Exploring perspectives on climate-resource-nexus policies: barriers and relevance in different world regions

Abstract

Natural resource extraction and processing accounted for 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. Therefore, reducing resource use through resource efficiency promises significant contributions to climate protection. This “climate-resource-nexus” has mostly been explored from a scientific, Global North-oriented perspective. The present study analysed potential interactions between climate and resource policy through literature review and exploratory interviews with experts from different world regions. It did not find a generic climate-resource-nexus policy. Scientific studies mostly address greenhouse gas emission reduction potentials of resource efficiency approaches, e.g., lifetime extension, material substitution, and recycling. Interview findings reveal that climate and resource policy measures will have to differ regionally to improve the relevance and fit and that silo culture may prevent an integrated climate-resource-nexus perspective. It is argued that creating an overarching line of policy reasoning through cross-departmental cooperation could help to overcome silos and grant flexibility to national and regional policy-making to adapt policies to their interviews with topical experts from international civil society and across different world regions. This paper presents findings from this research. The literature review reveals that policies-addressing academic publications mainly analyse potential GHG emission reduction effects of different material efficiency and circular economy strategies. However, the climate-resource-nexus appears to guide policy considerations hardly. Interview findings reflect this, as only a few interviewees mention mutual effects of climate protection and resource conservation policies. Those who mention interactions consider insufficient cross-departmental exchange and silo culture as reasons for the lack of climate-resource-nexus thinking in the policy. This kind of analysis could contribute to strengthening systemic nexus thinking in international climate and resource policy while also fostering a view on adapting policies to the needs of specific contexts. guideline questionnaires prepared to obtain the expertise of both regional climate and regional resource experts. Each questionnaire contained the same set of questions differing only in the policy measures exposed to expert feedback – climate protection policy for climate experts and resource policy (including circular economy) for resource experts. Furthermore, each questionnaire posed a question on the climate-resource-nexus, whether or not the measures discussed could impact resource use or GHG emissions in their regions.