Abstract:Economic growth was the basis for the social reconciliation between capital owners and the working class. In industrialized countries it was coupled with a growth of material flows of geological proportions. It is quite remarkable that within the framework of the growth-oriented Europe 2020 Strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy the European Commission has launched a so-called flagship initiative for a resource efficient Europe. With the flagship initiative the European Commission intends to create a common vision to support a long-term perspective for an efficient use of natural resources. How can we measure resource use and decoupling? What is the knowledge base for resource efficiency? What is the role of GDP and economic growth? For answering these questions, we will introduce preliminary results of an European research project for the "DEvelopment of a System of Indicators for Resource Efficiency" (DESIRE).

This media entry was a contribution to the special session with other format"Resource efficiency beyond GDP" at the 4th International Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014.