Refine
Year of Publication
Document Type
- Report (15)
- Part of a Book (6)
- Conference Object (4)
- Peer-Reviewed Article (3)
- Working Paper (2)
Language
- English (30) (remove)
Division
- Stoffströme und Ressourcenmanagement (30) (remove)
National policies for resource efficiency and waste management : structures, impacts, and deficits
(2015)
The current utilisation of natural resources in Germany and Europe is not sustainable, as inter alia stated by the German government as well as by the European Commission. At the same time, increased resource efficiency could lead to various environmental but also economic benefits. This brief study commissioned by Changing Markets presents developments in the field of resource efficiency policies, analyses the status quo of resource consumption with a special focus on fast moving consumer goods and describes potential effects of resource conservations.
Reforming the EU VAT system to support the transition to a low-carbon and resource efficient economy
(2015)
This chapter discusses the question of ecologically differentiated value added taxes (VAT) as a tool to overcome tax-related cognitive barriers by connecting to an existing tax system. This is elaborated along several aspects: (a) The role indirect of consumption taxes for the economy, (b) the legal issues of the VAT system, (c) the EU harmonization efforts in this context, (d) the distributional implications of value added taxes. Following this, the chapter develops a proposal for a VAT reform (e). To this end, it looks at potential and existing differentiations between sectors, products and services, and product and service groups and turns to those consumption areas that are widely identified as particularly resource and carbon intensive and sets out how a harmonization of the overall system and an ecological differentiation in single consumption areas could be brought together. Potential impacts and effects are briefly discussed (f) and some conclusions are drawn (g). The subject addressed in the chapter is relevant from a policy perspective but mainly descriptive: It does not use innovative qualitative and quantitative tools.
For 20 years, the number of resource policy approaches with direct and indirect relations to raw materials, resource and material efficiency has grown enormously at national and international level. This discussion paper makes an inventory of different political and regulatory approaches that contain a direct or indirect reference to resources such as construction materials, industrial minerals, or metals. They are examined and evaluated regarding foci and resource priorities as well as further categories such as target lines, governance levels, indicators used, integration into wider target systems, specification, and implementation. The aim is to provide an overview of the spectrum of resource objectives in international, European, and national strategies, programs, and initiatives. The closer analysis of raw material targets embedded in the policy programs and legal approaches reveals that most goals lack a time frame and a concrete vision, thus remain at a strategic level. To complement the overview, the state of research in the field of modeling and simulation is briefly discussed. Concluding remarks concerning their relation to the objectives identified and the task of target setting complete the discussion.