Resource Efficiency
In the face of global population growth and increasing demand for improved living standards, it is obvious that the pressure on the world’s finite and limited resources is increasing – we need to make sure that we make the best use of what we have.
Resource Efficiency means making better and more efficient use of all resources available – in both the private and public sectors – in order to “get more for less” and ensuring resources are used in a more sustainable way; it is often linked with sustainable consumption and production. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the world cannot achieve sustainable economic growth without making significant changes in both the supply (production) and demand (consumption) of goods and services. Consumers will need to adapt their expectations and producers will need to change the design of products and production processes in order to decouple economic growth from resource use and environmental degradation.
RPA’s work covers a wide range of resource efficiency issues including water conservation, reduction in raw material usage, improvements in energy efficiency, and waste reduction. RPA’s experts have worked to collate and analyse information on support programmes with objectives to assist SMEs to become more resource efficient, and have worked with the UK government on analysing policy measures to increase energy efficiency, carrying out assessments of environmental, economic and social costs and benefits of various resource efficiency initiatives.
Our expertise covers the following key areas:
- Identification of market failures along with causes and pricing of externalities
- Information on benefits and costs of resource efficiency measures, including through case studies
- Supply chain analysis and sectoral assessments
- Impact assessments of environmental regulation and policy/programme initiatives on resource use up and down the supply chain
- Analysis of waste policies and their impact on resource use
If you would like further information, please contact our experts below.