Published: 05 Jun 2011
Humans are consuming the world’s limited
resources at increasingly rapid rate, and
Europe is particularly reliant on imported
goods to sustain its high levels of consumption.
On World Environment
Day, the European Environment Agency (EEA)
draws attention to Europe’s resource use
and offers tips to reduce it.
“We need a long-term
vision,” EEA Executive Director Jacqueline
McGlade said. “This means weaning ourselves
off fossil fuels and becoming more resource
efficient. In the EU, for example, we use
16-17 tonnes of raw materials per person,
which is two or three times more than that
used in the developing world. So we need
to change, from consuming everything we
want to just consuming the things we need.”
Some facts on resource use in Europe:
Consuming even small amounts of resources
can indirectly use large amounts of other
materials. For example, producing one tonne
of steel leaves behind a hidden flow of
four tonnes of other materials, while this
is a staggering 400,000 tonnes a tonne for
platinum.
Resource use is accelerating. Between 1980
and 2005, global resource extraction grew
by 50 %, while experts predict that extraction
will increase by approximately 75 % in the
25 years from 2005-2030.
Europe is highly reliant
on imported resources – in 2008, the EU-27
imported more than six times as much raw
materials as it exports – bringing in 1
384 tonnes of materials, while exporting
203 million tonnes.
As high quality ore
deposits and easily accessible fossil fuel
reserves shrink, more energy is needed to
extract resources – leading to greater climate
change impacts.
The EU produces approximately
six tonnes of waste for every person. However,
increasing recycling and recovery turns
more and more of this waste into resources
in many countries.
Europe needs to decouple resource use from
economic growth, according to the State
and Outlook of the Environment Report (SOER)
published by the EEA in 2010. Although this
may sound like a difficult and complex task,
all European citizens can play a part. Reducing
consumption and increasing recycling are
both important parts of the puzzle – perhaps
something to consider on World Environment
Day.
To find out how you can reduce your impact
on the environment, check our Green Tips.
