Developing the Plan for Growth to go 'beyond carbon'

Growing demands on the world’s finite resources will mean that resource efficiency will be one of the key determinants of economic success in the twenty-first century. While markets respond to short-term supply restrictions, they are less effective at anticipating constraints in natural resource stocks. As a result, prudent economic policy would promote low resource consumption as a vital part of securing future competitive advantage. However, what policies are required to enable the transition to a resource-efficient economy? This paper summarises the outcomes of three roundtables with high-level practitioners that examined the challenges faced in three sectors (water, food and materials) to make general conclusions. It argues that as resource efficiency and related innovation increasingly become primary benchmarks of a successful economy, it is clear that the UK needs an industrial strategy to address critical resource challenges and one that goes beyond reducing carbon dioxide emissions.