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Germany’s Resource Efficiency Agenda: Driving Momentum on the National Level and Beyond

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Factor X

Part of the book series: Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science ((ECOE,volume 32))

Abstract

ProgRess—the first resource efficiency programme to be adopted by a European government—has been in place since 29 February 2012, with Germany embracing a trailblazing role once again. And that is a good thing, because only by being highly innovative both in terms of technology and society will we have a chance to compete globally and hold our ground as a prosperous country with a high-wage economy. We seek to use our innovative capacity very purposefully to enable as many people as possible throughout the world to permanently enjoy good material living conditions—without damaging nature or squandering our planet’s irreplaceable resources. After all, this Earth is only on loan to us from our children.

The German government and Bundestag (lower house of parliament) passed resolutions requiring reporting on progress in resource efficiency and an update of the ProgRess programme every 4 years. We fulfilled this requirement on 2 March 2016 when the federal cabinet adopted ProgRess II, which is both an implementation report and an update of ProgRess. This article describes Germany’s activities at the national level and Germany’s involvement in European and international initiatives, and it outlines the broad range of work being done in Germany by the 16 Länder (states) and at local authority level. It concludes by looking ahead to the further discussion in Germany and developments towards ProgRess III, to be passed in 2020.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    G7=Group of 7: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan.

  2. 2.

    We continue to work in the Steering Committee there. http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/

  3. 3.

    22./23.2.2016 in Pacifico/Yokohama, on international cooperation, especially with developing countries; and April 2016 on the IRP’s synthesis report.

  4. 4.

    This was highly influenced by the approach that originated in the waste management sector. Now the aim is to pursue the broader-based circular economy approach. https://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/080610-a5.pdf

  5. 5.

    Of particular interest to us in this Communiqué are pages 3-4 and 15 ff. on the Toyama Framework on Material Cycles.

  6. 6.

    Of particular interest to us in this communiqué is p. 29.

  7. 7.

    “Resource efficiency and Climate Change”, Tokyo, 12–13 December 2016; “International Resource Recycling”, Tokyo, 14th–15th December 2016.

  8. 8.

    Germany’s presidency began on 1.12.2016 and Argentina will take over on 1.12.2017.

  9. 9.

    Incidentally, this was instigated by a GIZ project carried out under BMUB’s International Climate Initiative, https://www.international-climate-initiative.com/en/news/article/new_indian_resource_panel_contributes_to_climate_protection/?iki_lang=en&cHash=ceb84b12ad053783c661c19e898469b6

  10. 10.

    Here relevant primarily SDGs 8.4 and 12.2, and also 9.4, 11b.

  11. 11.

    Links referring to this flagship initiative have apparently been removed from the Commission’s website or are inactive (see, for example, the link in following footnote).

  12. 12.

    The link “Go to the home page of the Resource Efficiency Flagship Initiative” given here was inactive on 12.11.2016.

  13. 13.

    http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/documents/erep_manifesto_and_policy_recommendations_31-03-2014.pdf p. 8 ff.

  14. 14.

    Proposals were only to be made when absolutely necessary and then only by several commissioners acting jointly. They would require the approval of the vice-president responsible before they could even be submitted to the Commission. The Secretariat-General would closely monitor the process and outcome at all times. The Secretariat-General alone was allocated some 200 additional posts to deal with its “additional” tasks. The Commission’s activities were to concentrate rigorously on a growth agenda, the substance of which seems to consist in handing out funding. For more information on the ideology behind this policy, the Commission communication entitled “Better regulation for better results” is to be recommended and makes fascinating reading. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/sites/digital-agenda/files/dae-library/communication_br_package.pdf. I myself considered launching a soil conservation initiative to demonstrate “better regulation” in practice, but found it simply impossible to achieve anything following the ideas and guidelines of the cited communication.

  15. 15.

    On 18.10.2012 10 ministries and agencies (M&As) from seven Member States participated in Berlin at the invitation of VDI ZRE. Other meetings took place on 17./18.02.2013 in Brussels at the invitation of WRAP UK with 20 M&As from 12 Member States; 15.01.2014 in Brussels with 20 M&As from 12 Member States at the invitation of the Commission; 10.11.2014 in Berlin (back to back with the European Resource Forum ERF), with 16 M&As from 10 Member States.

  16. 16.

    I am happy to note that the contract was awarded to a consortium of which VDI ZRE was a member. Access to the tool at: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/resat

  17. 17.

    The lead company in the consortium is the Brussels-based Technopolis Consulting Group Belgium.

  18. 18.

    In fact, we assume that we were the very first country whose government adopted a programme of this kind. The author welcomes any information to the contrary. Austria’s REAP, which is of great merit, was submitted a week before ProgRess, but it was a ministerial paper and was not presented to the Council of Ministers.

  19. 19.

    http://www.neress.de/termine/termin/1513-16-netzwerkkonferenz-in-berlin.html?cHash=79357ab25421cfa2fd1cf574f9fbf7b5&L=0 (in German)

  20. 20.

    COP21, the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

  21. 21.

    This concept was developed by Johan Rockström et al. (Stockholm Resilience Centre) in 2009.

  22. 22.

    http://www.resource-germany.com/

  23. 23.

    http://www.bmub.bund.de/en/topics/climate-energy/climate-initiative/

  24. 24.

    VDI ZRE is a limited company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung), owned by the VDI.

  25. 25.

    To be precise: as early as 1999. As a result, UBA presented a substantial report entitled “Grundsätze und konkrete Schritte einer stoffmengenorientierten Umweltpolitik” (not published) to BMU in May 2001 (UBA (2001a)), and in the same year published the comprehensive study “Nachhaltige Entwicklung in Deutschland” with an extensive chapter (VII) on natural resources; this book is not freely available on the internet; short version: http://www.apug.de/archiv/pdf/uba_nachhaltige_entwicklung.pdf (in German), here p.18 ff UBA (2001b). And Harry Lehmann, co-editor of this book, was instrumental in getting UBA to organize its first “Natural Resources Day,” held in Berlin on 16 September 2009. Its slogan was “Factor X: Beyond Climate Change.” (UBA (2009)). <RefTarget TargetType="URL" Address="https://sns.uba.de/chronik/de/concepts/t3e529bfc_12409c73a7a_-490b.html</ExternalRef>

  26. 26.

    On 12.-13.11.2012 (ERF) and on 14.11.2012 (NRF).

  27. 27.

    ERF: http://www.resourcesforum.eu/

  28. 28.

    NRF: http://www.ressourcenforum.de/ (in German)

  29. 29.

    When the cabinet decision was passed on 29.2.2012, no submissions had been received from Berlin and Brandenburg. However, this was quickly rectified as a result of parliamentary pressure from the Green party, part of the opposition in both Länder parliaments.

  30. 30.

    On efa: http://www.ressourceneffizienz.de/ressourceneffizienz/startpage-en.html (efa 2016). For the 15th anniversary on 11.12.2013: http://www.ressourceneffizienz.de/aktuelles-termine/detailansicht-alle/news/detail/News/ressourceneffizienz-gestern-heute-und-morgen-1.html (in German) (efa 2013).

  31. 31.

    http://www.bilress.de/bilress-netzwerk.html (in German) (BilRess 2015)

  32. 32.

    Not published.

  33. 33.

    My thanks go to VDI ZRE, especially to Dr. Christof Oberender, for invaluable support here.

  34. 34.

    Charts on this (and also on Sect. 13.5.2. below) can be found in my contribution in Thomé-Kozmiensky/Goldmann (eds.): Recycling und Rohstoffe, vol. 4. Neuruppin 2011, p. 26. The figures have changed very little since then.

  35. 35.

    To be precise: it is only marginally the concern of ProgRess, for example, regarding efficiency when designing or building energy installations. But in that case, the sort of questions we look at could be equally useful with regard to wind turbines or coal-fired power stations.

  36. 36.

    http://www.dena.de/veranstaltungen/archiv/fachveranstaltung-rohstoff-und-energieeffizienz-synergien-und-zielkonflikte-im-kontext-der-plattform-energieeffizienz-pfee.html (in German).

  37. 37.

    The ministry changed its name to the “Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety”. It acquired the building and urban development directorates-general from the former Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, and responsibility for renewable energy was transferred to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

  38. 38.

    This includes several annual conferences, which BMU carried out with BITCOM since 2007. They were organised by our product policy division (G I 4). http://www.bmub.bund.de/themen/wirtschaft-produkte-ressourcen/produkte-und-umwelt/produktbereiche/green-it/bmuubabitkom-jahrestag/ (in German).

  39. 39.

    This was the planning status at the time of going to press. Updates (in German) are available at: www.neress.de.

  40. 40.

    Arithmetically it is (GDP + value of imports)/materials consumed, including upstream chains.

  41. 41.

    BMWi introduced this indicator into the discussion in Brussels back in January 2014 in a background paper that had not been subject to interdepartmental consultation (“Resource efficiency targets and indicators,” undated, not published). We remain grateful to them for this.

  42. 42.

    In Sect. 3.3 of ProgRess II.

  43. 43.

    At the time of finishing this article, we are working on the basis of an annual augmentation of the indicator of 1.5658%, resulting in 36.4429% from 2010 to 2030. But these figures are still not stable; Destatis has already announced yet another revision of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Head of Division WR III: Resource Efficiency, Soil Conervation, Soil Conservation, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (Germany), Stresemannstraße 128-130, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Reinhard Kaiser

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Correspondence to Reinhard Kaiser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Factor X/10 Club, German Environment Agency, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany

    Harry Lehmann

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Kaiser, R. (2018). Germany’s Resource Efficiency Agenda: Driving Momentum on the National Level and Beyond. In: Lehmann, H. (eds) Factor X. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, vol 32. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50079-9_13

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