20 September 2011: The European Commission has unveiled a road map for transforming Europe’s economy into a resource-efficient one by 2050, identifying the economic sectors that consume the most resources – namely food, buildings and mobility – the combined effects of which account for 70-80 percent of all environmental impacts.

The Commission Communication “Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe” suggests tools and indicators to help guide action in Europe and internationally, with a vision that by 2050 all resources are sustainably managed, from raw materials to energy, water, air, land and soil. In this scenario, climate change milestones have been reached, while biodiversity and the ecosystem services it underpins have been protected, valued and substantially restored. It envisions competitiveness and growth based on using fewer resources in production and consumption of goods, and creating business and job opportunities from activities such as recycling, product design, materials substitution and eco-engineering.

Governments are invited to shift taxation away from labor towards pollution and resources, and to provide incentives to push consumers towards resource-efficient products. The road map also recommends adapting prices to reflect the real costs of resource use, especially on environment and health.

The road map recommends an integrated approach across many policy areas at EU and member State levels, with clear targets and indicators providing predictability and transparency to be developed by 2013, through a participative process involving policy makers, experts, NGOs, business and consumers. The road map already includes the following milestones: by 2020, citizens and public authorities have the right incentives to choose the most resource-efficient products and services, through appropriate price signals and clear environmental information; by 2020, natural capital and ecosystem services will be properly valued and accounted for by public authorities and businesses; the loss of biodiversity in the EU and the degradation of ecosystem services will be halted and, as far as feasible, biodiversity will be restored; by 2020, good environmental status of all EU marine waters is achieved; by 2015 fishing is within maximum sustainable yields; and by 2020 resource efficiency will be a shared objective of the international community, and progress will have been made towards it based on the approaches agreed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). [EU Press Release] [Publication: Commission Communication “Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe”]