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Limiting resource use so that everyone

gets its fair share

Veronika Kiss, CEEweb for Biodiversity

ISEE 2014

14th August 2014, Iceland

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Content Introduction

Facts

Existing and proposed strategies

Principles

Tools

Some of the activities

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Found in 2010,

Open platform for organizations

(40)

Advocating for bringing down

consumption and refitting our

economy inside its ecological

space through resource capped

economies considering social

justice and ensuring sufficiency

Different ways of discussions on

elaborating proper tools to

achieve its aims

Introduction

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• Last century fossil

fuel use increased

by a factor of 12,

• 34 times more

extracted material

resources,

• Currently, an

European

consumes 15 tones

of materials

annually, and 5

tones of waste

Resource use facts

Source: UN IRP Decoupling report

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• Ecosystems are under

pressure, e.g. demand

for food, feed and fiber

may increase by 70% by

2050

• 60% of ecosystems are

degraded

• Unable to provide

essential services

• Well-being decreases

Resource use and well-being

Source: Living Planet Index: The global index shows that vertebrate

species populations declined by almost 30% between 1970 and 2007

(Zoological Society of London/WWF, 2010)

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Income inequality increased in most, but not all states, product and labor

market regulations and institutions became weaker

Projection for 2060 by the OECD report:

– Growth will slow to 2,7%, BUT world will be four times richer

– Europe and the USA: 50 million migrants due to workforce and tax base

– Inequality will rise by 30%

Economic growth

and inequalities

Source: OECD reports: An overview od growing inequalities in

the OECD countries, Policy Challenges for the Next 50 Years

Source: UNECEF: Global Inequality

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Strategies for

reducing the harmful effects of resource use

1. Substitution - More harmful to less harmful resources, BUT

• more metal resources use scarcity extraction becomes more

resource intense and pushes the limits

2. Using resources more efficient

• Pressure shifted in time and space

• Economic growth will relentlessly

outstrip efficiency gains

3. Reduction of resource use

• Most economic reduces production

cost

• Deals with scarcity

• Tackles the shift of environmental

impact Source: UN IRP Decoupling report

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International

Resource Panel’s Decoupling report 1. Business as usual

• tripling of global recourse use by 2050

• Metabolic rate 16 tons/capita/year = EU’s current average

2. Moderate contraction and convergence

• 40% increase overall resource use extraction

• Metabolic rate 8 tons/capita/year = the current global average

3. Tough contraction and convergence

• Global consumption maintained on the level of 2000 and the same in

every country Same level of environmental impact due to population

growth

• Industrialized countries reduce by a factor of 3 to 5 (16 to 5-3

t/capita/year)

• Developing states achieve 10-20% reduction in their metabolic rates

• System level innovation

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Principles • absolute reduction in resource use, progressively lowered cap,

• monitoring and enforcement, transparency,

• adaptation, resilience, re-localized economy, products and services with

low input,

• sufficiency, environmental justice, ecological debt, social concerns,

• balanced human labour-machine labour,

• complementary measures (effective regulation of pollution and land use)

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Defining caps • Resources can be

• Renewable limited,

• decreases fast abundant,

• everywhere concentrated

• Need for

• Policies stressing the need for proper biophysical accounting: amount,

distribution, access

• Interdisciplinary analysis, scientific and public debate

• Using available indicators and methods (four footprints, LCA, I/O, MFA,

HANPP, etc.) and non-traditional indicators (regeneration, economic

and non-economic values)

The definition of caps should take into account the carrying capacity of the

ecosystems and the impact of resource use on peoples livelihood.

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Tools RCC advocates for Overshoot – use resources above carrying capacity

Return to carrying capacity

Regulation of input into the economy

• Start with measures address the use of non-renewable energy

• Horizontal resource,

• Affects the whole consumption, production systems,

• Has an impact on other resources

• Additional caps can be studied, progressively implemented

What to do?

How?

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Non-renewable

energy entitlement scheme Cap on non-renewable energy use at EU level based on present use rates,

lowered progressively year by year,

Consumer entitlements per capita and per sector distributed with the

involvement of all stakeholders,

Interest free “consumer entitlement money”for the savings,

Environmentally and socially certified market,

Revolving fund for investments in

energy efficiency and renewables

providing interest free loan with a

payback period adjusted to the energy

savings or income generation realised

through the investment,

Advisory service for all stakeholders to

change their behaviour and adapt to the new

scheme

Accessible to everybody including the poor,

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TEQs

(Tradable Energy Quotas)

• caps the fuel and electricity consumption

of the national economy

• is in line with national emission targets

• optimize the energy use available

under the cap

• allows trade

Rimini Protocol- An Oil Depletion Protocol limits the national rate of extraction and consumption to the current

national (NDR) and global depletion rate (GDR) respectively, depending

on whether a particular country is an oil importer or exporter.

facilitates the transition to a post-oil society through reducing dependency.

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Activities of the RCC • Events for outsiders

• European Commission

• Degrowth Conference

• Members of the European

Parliament (planned)

• Events for RCC partners

• Scientific workshops

• Constant electronic Skype meetings

• Yearly action plan

• Communication materials

• Poster: ISEE 2014,

World Resources Forum 2014

• Website: www.ceeweb.org/rcc

• Policy document

• Leaflets

• Scientific E-book (planned)

.

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Thank you for your attention!

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rcc@ceeweb.org