Efficient use of natural resources improving in the European Union
A study published by Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union) shows that resource productivity has increased from €1.48 /kg in 2000 to €2/kg in 2015, an increase of 35.4% in real terms.
Resource productivity quantifies the degree of efficiency in the use of natural resources and indicates whether economic growth is compatible with more efficient use of natural resources in the environment.
Since 2008, resource productivity has increased in the EU, supported both by the growth of economic activity as measured by GDP, and by reducing the extraction of materials, as measured by domestic material consumption (DMC). During the previous period from 2000 to 2008, GDP and DMC had increased in parallel in the EU, which resulted in relatively constant resource productivity.
According to recent DMC estimates for 2015, 13.2 tons of crops, minerals and metals were consumed per capita in the EU, against 15.5 tonnes in 2000. This reduction is equivalent to a saving of 2.3 tonnes per person, which means that in 2015, some 6 kg less per person per day were consumed as compared to 2000.
Eurostat: materials flow accounts and resource productivity, Jul. 2016
Eurostat press release, 7 July. 2016
