Joint DYNAMIX-POLFREE Workshop at 2015 World Resources Forum

Joint DYNAMIX-POLFREE Workshop at 2015 World Resources Forum: "Resource efficiency and the circular economy: policy mixes and scenarios"

This workshop was located right in the centre of WRF’s Circular Economy and Decoupling theme. It brings together insights on this topic from two nearly-complete European Framework 7 projects – DYNAMIX and POLFREE – which both have been taking a complementary approach to the question of which policy mixes could make the European economy more resource efficient, and obviously decoupling and promoting a circular economy are important parts to the answer to that question.

Goal: The goal of this workshop is to present and discuss policies and their potential effectiveness for achieving radical improvements in resource efficiency in Europe by 2050, focusing on the promotion of a circular economy and absolute decoupling of resource use and environmental impact from economic activity.
Target audience: Policy makers, businesses, scientists and NGOs

Background: The twin, and obviously related, ideas of decoupling and the circular economy have achieved a certain profile in policy discourse, due to, inter alia, the work on resource efficiency in the last European Commission, the championing of the circular economy by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the last Commission’s Circular Economy Package, and the withdrawal of this Package by the present Commission, in favour of a ‘more ambitious approach’, and the reports on decoupling by UNEP’s International Resource Panel. This is a very propitious time, therefore, to be presenting the results of two EU projects on this theme – DYNAMIX (Decoupling growth from resource use and environmental impacts) and POLFREE (Policy Options for a Resource-Efficient Economy) – that have designed and evaluated the potential impact of promising policy mixes to foster decoupling and move towards a circular economy.

Below, you will find the presentations given by scientific staff from both projects:

Understanding why resources are used inefficiently: the web of constraints to resource efficiency – Dr Marc Dijk

Policy packaging in support of resource efficiency and absolute decoupling: a conceptual model – Dr Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers and Henning Wilts

Policies for absolute decoupling: Dynamic policy mix for efficient use of metals and other material resources – Tomas Ekvall

What policies are necessary for achieving a resource efficient economy in Europe in 2050: Modelling results – Martin Distelkamp    

 

Date: 

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Location Place: 

Davos

Location Country: 

Switzerland

Event Type: 

Documents: