Exploring Perspectives on Climate-resource-nexus Policies

barriers and relevance in different world regions

Publication: Article
Citation: Hirschnitz-Garbers, M., Araujo Sosa, A., Hinzmann, M., Exploring perspectives on climate-resource-nexus policies: barriers and relevance in different world regions, J.sustain. dev. energy water environ. syst., 1090408, DOI: https://doi.org/10.13044/j.sdewes.d9.0408

Natural resource extraction and processing accounted for 23 % of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. Therefore, reducing resource use through resource efficiency promises significant contributions to climate protection. This "climate-resource-nexus" has mostly been explored from a scientific, Global North-oriented perspective. In this article, researchers from the Ecologic Institute analyze the potential interactions between climate and resource policy in different world regions. They did not find a generic climate-resource-nexus policy. The article is available online.

Scientific studies mostly address greenhouse gas emission reduction potentials of resource efficiency approaches, e.g. lifetime extension, material substitution, and recycling. Interview findings reveal that climate and resource policy measures will have to differ regionally to improve relevance and fit, and that silo culture may prevent an integrated climate-resource-nexus perspective. It is argued that creating an overarching line of policy reasoning through cross-departmental cooperation could help overcoming silos and grant flexibility to national and regional policy-making to adapt policies to their contexts.

The Climate-Resources-Nexus – ICARE Final Conference

Modelling and policies to foster synergies between resource conservation and climate protection

21 September 2021
online

Publication:Report

Decoupling economic growth and resource use is a core objective of the "European Green Deal". How this is to be achieved is formulated in the new "Action Plan for the Circular Economy" and the "Industrial Strategy" of 2020. Reason enough to take a closer look at the current but also the older strategy papers – which concrete goals do the strategy papers contain – and which ones not? Which areas are addressed and which measures proposed – and what is announced for the near future? Is today's resource conservation policy more ambitious than in its early days? This paper presents the key political documents of European resource policy and traces lines of development.

Ressourcenschonungspolitik in der EU

Zusammenschau politischer Strategiepapiere von den Anfängen bis heute

Year 2021

Event:Digital Event

This ICARE-project online seminar served to discuss issues and relevance of the climate-resources-nexus among academic institutions. Mandy Hinzmann from Ecologic Institute, Dr. Thomas Gibon from Luxembourg Institute for Science and Technology LIST and Prof. Edgar Hertwich from Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU presented findings of recent research projects dealing with the nexus.

Identifying Aspects and Relevance of the Climate-resource-nexus

29 September 2020
online

Publication:Report

As part of the ICARE-project (Interactions between international measures for Climate Action and Resource Efficiency), the present study aimed to investigate key findings on the climate-resource-nexus from literature and identify international measures for climate protection and resource conservation. The study then analysed these measures as regards (i.) possible interactions (synergies and trade-offs) between them and (ii.) their potential relevance and fit for different world regions.

Climate Protection and Resource Conservation

Analysing the climate-resources nexus and interactions between international policy measures

Year 2020

Project

Climate and resource policy are important fields of action at international and national level. In contrast to climate protection, there is no international policy regime for resource conservation and its societal relevance appears lower than for climate protection. However, scientific findings and political debates are increasingly pointing out that climate protection and resource conservation must be considered together, since interactions can offer both synergies and trade-offs. For example, saving primary raw material use by fostering recycling could help reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions require large quantities of metallic and mineral raw materials whose extraction and production are associated with environmental impacts (e.g., land consumption and environmental pollution due to the extraction of mineral resources as well as energy-intensive processing) and which are partly considered as critical raw materials. Hence, in the context of the nexus of resource conservation and greenhouse gas neutrality, positive and negative effects on resource consumption and energy consumption are equally conceivable.

Identifying and Assessing Interactions between International Climate and Resource Policy (ICARE)

Oct 2018 - Jan 2022

Language: English
Authorship: Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers

Ariel Araujo

Mandy Hinzmann
Published in: Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems
Published by: International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES Centre), Croatia
Year: 2021
Dimension: 30 pp.
ISSN: 1848-9257
DOI: 10.13044/j.sdewes.d9.0408
Project: Identifying and Assessing Interactions between International Climate and Resource Policy (ICARE)
Project ID: 3554
Keywords: Climate

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

climate-resource-nexus, policy measures, relevance, world regions, exploratory research

Further Links

PublicationReportExtended Producer Responsibility and Ecomodulation of Fees

Publication's cover: Extended Producer Responsibility and Ecomodulation of Fees

In this analysis, Ecologic Institute focused on four product streams: plastic/packaging, waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), batteries and textiles to investigate the four cross-sectional aspects: modulation criteria, size of the fees, cost coverage and... Read more

Sachdeva, Anurodh; Ariel Araujo and Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers 2021: Extended Producer Responsibility and Ecomodulation of Fees. Opportunity: Ecomodulation of Fees as a Way Forward for Waste Prevention. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.

EventDigital EventIdentifying Aspects and Relevance of the Climate-resource-nexus

Implementing ambitious climate protection is the central contemporary environmental policy issue on international and supranational level. Stepping up climate protection is urgently needed in order to prevent dangerous climatic change and achieve the goals of the 2015 ... Read more

Digital Event:Identifying Aspects and Relevance of the Climate-resource-nexus

Date: 29 September 2020
Location: online