EU Natural Resource Use Thematic Strategy
EU Natural Resource Use Thematic Strategy
The aim of the resources strategy is to develop a framework and measures that allow resources to be used in a sustainable way without further harming the environment. Decoupling environmental impacts associated with the use of natural resources from economic growth is the overall objective. The strategy will focus on:
1) Knowledge gathering (to make knowledge about resource use and impacts available),
2) Policy assessment (to assess compatibility of policy choices with our overall decoupling objective) and
3) Policy integration (to ensure integration of resource related policies). It could set sector-specific decoupling objectives and initiate benchmarking exercises on resource productivity.
As the construction industry is one of the biggest users of resources and has just fewer than 10% contribution to the national GDP, it is likely that this sector will feature heavily in this Strategy. The Strategy is currently being consulted on and a number of working parties have been set up.
Guidance
To keep up to date with the development of the strategy, check the EU commission's website at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/strategy.htm