This report from WRAP and the University of Leeds builds on previous research to provide a quantitative assessment of possible policy interventions to reduce resource consumption and green house gas emissions associated with their production.
The Climate Change Committee’s 2022 Progress Report to Parliament highlights the need for policies which can deliver resource efficiency, helping to reduce material demand and greenhouse gas emissions across our economy.
The CCC suggests that “The Government should set out its ambition on both energy efficiency and resource efficiency and how it is going to deliver these savings.” This latest report from WRAP and the University of Leeds identifies a range of policies which can support ambitions on resource efficiency and Net Zero.
At a sector level, policies which influence construction are found to have the greatest contribution to reducing raw material consumption. Where policies are applied independently, the most impactful in reducing raw material consumption are:
- Embodied carbon standards for construction (which could avoid 2.5 billion tonnes raw material consumption between 2021 and 2050)
- Embodied carbon target for public procurement of infrastructure (which could avoid 758 million tonne raw material consumption between 2021 and 2050)
- R&D / Innovation to tackle mixed post-consumer food waste (146 million tonnes)
- Extended Producer Responsibility for furniture (95 million tonnes)
- Car sharing (92 million tonnes)
- Consumer food waste campaigns (89 million tonnes)
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