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T1 Sustainable Trade in Resources: Global Material Flows, Circularity and Trade
A1 United Nations Environment Programme, 
A1 International Resource Panel, 
K1 international trade
K1 resource exploration
K1 resource efficiency
K1 trade agreement
K1 green economy
K1 circular economy
K1 energy resource
K1 developing country
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/34344
UL https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/34344
NO The purpose of this discussion paper is to enhance understanding among trade and environment policymakers regarding trade flows of material resources – including their environmental impacts – and regarding trade’s potential to contribute to the transition to a greener, more circular economy. The paper summarises the IRP’s analysis on so-called upstream requirements of trade flows, drawing on the IRP reports International Trade in Resources (2015), Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity (2016), Sustainable Natural Resource Use (2017) and Global Resources Outlook (2019). It uses updated data to 2017 on trade flows and on the raw material equivalents of trade flows derived from the IRP Global Material Flows Database. The paper builds on the work of UNEP’s Environment and Trade Hub to offer policy implications focusing on the role of trade in moving production and consumption away from linear to more circular models.
DS UN Environment Document Repository
RD Sep 17, 2026