policies  on  natural  resources  management.  On  the  more  practical  side,  the 
flexibility of the certification, especially the provisions for small-holders, enables most of the 
companies  to get  involved in the initiative. The approach will however most likely run into 
various difficulties which will need to be worked on to overcome. The main threat is probably 
the difficulty to estimate the complex and interlinked real impacts on natural resources along 
the whole chain but, likewise, the impacts of the biomass competition with food demand and 
other land uses will pose problems in the actual use of the criteria. 

Once  these  problems  have  been  overcome,  there  do  not  seem  to  be  major  obstacles  in 
transferring this tool to other member states or even to the EU level, other than adapting the 
criteria to the specific national contexts.  

Portugal 

Portugal adopted a law establishing the organised waste market in 2009. The aim is to set up 
various online waste transaction platforms which are meant to bring together all producers of 
non-hazardous  waste  and  material  consumers  which  comply  with  the  terms  in  the  Waste 
Framework Directive. The aim is to enhance the recovery of materials and thereby prolonging 
their life cycle, cutting the demand for raw materials and promoting industrial symbiosis. The 
platforms  are  to  be  managed  by  private  entities.  There  are  no  identified  targets,  while  the 
broad aim obviously is to reach the targets set out in the EU Waste Framework Directive. No 
indicators to monitor progress are suggested. 

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Similar types of instruments have already been introduced in e.g. UK, France and Italy and 
also at a regional level in some member states. The implementation of such a tool at the EU 
level  should  not  encounter  major  difficulties  as  the  legal  framework  already  exists  even 
though there are significant differences in interpretation among member states. In particular, 
the  up  scaling  of  the  waste  market  for  specific  waste  streams  to  the  EU  level  could  be 
considered as the national markets might not be large enough to make the establishment of a 
market worthwhile. 

Sweden 

Another tax targeting behaviour is already in place in Sweden, where the carbon dioxide tax 
has resulted in a significant reduction of the fossil fuel consumption. This is in particular the 
result of the adoption of more resource efficient technologies. The tax was initially introduced 
in 1991 (jointly with Denmark and Finland) and has been progressively tightened since then 
with the last modifications in 2009. Sweden has used an explicit strategy of a global shift of 
taxation  from  labour  to  energy;  however  tax  revenues  are  not  labelled  for  a  specific  use.  In 
this  case,  it  is  the  release  of  emissions  which  is  taxed  and,  hence,  the  measure  primarily 
addresses the environmental impact of resource use even though in practice it also contributes 
to  reduce  the  actual  consumption  of  resources.  There  is  no  specific  target  for  the  CO2  tax, 
which is one of several tools to reduce negative impact on the climate. The overall target for 
the  share  of  renewable  energy  is  50%  by  2020  and  in  the  transport  sector  10%.  Moreover, 
between  2008  and  2020,  the  energy  intensity  should  reduce  with  20%.  The  aim  is  to  see  a 
reduction of emissions by 40% between 1990 and 2020. The tax is used in parallel with other 
market  based  instruments  such  as  the  certificates  for  electricity  produced  from  renewable 
energy  sources  introduced  in  2003  and  the  EU  emission  trading  scheme.  Other  existing 
market based instruments could be tightened if considered necessary. 

Changes in the Swedish energy and carbon dioxide taxation are considered to have had a great 
effect  on  emissions.  Estimates  indicate  that emissions  of  CO2  in  2000  were  at  least  5000  k 
tonnes  lower  than  what  they  would  have  been  without  changes  in  the  1990s.  The  tax  is 
however  not  the  only  contributor  to  reduced  emissions.  Between  2001  and  2006,  a  Green 
taxation shift was carried out worth slightly over SEK 17 billion. Legislation and economic 
instruments  in  the  waste  management  sector  as  well  as  support  for  local  climate  work  by 
investment  support  have  contributed  substantially,  together  with  the  green  electricity 
certificates system. 

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ANNEX II 

EXAMPLES OF IMPLEMENTING THE OBJECTIVE AND CONCEPTS OF A 
SUSTAINABLE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN POLICIES 

1. 

EXAMPLES OF INITIATIVE IN THE EU 

The  EU  Sustainable  Development  Strategy19  already  presented  operational  objectives 
related  to  improved  resource  efficiency,  environmental  impacts,  respecting  regeneration 
capacity  of  renewable  natural  resources,  applying  the  concept  of  life-cycle  thinking  and 
promoting reuse and recycling. 

The  Sustainable  Consumption  and  Production/Sustainable  Industrial  Policy  (SCP/SIP) 
Action  Plan20  proposes  concrete  actions  to  foster  the  sustainable  use  of  natural  resources, 
including actions on improved resource efficiency. As part of the Action Plan, the European 
Commission  is  examining  the  feasibility  of  including  resource  efficiency  in  implementing 
measures of the Eco-design for the energy-using products Directive21. This could concern 
for  instance  increased  use  of  recycled  materials/products,  improved  recyclability  and 
durability of products and less use of "critical" materials or materials with high environmental 
impacts.  The  Action  Plan  moreover  seeks  to  strengthen  and  extend  the  EU  Eco-label 
Regulation22  and  the  Energy  label  Directive23  as  well  as  the  use  of  Green  Public 
Procurement.  

The new Waste Framework Directive24 builds further on both Thematic Strategies on the 
Sustainable  Use  of  Natural  Resources  and  on  the  Prevention  and  Recycling  of  Waste25.  It 
makes several elements legally binding, notably the requirement for waste policy to consider 
the  whole  life-cycle  of  materials  in  waste  policy  development.  The  report  on  the 
implementation of the Thematic Strategy26 includes recommendations to better 'target' waste 
streams  incorporating  materials  having  "a  negative  environmental  and  health  impact  over 
their entire life cycle". The report also identifies the main efforts accomplished to "use waste 
as  resource".  Recycling  rates  are  increasing  in  the  European  Union  with  significant 
differences between Member States performances 

The  Climate  and  Energy  Package27  sets  out  how  to  cost-effectively  cut  greenhouse  gas 
emissions  in  absolute  terms,  within  the  ETS  and  outside  its  scope  and,  hence,  bring  about 
absolute  decoupling  of  emissions  from  growth.  Linked  to  the  target  of  increased  renewable 
energy  use  in  transport  and  the  importance  that  biofuels  will  play  in  the  transport  area, 
sustainability criteria including greenhouse gas performance, biodiversity and certain types of 

19 
20 
21 
22  
23  
24 
25 
26 
27 

COM(2007) 642 
COM(2008) 397 
Directive 2009/125/EC  
Regulation (EC) No 66/2010  
Directive 2010/30/EU 
Directive 2008/98/EC 
COM(2005) 666 
COM(2011) 13 
COM(2008) 30  

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land use changes are proposed. The package furthermore creates pressure to improve energy 
efficiency which is addressed directly in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan28.  

EU  policies  on  air  quality  and  air  emissions,  such  as  the  National  Emission  Ceilings  for 
Certain  Atmospheric  Pollutants29  and  Ambient  Air  Quality  and  Cleaner  Air  for 
Europe30,  have  been  a  major  driver  for  reducing  the  impacts  of  natural  resources.  By 
reducing air pollution from industry, e.g., the sustainable use of resources has been promoted 
and significant reductions in air pollution over the past years have been achieved irrespective 
of the economic growth in the affected sectors. EU air quality and emission control measures 
are a major driver for eco-innovation and green growth.  

The  Recycling  Lead  Market31  initiative  aims  at  encouraging  demand  for  products  with 
recycled  materials  that  provide  a  life-cycle  environmental  benefit.  The Bio-based  Products 
Lead Market32 aims to promote the development of sustainable products from renewable raw 
materials,  e.g.  bio-based  chemicals  and  plastic  and  has  seen  developments  in  the  areas  of 
methodology  for  the  sustainability  assessment  of  bio-based  products  as  well  as  of 
standardisation of methodologies. 

In  2008,  the  Commission  launched  The  Raw  Materials  Initiative33,  which  established  an 
integrated strategy to respond to the different challenges related to access to non-energy and 
non-agricultural raw materials. The initiative is based on three pillars: ensuring a level playing 
field  in  access  to  resources  in  third  countries;  fostering  sustainable  supply  of  raw  materials 
from European sources and boosting resource efficiency and promoting recycling. A follow-
up Communication was adopted earlier this year, which presents actions aimed at meeting the 
EU's future raw mateiral supply needs. The underlying idea of the communication is however 
access to material and the related competitiveness aspect 

The  Resource  Strategy  also  explicitly  refers  to  the  integrated  impact  assessments  for  a 
thorough consideration of economic, social and environmental issues and for the application 
of  life-cycle  thinking.  The  approach  presented  in  the  European  Commission  Guidelines  on 
Impact  Assessment34 is built on these general concepts and it requires the consideration of 
the interactions between natural resources. 

The  Communication  on  water  scarcity  and  droughts  in  the  European  Union35  aims  at 
ensuring sustainable water availability. It calls for policies to ensure that human activities do 
not  contribute  to  the  pressure  on  scarce  water  resources  and  it  stresses  the  need  to  adapt 
economic activities to the level of water available locally. It points out how priority should be 
given  to  water  savings  and  water  efficiency  measures.  Only  if  the  functioning  of  the  water 
cycle is fully considered, will water quantity issues be efficiently addressed. It recommends 

28 
29 
30 
31 

32 

33 
34 
35 

COM(2006) 545 
Directive 2001/81/EC 
Directive 2008/50/EC 
COM(2007) 860,  
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/lead-market-initiative/recycling/index_en.htm 
COM (2007) 860; 
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/lead-market-initiative/biobased-
products/index_en.htm 
COM(2008) 699 
SEC(2009) 92 
COM(2007) 414 

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integrating  further  water  issues  into  all  sectoral  policies  to  ensure  coherence  across  policy 
areas. 

Sectoral policies offer opportunitites to foster diffusion and further integration of the different 
concepts.  Appropriate  examples  in  this  respect  are  the  transport  and  agricultural  sectors, 
which both cover a range of resources. Transport policy36 focuses largely on energy use and 
air emission reductions but does not seem to fully acknowledge the importance of the impacts 
related to the land use when developing transport infrastructure. The concept of decoupling is 
not referred to as such but is reflected by the recognition of the need to ensure mitigation of 
adverse environmental impacts. The optimisation of transport systems accounting for impacts 
of the different transport modes shows an underlying life cycle thinking while eco-efficiency 
is present in the form of energy efficiency. 

Agricultural policy37 takes into account a wide range of affected resources, and the efficient 
use of water, soil, land and biotic resources is an obvious precondition for a more sustainable 
agricultural  sector.  Decoupling  is  again  not  referred  to  directly  but  is  reflected  in  the  move 
towards  reduced  environmental  impacts.  There  is  no  specific  mentioning  of  a  life  cycle 
approach but the necessity to develop more integrated policies, taking into account resource 
and  environmental  concerns,  is  recognized.,As  an  example  of  a  resource  specific  policy 
highly  relevant  to  the  agricultural  sector,  the  Soil  Thematic  Strategy38  aims  at  preventing 
further soil degradation while ensuring a sustainable use.  

The  6th  and  7th  Research  Framework  Programmes39  have  been  funding  a  number  of 
research projects aiming at supporting the implementation of resource policies, notably in the 
areas  of  Life  Cycle  Assessment  methodology  improvement,  eco-design,  industrial  ecology, 
waste prevention, recycling, bio-refineries and sustainable consumption. 

2. 

EXAMPLES OF INITIATIVES OUTSIDE THE EU 

Outside  Europe,  Japan  appears  to  have  realised  that  its  high  dependency  on  raw  materials, 
combined with the significant environmental problems linked to the shortage of final disposal 
sites, made it necessary to apply sustainable materials management. The 3R initiative40, with a 
set  of  laws  and  action  plans,  provides  a  core  legislative  framework  based  on  life  cycle 
thinking  and  the  integration  of  resource,  waste  and  product  policies  which  has  resulted  in 
Japan today  being  a leading example of absolute decoupling between  economic  growth and 
material use.  

Largely  inspired  by  Japanese  and  previous  European  experiences,  the  Chinese  Circular 
Economy  Promotion  Law  from  200841  aims  at  developing  this  paradigm  across  sectors  and 
resources  through  a  core  strategic  framework,  with  the  purpose  of  simultaneously  raising 
resource  utilisation  rates,  managing  waste,  protecting  and  improving  environment,  and 
achieving sustainable development. The design of a core legislative framework as a basis for 

36 
37 
38 
39 

40 
41 

COM(2006) 314 
COM(2008) 306 
COM(2006) 231. 
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp6/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.FP6HomePage  
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html 
http://www.env.go.jp/recycle/3r/en/approach.html 
http://www.fdi.gov.cn/pub/FDI_EN/Laws/law_en_info.jsp?docid=97504  

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future  environmental  legislation  is  remarkable  in  comparison  with  many  countries  that 
confine to non-binding guidelines or strategic documents.  

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ANNEX III 

EXAMPLES OF INDICATORS MEASURING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 

•  Environmentally-weighted Material Consumption (EMC) attempts to combine information 
on  mass  flow  with  life  cycle  assessment.  Focusing  on  pressures,  however,  it  can  only 
provide a proxy for related impacts. Moreover, aggregation and the necessary weighting of 
the  pressure  categories  need  further  development  and  possible  addition  of  pressure 
categories such as biodiversity loss is needed. 

•  Ecological  Footprint,  (EF),  combines  information  from  use  of  renewable  material  with 
CO2 emissions and land use and it aims at calculating how much biologically productive 
land and sea area is required to provide the resources consumed and  to absorb the  waste 
generated by a human population. It has reached high visibility and calculations are carried 
out for all countries in the world, in time series since 1961. Despite its very comprehensive 
benchmark  -  land  area  –  which  results  in  a  god  communicative  tool,  there  are  several 
methodological  weaknesses  such  as  its  limited  scope  which  excludes  certain  key 
environmental impacts and the tool is widely disputed by a good part of the scientific and 
statistical communities for its analytical power. 

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