Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth

By 2050, humanity could devour an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times its current appetite – unless the economic growth rate is “decoupled” from the rate of natural resource consumption, warns a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. While the report doesn’t offer detailed policy and technology options – that’s for later reports – it says technologies that have helped humanity extract ever-greater quantities of natural resources need to be re-directed to more efficient ways of using them. The report details progress in Germany, Japan, South Africa and China where government policy supports decoupling.

Source: Source: UNEP [1]