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UCL ISR Director Prof Paul Ekins has presented the Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) of a report on resource efficiency to the G7 Environment Council as part of the Japanese G7 Presidency.

The report, commissioned by the G7 group of governments last year, and prepared by the International Resource Panel, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), found that more efficient use of natural resources, together with ambitious global action on climate change, could achieve big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time adding to economic growth.

The report, complied by Prof Ekins and Nick Hughes from UCL ISR, found that natural resource extraction will increase from 85 to 186 billion tonnes over the next 35 years. However, it suggests that effective resource efficiency policies and ambitious global action on climate change could:

• reduce global resource extraction by up to 28% by 2050, compared to a reference scenario based on existing trends;
• cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 74% by 2050 relative to 2015 levels; and
• increase economic output (GDP) by 1% in G7 countries and globally.

Pictured (from left): Janez Potocnik (Co-Chair, UNEP's International Resource Panel), Rintaro Tamaki (OECD Deputy Secretary-General), Barbara Hendricks (German Environment Minister), Tamayo Marukawa (Japanese Environment Minister), Achim Steiner (UNEP’s Executive Director), and Prof Paul Ekins (UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources)