Environment and EconomicsRecent studiesA broad range of studies have been undertaken. A good summary of them, focusing on the links between the EU's economy and the environment can be found in the Brochure Fact and Figures: links between EU's economy and environment. Recent studies are undertaken in the following areas of work:
1. The economics of environmental policy (Full list of studies in this area)Economics can play a role in showing how most optimally to shift towards a low carbon and resource efficient economy. Studies look at the overall costs and sectoral implications and suggest ways to change. Examples of studies include: The costs of not implementing the environmental acquis (2011) This report examines the costs associated with the gaps in implementing the EU environmental acquis. These costs relate to many impacts – in particular, potential environmental benefits are not realised, but also impacts such as uncertainty for business and infringement costs. The costs are often not easy to quantify but, as an indicative estimate, the costs of the implementation gap between current legally binding targets and the current level of implementation could be equivalent to around 50 billion Euros per year.
The economic benefits of environmental policy (2010) This report describes the areas in which environmental policies deliver Europe’s current economic priorities, often more successfully than other forms of economic policy intervention. It provides evidence of the role of environmental policy both in providing a short term economic stimulus and in building a sustainable, efficient and resilient economy in the long term. It highlights many areas where environmental policy is essential for sustainable economic progress. The report explains and illustrates how environmental policy may benefit the economy by delivering eight key economic outcomes. These are that environmental policy: Enhances Productivity, Stimulates Innovation, Increases Employment (and/or the quality of Employment), Improves our Balance of Trade, Strengthens our Capital Base, Supports Public Finances, Promotes Economic Cohesion, Encourages the Transition to a Resilient and Sustainable Economy. Scoping Study on completing the European Single Market for environmental goods and services (2010) The study explored what improvements EU Single Market needs to facilitate the growth of European eco-industries and to support the better trading and movement of eco-industry workers, technology and products and services. Fourteen important problems causing a malfunctioning of Single Market for environmental goods and services have been identified, ranked and policy recommendations have been formulated. Amongst the most important policy priorities to be put in place or further strengthened are: The improvement of legal clarity and efforts to correctly transpose and uniformly implement environmental legislation, the better implementation of the Services Directive, the introduction of a common EU-wide approach for subsidizing new environmental technology applications or supporting environmental goods and services, the further development of uniform green procurement rules, the reduction of EU labour market complexities, the promotion of EU-wide recognition of qualifications and skills in eco-industry and also the adoption and promotion of common EU standards, certification and testing procedures where necessary.
2. The use of market-based instruments (Full list of studies in this area)Market-based instruments (MBI), such as environmental taxes, tradable permit systems or targeted subsidies, are a cost-effective way to protect and improve the environment. They provide incentives to firms and consumers to opt for greener production or products. Governments can also opt for an Environmental Fiscal Reform or the reform of Environmentally Harmful Subsidies. Examples of studies include: The use of market-based instruments for biodiversity protection - the case of Habitat Banking (2010) This study investigates the scope for using market-based instruments (MBI) and more specifically Habitat Banking to protect biodiversity at Community level – and the possible conditions and limitations for their use. The use of MBI is gaining acceptance as cost-effective , with Habitat Banking a potentially efficient MBI to get business to compensate for unavoidable harm from development projects. Habitat Banking can also contribute towards meeting the post 2010 EU biodiversity target and enhance the provision of ecosystem services. The final study results indicate that although Habitat banking can be done voluntarily, a viable market of biodiversity credits will only be created by regulation that defines equivalence between those debits and credits, and enforces compensation obligations on those creating debits by developing, polluting or damaging, thereby ensuring sufficient levels of credit demand. The comparison of Habitat banking with other MBI for biodiversity, suggests that it can offer a useful additional instrument to help biodiversity policy move towards a "no net loss" objective, which remains part of the post 2010 biodiversity target and will feature in the future policies. Moreover, the creation of market incentives can stimulate private investment in biodiversity conservation, and facilitate economies of scale and efficiencies in delivering biodiversity offsets. The study also identifies a number of other opportunities but also risks associated with delivering biodiversity conservation through Habitat Banking, while it describes some possibilities for establishing an efficient system of Habitat Banking that can work in conformity with the existing EU legislative framework. Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: Identification and Assessments (2010) The objective of this study is to develop a methodology for identification, assessment and quantification of environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS). The study tested the tools developed previously by the OECD on six case studies of subsidies in energy, transport and water sector. Based on this analysis and on results of a workshop, the study developed the "EHS Reform tool" for screening, integrated assessment and reform of environmentally harmful subsidies. The study includes also a methodological guidance how to assess the value of subsidies, illustrated on concrete cases. The Potential Benefits of using Differential VAT for Environmental Purposes (2008) Using differential VAT rates on products which are environmentally beneficial compared to their substitutes may bring about greater sales of those products in a more cost-efficient way than other policy mechanisms. This may act as a form of marketing, changing consumer behaviours. This study looks at the potential impacts of changing current VAT rates to align them with environmental goals in some specific cases - domestic energy supply (where there are currently reduced rates in some countries), food and dairy products, insulation materials, white goods and boilers. It finds that the suitability of differential VAT as a policy instrument differs greatly across products, in particular depending on the nature of the market failure in consumer behaviour which the VAT rate would be trying to correct.
3. Green jobs and social impacts (Full list of studies in this area)Environmental policy contributes to a structural shift in employment towards jobs associated with cleaner, more efficient products and processes. The eco-industry itself is an important source of new jobs. Besides studies on the eco-industry section, this section also includes studies on the wider relationships between social and environmental issues. Examples of studies include: Programmes to promote environmental skills (2010) This study looks at environmental skills programmes in six European countries: the U.K., the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Poland. It finds considerable variety among Member States in environmental skills programmes. Usually, firms are at the frontline of developing green skills – often through in-house training to their staff in response to a business need. There is an even mix of courses that cater for either the high-, medium- or low-skilled. The most common method of financing environmental skills programmes is a mix of public-private as there is considerable public funding of skills programmes conducted in partnership with companies. Overall, the study shows that there is potential to promote exchange of best practice, not only between Member States but also between businesses and others involved in the development of green workforce skills.
Environment and labour force skills (2008) This study looks at the skills profile of green jobs and how it needs to change in the future. This is important as the skills profile will change as green jobs change, and skills will be key to delivering environment objectives. The study notes the poor data at present on green skills, and the need to better understand them and to forecast how they will change in the future. This would help us to develop the green skills needed in the future. A number of sectors already face skill shortages needed for green jobs. Finally, the study provides potential areas for future research.
4. Support to sectoral policies (biodiversity, waste, climate change etc) (Full list of studies in these areas)Example of environmental economics studies as support for sectoral policy areas include: Design, implementation and cost elements of Green Infrastructure projects (2011) Green Infrastructure (GI) is a valuable tool for addressing ecological preservation and environmental protection as well as societal needs in a complementary fashion. This study developed a definition of Green Infrastructure projects based on terminology and working definitions used in different EU member states and identified a set of European green infrastructure projects and initiatives with a view to operationalise the Green Infrastructure concept and create a typology of GI projects. Thereafter the study analyses green infrastructure projects carried out by EU funds or as national initiatives and provides elements of their design and process used to implement them on the ground, estimates of their cost and benefits, and of their potential to respond to multiple objectives (biodiversity management and enhancement, increasing resilience to climate change, protection against natural disasters, etc). Furthermore, the study reports on the potential of current EU policy(-ies) and available funding instruments to promote green infrastructure projects and provide for the capacities and planning needed to develop and implement them on the ground and provides recommendations for EU, national and regional/local policy makers to take them up when designing Green Infrastructures policies and projects.
Assessment of the Natura 2000 co-financing arrangements of the EU financing instrument (2011) This study confirms that, despite the increased effort and some good examples on financing Natura 2000 from the Community funds, the existing EU co-financing framework is not fully effective. The problem arises from both gaps in the framework and significant constraints that make it difficult to use to its full potential. In particular, current funding is less than is needed; capacity building is needed to guarantee the most best use of the EU co-financing framework; and, there is scope to complement existing funding streams with innovative thinking and new funding mechanisms.
Costing the environmental needs related to rural land management (2011) The study estimates the costs of undertaking environmentally beneficial land management on agricultural and forested land in 2020. A large proportion of the costs associated with environmentally beneficial management on farmland and woodland are associated with arable land. The study highlights, however, that it cannot be assumed that simply having sufficient budgetary resources available will lead to the environmental outcomes being achieved. Policy design and effective implementation are critical factors that will influence the cost of achieving the desired results. In many cases achieving changes in management practices also requires a change in attitude and approach to a farm’s core business activities.
Taking into account opportunity costs when assessing costs of biodiversity and ecosystem action (2011) Addressing the challenge of halting the loss of biodiversity and the preservation of ecosystem services is key for European policy, thus providing adequate financial support for the successful protection of biodiversity and ecosystems services is crucial. Within Europe, however, there is limited data on their conservation costs, thus making the implicit costs of conservation explicit via the identification and inclusion of opportunity costs in estimates could help address this incoherence. Opportunity costs reflects the foregone economic benefits from alternative activities or uses of a resource on a particular site. This study is a first attempt to provide a comprehensive overview on the total costs for biodiversity and ecosystem actions in the European Union and makes a significant contribution to the understanding of opportunity costs within the context of biodiversity policies and actions established in various EU member states. The estimates produced demonstrate the broad scale of biodiversity costs but also the significance of opportunity costs within these, acknowledging the high variance between Member States and even regions. Given the wide discrepancies in costs categories present in existing estimates of biodiversity action costs, the study developed a general cost typology to enable the comparison of results from different cost assessments. The typology aims to deliver a clear categorisation of costs that could also serve as a model for an even broader application of the method beyond the project scope, and to allow for the integration of all relevant data from existing cost estimates. The combined cost of these different policy actions is roughly estimated at €10.6 billion per year. Within this, opportunity costs amount to approximately €8.4 billion. The Social Dimension of Biodiversity Policy (2011) This report investigates the social aspects of biodiversity conservation, in particular the links between biodiversity and employment, and the value of biodiversity for vulnerable rural people. The study maps the linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem services and employment and uses vulnerability-related indicators coupled with spatial mapping of biodiversity and ecosystem values for the EU to determine whether the poor and vulnerable rural communities are more strongly dependent on the provision of ecosystem services. A number of global case studies highlight a range of issues experienced by the rural poor in developing nations dependent on ecosystem services. Establishing Environmental Sustainability Thresholds and Indicators (2010) Environmental thresholds are tipping points which, once crossed, can lead to abrupt changes in the services provided by ecological systems. The study analyses how some of these thresholds can be monitored through indicators so that action is taken before the thresholds are crossed. It focuses on 4 threshold areas representing widespread problems in EU: water quality (focussing on eutrophication), water quantity, soil erosion and non-renewable resource use (for which a threshold perspective is introduced by analysing a potential link between non-renewable material consumption and air pollutant emissions thresholds). The study proposes new sets of indicators but concludes that knowledge and data availability are still too incomplete and uncertain for most environmental thresholds in EU to allow for specifying threshold values adjusted for regional conditions. The study recommends developing a searchable repository of threshold research and to better integrate threshold-related aspects into environmental data collection procedures. Study on how businesses take into account their risks related to biodiversity and ecosystem services: state of play and way forward (2010) The study examines what drives companies to address their biodiversity and ecosystem services risks and identifies the measures taken to tackle those risks and the main barriers for taking actions. The report presents case studies of sectors selected for their dependency and impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services (food and drink production, retail, tourism, bio-tech), their special link to consumers (retail) and to the whole economy (the financial sector). The study shows that, although businesses demonstrate concerns for sustainability, they are much less aware of biodiversity and ecosystem services as an isolated issue. Large companies are most advanced in addressing these risks, while SMEs seem to lack resources, awareness, knowledge and influence (e.g. against sub-suppliers) to do so. Sectors most dependent on biodiversity and ecosystem services (e.g. food production, pulp & paper, tourism) appear to be the most advanced in addressing their risks; securing future supply seems their main driver to do so and there is a growing trend towards direct procurement, ensuring a better control of upstream suppliers. For sectors closest to consumers (e.g. retail sector), the demand for labels/certified products and the promotion of corporate image are seen as the most important drivers.
The use of market-based instruments for biodiversity protection - the case of Habitat Banking (2010) This study investigates the scope for using market-based instruments (MBI) and more specifically Habitat Banking to protect biodiversity at Community level – and the possible conditions and limitations for their use. The use of MBI is gaining acceptance as cost-effective , with Habitat Banking a potentially efficient MBI to get business to compensate for unavoidable harm from development projects. Habitat Banking can also contribute towards meeting the post 2010 EU biodiversity target and enhance the provision of ecosystem services. The final study results indicate that although Habitat banking can be done voluntarily, a viable market of biodiversity credits will only be created by regulation that defines equivalence between those debits and credits, and enforces compensation obligations on those creating debits by developing, polluting or damaging, thereby ensuring sufficient levels of credit demand. The comparison of Habitat banking with other MBI for biodiversity, suggests that it can offer a useful additional instrument to help biodiversity policy move towards a "no net loss" objective, which remains part of the post 2010 biodiversity target and will feature in the future policies. Moreover, the creation of market incentives can stimulate private investment in biodiversity conservation, and facilitate economies of scale and efficiencies in delivering biodiversity offsets. The study also identifies a number of other opportunities but also risks associated with delivering biodiversity conservation through Habitat Banking, while it describes some possibilities for establishing an efficient system of Habitat Banking that can work in conformity with the existing EU legislative framework.
5. Supporting impact assessment of policy-making (Full list of studies in this area)For all new policy initiatives, the Commission undertakes integrated impacted assessments. This involves the identification of the problem (including any market failures), objectives, options to address the problem and an analysis of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the different options. Underlying studies support the Commission in developing impact assessments for new proposals. Examples of studies include: Expanding the Evidence Base for the Design of Policy influencing Consumer Choice (2011) Policy makers designing effective policy to influence consumer choice need to understand how consumers make their purchasing decisions in real life situations. The study identified several important drivers and other key aspects, some of which cover behavioural aspects often ignored in consumer policy making. It investigated the practical tools needed to help policy makers build up sufficient evidence to guide individual pieces of policy. It includes a behavioural experiment to demonstrate the practical aspects of policy design.
Implementation of the CAP Policy Options with the Land Use Modelling Platform - A first indicator-based analysis (2011) Using land-use modelling steered by economic drivers and agro-environmental constraints, the study assesses a range of environmental impacts resulting from the implementation of different policy settings foreseen under the CAP reform, focusing on the greening component of direct payments. Results are expressed in terms of land cover changes (e.g. arable land, permanent crops, pasture, natural and semi-natural vegetation, artificial surfaces, etc.) and environmental indicators such as the conservation of Green Infrastructure and biodiversity or the change in Soil Organic Carbon stocks. In general and at the EU27 level, the greening options that are modelled have a lower level of environmental impact than under the Status Quo scenario. However, several indicators also show pronounced regional differences and local developments, which do not follow the national or European trends and the results emphasize the importance of geographically targeted measures.
Coastal zones in Europe: Impacts of land use policy alternatives (2011) Following-up on the 2010 study on "Land use modelling : Implementation - Preserving and enhancing the environmental benefits of land use services", this report describes how the EU-ClueScanner land allocation model has been used to analyse the impacts of different scenarios (more or less environmentally-friendly) related to land use in coastal areas. With a 1km spatial resolution and 10 land classes, it shows the results of these scenarios for the period 2000-2050. Results are presented through maps and indicators describing, inter alia, built-up areas, coastal erosion, risk of coastal flooding, soils quality, landscape fragmentation and biodiversity index. This report provides insight for the analysis of options for Coastal Zone Management in Europe.
Designing Policy to Influence Consumers (2009) 30 years of Nobel prize winning research shows that consumers make choices through a mix of mental shortcuts, emotion and conscious deliberation. Yet, EU policies usually assume consumers only make conscious deliberation. For instance, it is often assumed more information is a good thing - but the opposite is shown to be true. Designing policies based on how consumers actually make choices would be likely to significantly improve policy outcomes and suggests the use of new instruments. This report summarises the global knowledge from marketing and economic research and makes clear the significant implications for the organisation of the Commission's policy work, and its range and design of instruments for greening consumer choice. It is also a fascinating insight into our own mental processes.
6. Economic analysis of eco-innovation (Full list of studies in this area)Eco-innovation is the ability to take new ideas and translate them into commercial outcomes to the benefit of ecological improvements. Its economic analysis examines how economic agents interact and which factors influence them. Examples of studies include: The implementation of green recovery measures in the EU (2011) This report assesses the green elements of the fiscal stimulus packages that were implemented in response to the economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 through general analysis, case studies of countries and modelling. The majority of the green measures focused on energy efficiency and climate change mitigation. The recovery packages contributed to economic recovery and provided a temporary boost to employment, the scale of the impacts being limited by the small share of green measures in the recovery plans. The multiplier effects for green investment are similar to those from any kind of investment. Within a few years, the net environmental effects of the measures were generally found to be favourable.
Bridging the Valley of Death: public support for commercialisation of eco-innovation (2009) The report recommends the Commission and Member States to use greater demand-side innovation policy to tackle constraints on eco-innovation. It analyses the experience of existing innovation procurement policies. A major block to greater eco-innovation is the uncertainty over future market demand for an innovation. That uncertainty partly reflects an information failure: buyers do not indicate they will buy until the innovation is put on the market. This block can be mitigated cost-effectively if groups of market players are brought together to indicate the characteristics of an innovation that they would be likely to buy. This needs to be coupled with pre-announced use of demand-support measures, in an expansion of current EU demand-side innovation policy. The report analyses the areas of innovation where this would be successful and identifies the practical needs of the policy.
The Potential of Market Pull Instruments for Promoting Innovation in Environmental Characteristics (2009) Firms select which innovations to commercialise on the basis of expected future demand. Those expectations are based on assessments of trends in demand and the innovation undertaken by competitors. Policy measures which signal increased future demand, or rewards, for certain innovations (e.g. energy efficiency) have the potential to boost innovation rates. The effect could be substantial - an increase in energy efficiency improvement by only 2%/year could lead to new products being 25% more efficient in 15 years time. This study examines the potential of policy instruments - for example financial incentives for products - to increase innovation, how they influence firms' decisions and how such instruments (or existing related policy instruments) should be designed to maximise the increase in innovation. The report is aimed at EU, regional and national policy instruments, with a focus on environmentally advantageous innovation.
7. Strategic economic modelling and foresight (Full list of studies in this area)Environmental processes can be attributed to a diversity of factors such as economic activities, geographical elements, institutional and legal requirements, cultural and social factors etc. Economic models help environment policy makers to identify relationships between different parameters and are used for scenario analysis of future trends. Examples of studies include: Sustainability Scenarios for a Resource Efficient Europe (2011) This study analyses scenarios for sustainability and resource efficiency for the global and European economy up to and beyond 2050. These scenarios cover different resources (raw materials, metals, energy, climate water, land biodiversity) and economic sectors (construction and housing, agriculture and food, industry and manufacturing, transport). The report provides the baselines, the assumptions for the key underlying variables used in modelling, as well as the assumptions made about entering new variables in models or modelling suites to explore sets of parameters that create a vision for a Resource efficient EU by 2050 (i.e. how resource availability, efficiency, etc is factored into the scenarios and models). The report identifies and recommends models and modelling approaches to assess policies to deliver a vision of a resource efficient Europe and to measure progress in achieving it, recognising the importance of cross-cutting policies and issues. For example, the linkages between resources and the economy that do not involve economic transactions and are not well-covered in existing models. The study also identifies key gaps in the existing models, such as the links between land use change and climate change, as well as omissions due to the limited understanding of the nature, direction and strength of these links.
Scoping Study on the Macroeconomic View of Sustainability (2010) This study examine whether the current macroeconomic models are up to the task of evaluating policy from a sustainable development viewpoint or whether they 'miss' something that may systematically bias them. The analysis focused on sixty of the most used models, and looked at them in the light of what both neoclassical and ecological economics would suggest is needed and important. Three major constraints were spotted, which in certain circumstances could be material for policy makers: the often one-way linkages from economy to environment; physical limits, such as stocks and maximum carrying capacities are not usually covered in the analysis; the models are not good for making a proper assessment of ‘extreme’ scenarios. There is particular scope for improvement in the modelling of resource use but recommendations also cover: the role of technology; non-linear relationships, thresholds, limits; and, uncertainty. Overall, it should be possible to move macroeconomic models towards a more systematic modelling of the two-way linkages between the environment and the economy, and to allow for a more comprehensive assessment of how the economic, environmental and social aspects of our societies affect each other.
Study on the evolution of some deforestation drivers and their potential impacts on the costs of avoiding deforestation scheme (2010) The study describes the drivers for deforestation in the main regions in which it happens, namely Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and Pacific Asia. On a global scale, the most important identified direct drivers for deforestation are agricultural expansion for food and energy production, followed by infrastructure development and wood extraction. The study estimates, using GLOBIOM and G4M models, the effects of changes in drivers on deforestation levels. Six shock areas are identified for quantitative modelling analysis: increased demand for biofuels, wood, meat, infrastructure and for biodiversity schemes. Some shock areas are analyzed on a global scale as well as for each of the 3 hotspots regions while the policy shocks related to infrastructure development and biodiversity protection are modelled both on a global scale and at a geographic-explicit level, namely the Congo Basin. The scenarios chosen do not necessarily seek full realism since the objective is rather to understand which kind of drivers is more important than other. Consequently, the technical details of the study are not as robust as they can be in more specific analysis fully dedicated to a specific driver, since some compromises in the modelling had to be made. The study concludes that the two policy shocks leading to the worst consequences in terms of additional deforestation are an increase in consumption of 1st generation biodiesel and an increase in meat consumption. The Latin America and Caribbean region is predicted to experience, across all scenarios, the highest levels of deforestation worldwide between 2020 and 2030. By analyzing associated annual marginal costs of avoiding certain degrees of deforestation under the various shock scenarios, the modelling exercise also shows that world demand has significant implications in terms of financing a REDD mechanism: with more ambitious avoided deforestation targets, the need for financing not only becomes higher but also less predictable as the impacts of possible shocks become more influential. Land use modelling : Implementation - Preserving and enhancing the environmental benefits of land use services (2010) A new open source land allocation model - the EU-ClueScanner – has been developed in order to assess the environmental impacts of land use change in Europe at a 1 km2 scale, with a time horizon of 2030. The report describes the methodology used in order to develop this model and the related set of environmental, economic and social indicators. In addition to the reference scenario (IPCC B1), the report describes eight policy alternatives that were used as examples for testing the model. These policy alternatives relate to biofuel production, increased biodiversity protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures related to water management and soil protection. The implementation of the modeling framework shows that it is successful in simulating different spatial land use policy options, in identifying hotspots of change and in providing results in terms of specific indicators. The annex to the report explains how scenarios, indicators and data can be changed in order to study different policies.
8. Member State environmental policy (Full list of studies in this area)While progressively EU environmental policy legislation has gained in depth and coherence, one of the biggest challenges remains the proper implementation of environmental legislation across EU Member States. Countries face sometimes particular obstacles when working towards the fulfilment of the environmental objectives they have agreed to at a European level. Country level analysis also allows identifying newer and more efficient and effective environmental policy instruments across Member States. Examples of studies include: Gathering information on Member State's new environment policies and performance
9. Structural Change and the Resource Efficient Economy (Full list of studies in this area)Transition Costs (2011) This paper provides a basis for discussion on structural change and the transition to a resource-efficient economy. It examines the process of economic growth and structural change at a macro-economic and a micro-economic scale so that the costs and benefits of transition can be assessed. It points out that there is no fixed 'status quo' in the economy compared to on-going structural change. It looks at the factors resulting in higher or lower costs of structural change, whether induced by policy or economic conditions. As a result, it provides a basis for reconsidering how to look at the costs and benefits of policy change - suggesting that the costs of transition to a green economy are best compared to alternative scenarios of transition costs, rather than to a 'no cost' scenario.
Lags in the EU Economy's response to change (2011) This study examines why economies do not always respond optimally to changing economic conditions. In particular, it identifies reasons why the EU economy may be slow in its response to changes in resource scarcity to the detriment of its competitiveness. The analysis of lags to the spread of innovation suggests that some of the existing literature is too simplistic, that the considerations involved are complex, and that smart policies which seek to influence consumer behaviour through differentiated, non-traditional approaches may be needed.
Economic Analysis of Resource Efficiency Policies (2011) This study identifies existing policies that have successfully optimised the use of resources and estimates their current net benefits to the EU. Based on a literature review and stakeholder consultations, 120 resource efficiency policies were identified in 23 countries. Most policies address either material efficiency of specific resources, such as water and aggregates, or material efficiency in industrial production at a general level. The scope of such policies ranges from improving material efficiency in SMEs through dissemination of information on best practices. A number of projects and schemes were identified in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Finland and the US. The study assesses their value and their potential economic benefits for the EU if applied more widely.
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