The Dematerialization of Natural Resources and Resource Efficiency During 1990 to 2010

摘要

Various indicators have been developed for measuring the physical metabolism of economies and assessing the pressure on natural systems of material throughput. Among them, resource efficiency, which can represent the progress toward dematerialization, has become a popular indicator since the early 1990s. Improved resource efficiency, however, may not save resources, but result in even greater consumption through the so-called 'Jevons paradox.' This paper first compares countries' achievement of relative decoupling and absolute decoupling from four types of natural resources over the 1990-2010 period. We then apply a panel analysis to identify the interaction between the improvement of resource efficiency and economic growth. Based on the results, we further estimate the impacts of efficiency improvement, taking rebound effects into account in the short run. The results show that almost one in three countries achieved absolute good decoupling during the last two decades. Among the four types of natural resources we examined in this study, fossil fuel, ores and biomass exhibited a strong relationship between efficiency and economic growth, but industrial minerals did not. Higher resource efficiency can contribute to economic growth and dematerialization, while the development of technology may lead to a rebound effect in the short run. Finally, we analyze implications of our findings for post-2015 SDG designation as setting various targets based on the priority between renewable and nonrenewable resources and levels of resource efficiency across different scales of countries.