In 2019, German consumption of raw materials totalled 1,328 million tonnes, or 16 tonnes per capita. This represents only a slight change in the trend up to 2018. In 2019, raw material consumption in Germany will fall slightly. German raw material consumption will also fall slightly in 2020 and 2021.
Extracting more and more new raw materials is unsustainable. The future ideal is a closed-loop, circular economy which, through “urban mining”, obtains many of its raw materials from end-of-life houses, piping, cables, cars and appliances rather than from mines and quarries. An UBA study has determined the types and quantities of potential secondary raw materials available in Germany.
The Resource Commission supports the German Environment Agency (UBA) with proposals for the sustainable management of natural resources and a circular economy. The Resource Commission consists of experts from science and research, administration, industry, and civil society. The third appointment period ended in May 2024 and the Resource Commission is currently inactive.
Resource use and the competition for scarce resources such as clean water, land and raw materials are on the rise worldwide, while at the same time worldwide environmental problems such as climate change, soil degradation and biodiversity loss are worsening. Hence resource stewardship and efficient resource use are one of the main challenges we face today and are a key environmental policy issue.
Efficiency increase oftentimes reduces product or service costs, which can in turn ramp up consumption (due to reduced prices), thus partly canceling out the original savings. This is known as the rebound effect.
In order to conserve resources successfully, we need laws and economic conditions that promote resource efficiency and reduce resource use. The goal is to increase economic opportunity through measures such as cost reductions. At the same time protection against increasing raw material prices and extreme price fluctuations is required.
The global use of natural resources and the associated environmental impacts have increased continuously in recent decades. Materials such as metals and biomass play a key role in the transformation towards a greenhouse gas-neutral economy.
