Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Ressourcenschonung als Zukunftsaufgabe

Ansatzpunkte für eine systemische Ressourcenpolitik

The national and international political agenda shows that resource conservation is a central task for environmental policy: In Germany, Europe and globally, there are political programmes and strategies aimed at fostering sustainable resource use. In five theses, this brochure from the SimRess project shows that an integrative and systemically designed resource policy contributes to achieving the goals of resource protection and climate protection. The study was carried out by Ecologic Institute with Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers and Susanne Langsdorf as co-authors. The brochure is available for download.Read more

Publication

Article

Global Environment

Governance

Developing Countries in the Lead – What Drives the Diffusion of Plastic Bag Policies?

While diffusion patterns are quite well understood in the context of the Global North, diffusion research has only been applied to a limited extent to investigate how policies spread across developing countries. Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch, Linda Mederake and Ulf Stein therefore analyze the diffusion patterns of plastic bag bans and taxes in the Global South and Global North to contribute to the further refinement of diffusion theory by specifically addressing the under-researched Global South. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

RECREATE Green Horizons Scoreboard

green-horizons.eu/

The RECREATE Green Horizons Scoreboard is a website that presents relevant indicators for tackling societal challenges in the areas of climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials. The Scoreboard provides indicators on ten different Environmental Innovation Systems, or fields of knowledge, that are of high relevance to the areas of climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials.Read more

Publication

EU's Future R&I Needs in the Fields of 'Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials'

Recommendations from the RECREATE project

This summary pocket book presents key recommendations gathered in the project RECREATE regarding future research and innovation needs in "Societal Challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials". The results include very concrete recommendations on selected topics, overarching recommendations which shall help integrating the different research areas better and recommendations regarding the use of various methodologies. The summary pocket book is available for download. Read more

Publication

Top Emerging Bio-based Products, their Properties and Industrial Applications

This brochure includes a set of infographics presenting the top 20 innovative bio-based products in Europe. Through an assessment of the active marketplace, EU-based development, innovation degree and market potential, the top 20 most innovative BBPs holding the greatest promise for commercial deployment within the next 5–10 years were identified. This selection includes engineering materials, new bioplastics, high added-value products for demanding applications in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields as well as sustainable substitutes for critical raw materials. The brochure is available for download.Read more

Publication

Bio-based Products – from idea to market

15 EU success stories

Bio-based industries aim to convert biological inputs, residue and wastes into greener everyday products. The industry is small compared to more traditional ones and it is a nascent industry undergoing rapid developments. Developing bio-based products demand technological innovations and market development. The fifteen success stories of specific bio-based products in this brochure, span over nine EU Member States, and they cover a wide range of products and applications. The brochure is available for download.Read more

Event

Innovative Bio-based Products: Investment, Environmental Impacts and Future Perspectives

TimeLoc

6 June 2018

Brussels

Belgium

This conference looked into the innovative bio-based products sector. It presented key insights on the environmental impacts, investment potential and innovative aspects of selected bio-based products.Read more

Publication

Article

Climate

Contemporary Resource Policy and Decoupling Trends

Lessons Learnt from Integrated Model-Based Assessments

Addressing climate change and natural resource depletion has been key to the international and national sustainability agenda for almost 30 years. Despite existing efforts, global CO2 emissions and raw material use levels continue to grow. This seems to suggest the need for more systemic approaches in environmental policy. The authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers, call upon policy makers to integrate rebound mitigation strategies and move beyond exclusively improving efficiency to tackling structural and behavioural changes. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Report

Potentiale und Kernergebnisse der Simulationen von Ressourcenschonung(spolitik)

Endbericht des Projekts "Modelle, Potentiale und Langfristszenarien für Ressourceneffizienz" (Sim-Ress)

The SimRess project tested the potential effects of future developments and strategies relevant to resource policy on important environmental and economic indicators. The study summarises the main project findings of the project "Models, Potentials and Long-Term Scenarios for Resource Efficiency". It is available for download.Read more

Publication

Report