A Systemic Approach to the Development of a Policy Mix for Material Resource Efficiency

24 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2016

See all articles by Tomas Ekvall

Tomas Ekvall

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers

Ecologic Institute

Fabio Eboli

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici

Alexander Sniegocki

Warszawski Instytut Studiów Ekonomicznych (WISE)

Date Written: April 27, 2016

Abstract

Increasing material use efficiency is important to mitigate future supply risks and minimize environmental impacts associated with the production of the materials. The policy mix presented in this paper aims to reduce the use of virgin metals in the EU by 80% by 2050. We used a heuristic framework and a systems perspective for designing the policy mix that combines primary instruments (aimed to achieve the 80% reduction target – e.g. a materials tax, technical regulations and removal of environmentally harmful subsidies) and supportive instruments (aimed to reduce barriers to implementing the primary instruments and to contribute towards the policy objectives – e.g. research & development support, and advanced recycling centers). Furthermore, instruments were designed so as to increase political feasibility: e.g. taxes were gradually increased as part of a green fiscal reform, and border-tax adjustments were introduced to reduce impacts on competitiveness. However, even in such a policy mix design ongoing ex-ante assessments indicate that the policy mix will be politically difficult to implement – and also fall short of achieving the 80% reduction target. Nonetheless, we suggest combining primary and supportive instruments into coherent and dynamic policy mixes as a promising step towards system reconfigurations for sustainability.

Keywords: Policy Mix, Policy Development, Resource Efficiency, Material Efficiency, Recycling, European Union, Sensitivity Model

JEL Classification: L72, Q32

Suggested Citation

Ekvall, Tomas and Hirschnitz-Garbers, Martin and Eboli, Fabio and Sniegocki, Alexander, A Systemic Approach to the Development of a Policy Mix for Material Resource Efficiency (April 27, 2016). FEEM Working Paper No. 28.2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2771036 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2771036

Tomas Ekvall (Contact Author)

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute ( email )

Valhallavägen 81
Stockholm, 114 27
Sweden

Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers

Ecologic Institute ( email )

1630 Connecticut Ave., NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20009
United States

Fabio Eboli

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) ( email )

Corso Magenta 63
20123 Milan
Italy

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici ( email )

via Augusto Imperatore, 16
Lecce, I-73100
Italy

Alexander Sniegocki

Warszawski Instytut Studiów Ekonomicznych (WISE) ( email )

Al. Jerozolimskie 99 lok. 18
Warszawa, 02-001
Poland

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