Download Sustainable consumption

Two points
1. From local to global consumer – the
challenge of rising and unsustainable
consumption
2. What can we do to reach sustainable
consumption and production in Europe?
Policies & tools
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From local to global consumer
– the challenge of rising and
unsustainable consumption
2
Unsustainable consumption and
production
Many environmental pressures are growing:
GHG emissions, water and air pollution, land
use, resource use, waste amounts etc.
Impacts are growing in Europe - and in other
regions of the world
Impacts from all phases of the production –
consumption chain
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World trade is a driving force of resource
and energy consumption
Source: WTO, 2003: Growth of world trade. World merchandise exports (volume index = value deflated by unit value).
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EU-25 use of world biocapacity compared
to population share
Source: EEA/GFN, 2005: Global ecological overshoot
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Decoupling resource use from economic
growth? Relative - not absolute
Decoupling resource use from GDP in EU15
GDP
Energy cons.
EMC
DMC
GHG
Material consumption in EU25 amounts to 16.5 t per person per
year on average in EU25 (all fossil fuels, minerals and biomass)
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Europe’s footprint and biocapacity (per
capita)
Source: EEA/GFN, 2005: Europe’s ecological footprint and biocapacity
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Footprint by component (EU-25)
The biocapacity necessary for coping with CO2
emissions from fossil fuel and generation of energy
makes up more than 50% of the total footprint
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European consumption patterns are
changing
Figure 2.1. Household expenditure per capita in EU15 Member States
14000
Euro/capita (1995 constant prices)
12000
10000
Other goods and services
Health
8000
Recreation, culture and
restaurants
Transport and
communication
Housing
6000
4000
Clothing
2000
Food and drink
0
1990
1995
2000
2002
Source: Eurostat 2005
Note: Data for Denmark; Germany; Greece ; France; Ireland; Italy; Netherlands; Austria; Portugal;
Finland; United Kingdom (1995 Euro constant prices)
Household expenditure projected to double by 2030
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Energy consumption by sector (EU-25)
Services, agric. etc
Households
Industry
Transport
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What can we do to reach
sustainable consumption
and production in Europe?
Policies & tools
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Act integrated
Global responsibility not to destroy other regions of the
world (Rio, Johannesburg and Marrakech)
Re-inforce public and private sector expenditure on
research and development in the environment domain
to help Europe compete globally
More environmental integration needed in sectors
Technological improvements are necessary - but not
sufficient. The benefits include Europe’s economy
becoming more resource efficient – EU-10 already has
the scope to improve efficiency by a factor of 4 to EU15 levels
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Act integrated (cont.)
Design long-term, coherent policies that shift
market signals towards sustainable production
and consumption
Environmental tax reform: From taxing the
”goods” (employment) to taxing the ”bads”
(resource use and environmental damage)
Improve institutional set-ups to design and
implement integrated approaches. Such setups can be as important as policies
themselves (ex. effectiveness of UWWTD in
selected countries in Europe).
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Example: Improving energy and resource
productivity
Labour productivity
Materials productivity
Energy productivity
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Labour costs
constitute about
20% of total
costs in
manufacturing in
EU-25. Material
and energy costs
can be up to
50%
Example:Environmental tax reform in the
EU 1995 - 2003
Green tax shift EU-25, 1995-2003
Energy taxes
Labour taxes
Energy consumption/GDP
Source: Eurostat
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Example: Tax bases in EEA-17 (2004)
Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy
Lux'burg NL
Air/Energy
CO2*
SO2
NOx
Fuels
S in fuels
Transport
Car sales and use
Diff. annual car tax
Water
Water effluents
Waste
Waste-end
Dangerous w aste
Noise
Aviation noise
Products
Tyres
Beverage cont.
Packaging
Bags
Pesticides
CFCs
Batteries
Light bulbs
PVC/phtalates
Lubrication oil
Fertilisers
Paper, board
Solvents
Resources
Raw materials
in 1996
new in 2000
new in 2004
Sources, including:
EEA (2000) Environmental taxes - Redent developments in tools for integration, Copenhagen
OECD/EU database for environmental taxes (http://www1.oecd.org/env/policies/taxes/index.htm)
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Norw ay Portugal Spain
Sw eden UK
Example: Progress with urban waste water
treatment
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We need tools to diagnose society’s health
Better and complementary methods for measuring the
extent and impacts of our society’s use of nature
The EEA and its Scientific Committee want to help
further develop the Ecological Footprint (EF), Human
Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP), and
relevant elements of the System of Environmental and
Economic Accounts (SEEA).
We consider it as a package, carefully managed and
communicated, that such methods and indicators can
best serve to improve our understanding of how human
population use nature and the impacts that result
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To conclude
Consumption growth outweighs efficiency
gains: Key environmental impacts grow
We have shifted our ecological demand to
other countries while safeguarding more of
our own ecological resources in Europe
Market-based instruments and environmental
tax reform needed to achieve sustainable
consumption and production are necessary but
not sufficient.
We need better tools to diagnose the health of
society. Further information:
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http://www.eea.europa.eu
Gorm. [email protected]
The European Environment Agency (EEA)
EU institution in Copenhagen
since 1994
Provide decision-makers with
information needed for sound
and effective policies to protect
the environment and support
sustainable development
32 member countries: EU-25,
Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey,
Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein;
Switzerland
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The European Environment –
State and outlook 2005 report on the web
Full report – one pdf file per chapter
Executive summary in 25 languages
Press release in 25 languages
Speeches
Press conference (video)
Flash animation
Powerpoint presentation
www.eea.eu.int
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