By Florian Flachenecker, Junior Economist, OECD, and Jun Rentschler, Economist, The World Bank¹

Various factors are putting increasing pressure on policy makers, researchers, firms and investors to explore pathways towards sustainable and efficient resource management. These factors include: high and volatile resource prices, uncertain supply prospects, rising demand, and environmental pressures. Moreover, rapid technological transitions that are changing lives for the better are also adding to the challenge. The significant increase in renewable energy technologies, such as solar power, electric vehicles and smart-phone use, are improving people’s lives. While these developments are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they are also driving up demand for critical natural resources.

Resource efficiency investments could help solve these challenges, yielding substantial benefits both economically and environmentally. And yet, global resource efficiency has increased by a mere 1% per year over the past three decades. This is insufficient to counterbalance ever-increasing resource demand. Continue reading “Investing in Resource Efficiency – The Economics and Politics of Financing the Resource Transition”