Policy Instruments for Resource Efficiency

Reducing resource consumption and increasing economic and social wellbeing will provide substantial benefits for both society and the planet. Policy makers are in a unique position to boost resource efficiency and they increasingly recognise the importance of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). The importance of effective public policy in encouraging and enabling this critical shift is widely recognised.

What can policy makers do?

This project created a compendium of instruments that have demonstrated success in increasing resource efficiency. The compendium presents a wide array of policy instruments aimed at improving resource efficiency and promoting SCP in both production and consumption systems. Presented approaches range from classical regulatory instruments to cooperation tools. A range of financial instruments are also presented in a ‘hands-on’ style and illustrate the following:

• Analysis of strengths and weaknesses
• The mode of operation for each instrument
• A case study illustrating how the tool has been applied in practice

Policy makers received a solid foundation for setting realistic long-term policy objectives and targets as well as applying a mix of policy instruments.

The compendium was published by the CSCP together with the German Society for Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit – GTZ) and the Wuppertal Institute. The project was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).