Raimund Bleischwitz

Cognitive and institutional perspectives of eco-efficiency

The paper sketches out a theoretical framework for analysing the interplay between eco-efficiency, cognition and institutions. It derives from analytical shortfalls of the prevailing literature, which features strongly engineering and business economics, by using insights from New Institutional Economics, from Cognitive Science and, partly, from Evolutionary Economics. It emphasises the role cognition and institutions play in the adoption of ‘green’ technologies by firms. A cognitive perspective derives from recent research on simple heuristics and context-based rationality; it is proposed that those findings can serve to analyse decision-making of individual actors respectively firms and, thus, should complement economic analysis. A second proposition is that eco-efficiency and normative rules such as a Factor Four strongly rely upon institutions, i.e. the ability of institutions to evolve over time and the development of those institutions that are most appropriate to enhance technological change. In this regard, business institutions and competition are crucial, but regulatory needs remain in order to safeguard continuity of knowledge creation. The framework allows for an analysis why overall adoption of eco-efficiency still can be considered relatively slow and why some markets and firms are far ahead. As a brief case study the article reflects upon German waste laws ability to enhance eco-efficiency.

Sustainable resource management : global trends, visions and policies

This work explores radical perspectives on how the global economy should use natural resources in intelligent ways. It is based on research by Germanys Wuppertal Institute.

Circular Economy Policies in China and Europe

The idea of a circular economy (CE) has become prominent in both European and Chinese policy making. Chinese and European perspectives on a CE share a common conceptual basis and exhibit many similar concerns in seeking to enhance resource efficiency. Yet they also differ, and this article explores differences in the focus of CE policy in China and Europe. We present evidence on the differing understandings of the CE concept in Chinese and European policy discourse, drawing on qualitative and quantitative analysis of policy documents, media articles, and academic publications. We show that the Chinese perspective on the CE is broad, incorporating pollution and other issues alongside waste and resource concerns, and it is framed as a response to the environmental challenges created by rapid growth and industrialization. In contrast, Europes conception of the CE has a narrower environmental scope, focusing more narrowly on waste and resources and opportunities for business. We then examine similarities and differences in the focus of policy activity in the two regions and in the indicators used to measure progress. We show differences in the treatment of issues of scale and place and different priorities across value chains (from design to manufacture, consumption, and waste management). We suggest some reasons for the divergent policy articulation of the CE concept and suggest lessons that each region can learn from the other.

Sustainable growth and resource productivity : economic and global policy issues

Introduction Raimund Bleischwitz, Wuppertal Institute, Germany, Paul J.J. Welfens, European Institute for International Economic Relations, Wuppertal (EIIW) and University of Wuppertal, Germany, and ZhongXiang Zhang, East-West Center, Honolulu, USA Part I: Raw materials supply and resource use from a global perspective 1. Will the mining industry meet global need for metals? Magnus Ericsson, Raw Materials Group (RMG), Stockholm, Sweden 2. Global resource use in a business-as-usual world up to 2030: Updated results from the GINFORS model Christian Lutz, Gesellschaft fur Wirtschaftliche Strukturforschung (GWS), Osnabruck, Germany, and Stefan Giljum, Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI), Vienna, Austria 3. Development and growth in mineral-rich countries Thorvaldur Gylfason, University of Iceland, CEPR, and CESifo, Iceland 4. The physical dimension of international trade 1962-2005: Empirical findings and tentative conclusions Monika Dittrich, University of Cologne and Wuppertal Institute, Germany 5. Defining critical materials Thomas E. Graedel, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, USA Part II: The economics of resources and sustainable growth 6. Explaining oil price dynamics Paul J.J. Welfens, European Institute for International Economic Relations, Wuppertal (EIIW) and University of Wuppertal, Germany 7. Technological catch-up or resource rents? A production frontier approach to growth accounting Natalia Merkina, Department of Economics, University of Oslo, Norway 8. Socio-ecological market economy in Europe: Interrelations between resource, labour and capital productivity Erich Hoedl, European Academy of Science and Arts, Austria 9. Why do companies ignore economic efficiency potentials? The need for public efficiency awareness Mario Schmidt, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany Part III: Empirical analysis of resource productivity: Trends and drivers 10. Decoupling GDP from resource use, resource productivity and competitiveness: a cross-country comparison Soren Steger and Raimund Bleischwitz, Wuppertal Institute, Germany 11. Anxiety and technological change: Explaining the decline of sulphur dioxide emissions in Finland since 1950 Jan Kunnas, European University Institute, Italy, and Timo Myllyntaus, University of Turku, Turun yliopisto, Finland 12. Greeces fossil fuel use in 2006: A production, consumption and supply-chain analysis Eleni Papathanasopoulou, Sustainable Solutions Greece Part IV: Global policy issues 13. China and Indias global demand for resources: Drawing some key implications on international energy security and Africas development Jennifer Li, Foundation for Environmental Security and Sustainability, Falls Church (VA) and US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 14. Asian energy and environmental policy: Promoting growth while preserving the environment ZhongXiang Zhang, East-West Center, Honolulu, USA 15. The rationale for and economic implications of dematerialisation Paul Ekins, Kings College, London, UK Conclusions: Towards a new resource economics Raimund Bleischwitz, Wuppertal Institute, Germany, Paul J.J. Welfens, European Institute for International Economic Relations, Wuppertal (EIIW) and University of Wuppertal, Germany, and ZhongXiang Zhang, East-West Center, Honolulu, USA

Eco-Efficiency, Regulation and Sustainable Business

This book presents important new research on applied eco-efficiency concepts throughout Europe. The aim of eco-efficiency is to achieve market-based measures of environmental protection, in order to enhance the prospects for sustainable development and achieve positive economic and ecological benefits.

Want, Waste or War? The Global Resource Nexus and the Struggle for Land, Energy, Food, Water and Minerals

In addition to environmental change, the structure and trends of global politics and the economy are also changing as more countries join the ranks of the world’s largest economies with their resource-intensive patterns. The nexus approach, conceptualized as attention to resource connections and their governance ramifications, calls attention to the sustainability of contemporary consumer resource use, lifestyles and supply chains. This book sets out an analytical framework for understanding these nexus issues and the related governance challenges and opportunities. It sheds light on the resource nexus in three realms: markets, interstate relations and local human security. These three realms are the organizing principle of three chapters, before the analysis turns to crosscutting case studies including shale gas, migration, lifestyle changes and resource efficiency, nitrogen fertilizer and food systems, water and the Nile Basin, climate change and security and defense spending. The key issues revolve around competition and conflict over finite natural resources. The authors highlight opportunities to improve both the understanding of nexus challenges and their governance. They critically discuss a global governance approach versus polycentric and multilevel approaches and the lack of those dimensions in many theories of international relations

The Sustainability Impact of the EU Emissions Trading System on the European Industry

This BEEP explains the mechanism of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and explore into its likely sustainability impact on European industry. In doing so, it focuses on energy-intensive indus-tries like cement, steel and aluminium production as well as on the emerging hy-drogen economy. The BEEP concludes that at the moment it is still very inconsis-tently implemented and has a fairly narrow scope regarding greenhouse gases and involved sectors. It may also give an incentive to relocate for energy-intensive industries. In its current format, the EU ETS does not yet properly facilitate long term innovation dynamics such as the transition to a hydrogen economy. Nevertheless, the EU ETS is foremost a working system that – with some improvements – has the potential to become a pillar for effective and efficient climate change policy that also gives incentives for investment into climate friendly policies.

Investments in material efficiency: the introduction and application of a comprehensive cost–benefit framework

ABSTRACT Increasing material efficiency is considered to yield multiple economic and environmental benefits. This paper firstly introduces a comprehensive cost–benefit framework to systematically assess the viability of investments in material efficiency. The framework comprises several components by (1) comparing a business-as-usual scenario with a scenario of scaling up investments in material efficiency, (2) covering economic and environmental dimensions, and (3) considering direct and indirect effects. In a second step, we match the framework to existing evidence from the literature, followed by an application of the framework to a microeconomic investment project financed by a multilateral development bank. Our results suggest that material efficiency investments can yield positive net benefits, which typically increase when non-monetary dimensions are additionally taken into account. Overall, our analysis calls for a more comprehensive approach towards material efficiency investment appraisals, the internalisation of externalities, and further empirical research to better understand the implications of moving towards material efficient economies.

The Resources of Economies and the Productivity of Materials: Relevance, Measurement, Empirical Trends, Innovation, Resource Policies

Besides the major concern with climate change, it is increasingly evident that the natural resource base is one of the major issues of international environmental economics and policy. This paper argues that resource productivity – that is the efficiency of using natural resources to produce goods and services in the economy – will be one of the key determinants of economic success and human well-being in the upcoming years and decades. Deviating from ongoing political struggle about burden sharing and abatement costs, our paper underlines that international economic policy shall promote resource productivity not only as a source of future competitive advantage as well as a pillar for the transition to a low fossil carbon economy.

Wer soll das bezahlen? – Künftige Ernährung unter dem Anpassungsdruck globaler Rohstoffmärkte

In den 1970er-Jahren bildeten die Szenarien des Club of Rome uber mogliche Wachstumskrisen als Folge von Engpassen in der Rohstoffversorgung einen festen Bestandteil vieler Debatten. Die – moglicherweise vorlaufige – Erkenntnis lautete, dass moderne Wirtschaften langst nicht so abhangig von Rohstoffen sind wie fruhere Wirtschaftsformen. Technologien und Innovationen gepaart mit menschlicher Kreativitat und klug angelegten Institutionen gelten heute als Antriebskrafte des Wohlstands. Die aktuellen Auseinandersetzungen um Rohstoffe in der Arktis, im Chinesischen Meer oder im Sudan machen jedoch deutlich, dass die materiellen Grundlagen des Wohlstands nicht vernachlassigt werden durfen. Es ware eine Illusion, vom unstrittig hohen Wert des Wissens und vom Konnen der Ingenieure auf eine nachlassende Relevanz von Rohstoffen zu schliesen. Doch was bedeutet es, die Relevanz von Rohstoffen fur moderne Wissens- und Technikgesellschaften zu erfassen? Welche Bedeutung haben Rohstoffe fur die Grundbedurfnisbefriedigung der Menschen, fur eine Wohlstands- und global nachhaltige Entwicklung? Kann die Energiewende in Deutschland Auftakt einer weltweiten sauberen Energieversorgung sein, wenn sie moglicherweise mit unfairen Abbau- und Verarbeitungspraktiken fur Metalle und Produktkomponenten in Entwicklungslandern einhergeht? Kann sie – wie im Bereich der Biokraftstoffe beobachtbar – gut gemeint sein, aber Landnutzungskonflikte international verscharfen?