5. 5
Comparison of potential development paths: impact on the environment
39
69
17
52
2050
2030
59
78
47
68
2050
2030
Current development scenario
Circular economy scenario
EU-27, indexed (2012 = 100)
CO2
emissions
Primary
material
consumption
10. 5 June 2017, Helsinki. Jocelyn Blériot
@jossbleriot
Editor's Notes
Cleaning up is a necessary short term action, resetting the system is the long-term solution.
We decided to take a different entry point into that debate this time.
We did NOT take resource dependence as the starting point. Although EU remains heavily resource dependent
We did NOT start with environmental degradation although they are getting ever more evident.
We started analyzing the economic waste in our system. And we started in some of the most mature, optimized sectors. Look what you find:
Take mobility: The European car is parked 92 percent of the time
Take food: A full 31 percent of European food goes to waste along the value chain.
Or take buildings: In the built environment, the average European office is used only 35-40 percent of the time, even during working hours.
The European economy has improved in resource productivity but still remains surprisingly wasteful in its resource use and remains, for all practical purposes, a take-make-dispose product model.