The remarkable economic and population growth of the 20th century was closely coupled to substantial increases in the extraction and consumption of natural resources, leading to increasingly-damaging negative environmental ...

Global economic production is now concentrated in cities. Some 80% of global GDP is produced in cities on just 2% of the land surface, though cities depend on the flow of resources from near and far. Cities have been growing ...

We are using unsustainable amounts of the Earth’s natural resources. We need to improve the rate of resource productivity (“doing more with less”) faster than the economic growth rate. This is the notion behind “decoupling”.

Recycling rates of metals are far lower than potential for reuse. Less than one-third of 60 studied have a recycling rate above 50 per cent, though many are crucial to clean technologies such as batteries for hybrid cars ...

The unique properties of metals make them essential for many applications and future global demand is predicted to increase. Given this relevance the report of UNEP’s International Resource Panel on “Environmental Risks ...

How metals determine our lives

Rising energy demand and efforts to combat climate change require a significant increase in low-carbon electricity generation. Yet, concern has been raised that rapid investment in some novel technologies could cause a new ...

Global land use plays a central role in determining our food, material and energy supply. Many countries have started to support the use of biomass for biofuels and biomaterials, and, at the same time, are becoming concerned ...

This document highlights findings from the report on "Food Systems and Natural Resources" and should be read in conjunction with the full report.

Through a combination of resource efficiency, climate mitigation, carbon removal, and biodiversity protection policies, this report finds that it is feasible and possible to grow economies, increase well-being and remain ...