wrf2015 ss14 lettenmeier_decoupling_in_germany_1510314_final
TRANSCRIPT
Decoupling in Germany? Michael Le5enmeier & Iina Heikkilä
D-‐mat ltd.
• Germany has long been considered a front-‐runner in environmental policy
• The German resource produc9vity programme ProgRess has ambi99ous goals
• Does a decoupling of economy and environmental impacts happen on the basis of literature?
What the Finnish InnovaCon Fund Sitra wanted to know
RelaCve and absolute decoupling
Indicators showing absolute decoupling
Levelling out but no absolute decoupling
No absolute decoupling, if any
+ 16 % + 20 % + 74 %
Development of imports
Land use for food producCon
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
2000 2005 2010
Mill. hectares
Ko9mainen ruuantuotanto Tuodun ruuan vaa9ma maa-‐ala Produc9on in Germany Imported produc9on
German Environmental Economic AccounCng
Source: Destatis 2013
Raw-‐material use and GDP
0
50
100
150
200
250
1994
=100
Raw material productivity (abiotic) and GDP
GDP Raw material productivity Direct material imput Direct material imput (incl. imports) Abio9c DMI Abio9c RMI
Raw-‐material use, GDP and Target 2020
0
50
100
150
200
250
1994
=100
Raw material productivity (abiotic) and GDP
GDP Raw material productivity Direct material imput Direct material imput (incl. imports) Abio9c DMI Abio9c RMI
TMC
TMC and 2050 target
• Decoupling through matura9on
• Decoupling through burden-‐shiHing
• Decoupling through inten9onal resource produc9vity increase
Three types of decoupling (UNEP 2014)
• Closing inefficient produc9on in the east (1990ies)
• Reunifica9on transport infrastructure projects done (coming years)
• Resource-‐efficiency leaps in manufacturing companies (ongoing),
• Replacing coal by renewable energies (ongoing)
• Transport infrastructure repair wave (star9ng)
• Closing material cycles (e.g. urban mining, star9ng)
• ShiHing taxa9on focus from labour to natural resources (liTle ac9vi9es so far)
• Resource-‐efficient consump9on (future topic)
Decoupling in steps – or even projects?
• Matura9on aHer the re-‐unifica9on
• Absolute decoupling in domes9c indicators
• Material use has stabilized, but is not declining
• So far no absolute decoupling with imports included
• Measures: take imports and upstream into considera9on!
• Will decoupling do it?
Conclusions
Thank you!
Michael Le5enmeier D-‐mat ltd.
michael@d-‐mat.fi www.d-‐mat.fi
facebook.com/materialfootprint
• BMUB (2012). German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess). Programme for the sustainable use and conserva9on of natural resources. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conserva9on, Building and Nuclear Safety, Berlin.
• Bringezu, S. 2015. Possible target corridor for sustainable use of global material resources. Resources, 4(1), 25-‐54. • Desta9s (2012): Water footprints of food products in Germany 2000-‐2010. Sta9s9sches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. • Desta9s (2013a): Land use of food products 2010. Sta9s9sches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. • Desta9s (2013b): Umweltnutzung und WirtschaH. Bericht zu den Umweltökonomischen Gesamtrechnungen.
Sta9s9sches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. www.desta9s.de/DE/Publika9onen/Thema9sch/UmweltoekonomischeGesamtrechnungen/QuerschniT/UmweltnutzungundWirtschaHBericht5850001137004.pdf?__blob=publica9onFile
• Desta9s (2014): Nachhal9ge Entwicklung in Deutschland. Indikatorenbericht 2014. Sta9s9sches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden.
• DiTrich, M.; Giljum, S.; LuTer, s. & Polzin, C. (2012). Aktualisierung von na9onalen und interna9onalen Ressourcenkennzahlen. Umweltbundesamt. UBA-‐Texte 7/2013.Jorgenson, A. K., Clark, B. 2012. Are the Economy and the Environment Decoupling? A Compara9ve Interna9onal Study, 1960-‐2005. American Journal of Sociology. Vol 118(1):1-‐44.
• Global Footprint Network: Country Trends Germany. www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/germany/ visited 26.9.2014.
• LeTenmeier, M., Heikkilä, I. 2014. Talouskasvun ja ympäristövaikutusten ir9kytkentä Saksassa. (Decoupling of economic growth and environmental impacts in Germany. In Finnish.) D-‐mat ltd., Lah9/Finland.
• LeTenmeier, M., Liedtke, C., Rohn, H. 2014. Eight Tonnes of Material Footprint – Sugges9on for a Resource Cap for House-‐hold Consump9on in Finland. Resources 3, 488–515.
• NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and technology: Carbon footprint of na9ons. hTp://carbonfootprintofna9ons.com/ visited 23.10.2014.
References