Presented at the 10th Asia-Pacific RCE Meeting, 3 November, 2017, New Delhi, India

1. Resource EfficiencyResource Efficiency
The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI)The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI)

2.  About two centuries after Malthus first raised the
concerns of resource scarcity, it has come back to
haunt the humanity again
 In early 1970s, the oil crisis was the first such
reminder which also led to the Club of Rome and its
concerns for environment and resources
 In the first decade of the new millennium, rising
prices of resources raised serious concerns, which
fell a bit since onset of 2010s, but rising again now
 While, the concern of Malthus was based on limited
quantity of land, scarcity of which was overcome by
technology that involved use of several other
resources, current concerns are due to the
emerging scarcity of all types of resources!
 With the change of development and technology paradigm and
Resource Efficiency - Background

3. Resource Consumption and Development

4. Material Consumption of Selected Products

5.  While scarcity of resources was felt from
time to time, the latest round of scarcity
has been felt largely due to emergence of
China and India as global economic
power, the additional demand on
resources was high as these are large
countries.
 It is now well acknowledged that if the
whole world gets a standard of living and
lifestyle comparable to US, we will need at
least four earths.
 Obviously, this is impossible to achieve,
but one cannot also ignore the aspirations
of people around the world.
 The challenge, therefore, is to raise the
standard of living throughout that will be
comparable to the US, which would be
manageable within the finite resources
Context of Resource Efficiency

6. Global trends and resource security concerns
BIOMASS
MINERALS
FOSSIL FUELS
METALS
Growing demand for resources
Rising commodity price volatility
Input constraints: labour, land, water,
technical, services
Concentration of global mining in
developing countries
Increased attention from global
environmental and social NGOs, LTO
Growing trade distortionary practices
Resource concentrations through
consolidation of companies
Difficulty in substituting these
resources
Increase demand for ecological
protection and transparency.

7. (WRI chart using World Bank data, 2012)
Are We Running Out?
Price Trends of Major Commodity Bundles
(constant $ 2005 )
Priceinreal2005dollars
250
200
150
100
50
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Food
Energy
Timber
Fertilizers
Metals and Minerals

8.  Resource efficiency can be seen from different
perspectives
 From a narrow perspectives, it would mean
getting more output from the same resources
and minimization of waste – decoupling of
economic growth and resource use
 From a broad perspective it will mean
establishment of a circular economy – resource
once used will continue to be used or given back
to nature with zero waste generated
 SDG 12: Sustainable consumption and
production – important role for RE and circular
economy
 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management
and efficient use of natural resources
 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation
Perspectives on RE

9.  Decoupling economic growth from natural
resource use is fundamental to sustainable
development.
 Global figures, however, point to worsening
trends: domestic material consumption (the total
amount of natural resour ces used in economic
processes) increased from 1.2 kg to 1.3 kg per
unit of GDP from 2000 to 2010. Total domestic
material consumption also rose during the same
period — from 48.7 billion tons to 71.0 billion
tons.
 The increase is due in part to rising natural
resource use worldwide, in particular in Eastern
Decoupling of Resource Use

10. Decoupling – How countries are doing

11.  Resource efficiency and
material flow in sectors and
aggregate economy
 Exploring policies to promote
resource efficiency in
different forms
 Bringing best practices for
ensuring maximum output
from given resources
 Best practices for
minimization of waste
 Developing pathways to
reach the vision of circular
economy
Resource Efficiency Initiative

12.  Partnership of GIZ, Adelphi, CII and TERI
 assessment of India's current and future needs for resources is
carried out and The study will contribute to the achievement of
the following results:
 On the basis of poilicy inputs, strategies and action plans for
resource efficiency are prepared and implemented for key
sectors of interest.
 Partnerships are established between European and Indian
businesses and stakeholders on resource efficiency in sectors of
interest;
 Awareness is raised on the need for resource efficient
approaches in India among key government and non-
governmental organisations, business establishments, students,
media and the general public through promotion of EU standards
EU REI Project in India

13. Thank YouThank You