Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth - Summary

United Nations Environment Programme

Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth - Summary

dc.contributor.author	United Nations Environment Programme
dc.contributor.organization	International Resource Panel
dc.contributor.other	Fischer-Kowalski, Marina
dc.contributor.other	Swilling, Mark
dc.contributor.other	von Weizsäcker, Ernst Ulrich
dc.contributor.other	Ren, Yong
dc.contributor.other	Moriguchi, Yuichi
dc.contributor.other	Crane, Wendy
dc.contributor.other	Krausmann, Fridolin
dc.contributor.other	Eisenmenger, Nina
dc.contributor.other	Giljum, Stefan
dc.contributor.other	Hennicke, Peter
dc.contributor.other	Romero Lankao, Paty
dc.contributor.other	Siriban Manalang, Anna Bella
dc.coverage.spatial	China
dc.coverage.spatial	South Africa
dc.date.accessioned	2016-10-11T20:08:07Z
dc.date.available	2016-10-11T20:08:07Z
dc.date.issued	2011
dc.description	Humankind has witnessed phenomenal economic and social development in the past century. However, there are increasing signs that it has come at a cost to the environment and to the availability of cheap resources. Despite progress, there is still great disparity between the rich and the poor. The dilemma of expanding economic activities equitably while attempting to stabilize the rate of resource use and reduce environmental impacts poses an unprecedented opportunity and challenge to society. In this report, the International Resource Panel has sought to apply the concept of decoupling economic growth and human well-being from environmental impacts and resource use to address this challenge. The report provides a solid foundation for the concept of decoupling, clearly defining key terms and providing empirical evidence of escalating resource use. It shows that decoupling is already taking place to some extent but is lagging far behind its potential. The scenarios show that we are facing a historic choice about how we use resources and the report scopes the potential of innovation, rethinking economic growth and the role of cities in building more resource efficient economies. Four case studies at the country level show how policy makers are implementing decoupling strategies. This report focuses on material resources, namely fossil fuels, minerals, metals and biomass and will be complemented by parallel reports of the IRP on land and soil, water, metals, cities and technologies to mitigate GHG emissions. These future reports will contribute to the International Resource Panel’s objective to build a better understanding of how to decouple environmental impacts from economic growth and improved human well-being. It is hoped that policy makers aiming to green their economies will greatly benefit from the contributions that the International Resource Panel is making through its work on decoupling resource consumption from economic growth.	en
dc.format	pdf
dc.identifier.isbn	978-92-807-3167-5
dc.identifier.uri	https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/8775
dc.language	English
dc.page.number	58 p.
dc.rights.accessLevel	Public
dc.subject	natural resource
dc.subject	economic growth
dc.subject.sdg	SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
dc.subject.sdg	SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
dc.title	Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth - Summary	en
dc.title.alternative	DESACOPLAR: el uso de los recursos naturales y los impactos ambientales del crecimiento económico	es
dc.title.alternative	デカップリング: 天然資源利用・環境影響と経済成長との切り離し	ja
dc.type	Policy brief
wd.identifier.sdgio	http://purl.unep.org/sdg/SDGIO_00000046
wd.identifier.sdgio	http://purl.unep.org/sdg/SDGIO_00000042