The resources of economies and the productivity of materials : relevance, measurement, empirical trends, innovation, resource policies

Besides the major concern with climate change, it is increasingly evident that the natural resource base is one of the major issues of international environmental economics and policy. This paper argues that resource productivity – that is the efficiency of using natural resources to produce goods and services in the economy – will be one of the key determinants of economic success and human well-being in the upcoming years and decades. Deviating from ongoing political struggle about burden sharing and abatement costs, our paper underlines that international economic policy shall promote resource productivity not only as a source of future competitive advantage as well as a pillar for the transition to a low fossil carbon economy.

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