The UN Environment Programme (Unep) said today that efficiency can cut natural resource use and environmental impacts, while boosting economic growth, providing a "fundamental" shift in the way resources are managed and financed.
Including land use change, natural resource extraction accounts for more than 60pc of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with biomass contributing the most (28pc), followed by fossil fuels (18pc) and non-metallic minerals and metals (17pc), according to Unep.
It "could derail efforts" to meet climate, biodiversity and pollution-curbing goals, and also impact economic prosperity and well-being. Unep said natural resource extraction could rise by 60pc by 2060 from 2020 levels, with primary energy up by 51pc, food and fibre biomass extraction up by 79pc and agricultural land up by 5pc. This would result in a 23pc increase in GHGs.
"Where consumption levels are very high, greater focus on lowering resource and material consumption levels to complement action on production and resource efficiency can reduce around 30pc of global resource use as compared to historical trends, while growing the global economy," Unep said. "This can also create the space for resource use to grow where it is most needed."
Per capita, high-income countries consume six times more resources and have 10 times more impact on climate change than low-income countries, according to Unep. Under its transition scenario, absolute reductions from high and upper middle-income countries outweigh increases in low and lower middle-income nations.
Incorporating environmental externalities in trade agreements, strengthening regulation of financial commodity markets, and putting in place impact-related border adjustment mechanisms are some of the solutions countries can implement to "prevent a race to the bottom on environmental and social standards of resource extraction, and maximise and retain the value from extraction processes in country". Reforming public subsidies contributing to unsustainable resource use, as well as scaling up private finance, is also recommended.
Under the scenario, the share of renewable energy rises from around one-sixth of supply in 2020 to around a third in 2035 and two-thirds in 2060. "The analysis identifies strong decoupling of energy supply and use from GHG, with the energy mix shifting decisively away from fossil fuels."
But some natural resources such as battery minerals are key to the energy transition and to meet global climate targets. "To stay below a 2°C temperature rise by 2050, we will need over 3bn t of energy transition minerals... right now, however, resources are extracted, processed, consumed and thrown away in a way that drives the triple planetary crisis — the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste," Unep executive director Inge Andersen said. The ongoing UN Environment Assembly is discussing responsible mining and sustainable use of energy transition minerals, following the resolution last year on the environmental aspects of minerals and metals management.
Unep said that policies must focus on production and consumption, with a stronger emphasis on the latter. "Concerted action to decrease material requirements for transitions to renewable energy systems — including by applying sustainable consumption and production, resource efficiency and circular economy strategies — can help facilitate the transition to clean energy for all countries, while minimising the socioeconomic impacts," Unep said.
