In late 2011, the report Resource Efficiency: Economics and Outlook for Asia and the Pacific was released by the United Nations' Environment Program’s Asia-Pacific Regional Office.

It details the findings of a major study undertaken by the CSIRO in collaboration with the University of Western Sydney, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan, the Energy and Resources Institute in India, and the Institute of Policy and Management Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The study looks at the history of natural resource use in the Asia-Pacific region from 1970 to 2005 – a time of unprecedented economic development for many countries in the region – and its conclusions outline the action needed to revitalise the region’s patterns of energy generation, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency.

The study’s research team used two types of economic modelling created by CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and the University of Western Sydney to provide a range of possible scenarios for the future, and to explore ways in which policy can support sustainable development.

Importantly, the authors of the work highlight that there is a 20- to 30-year window of opportunity to transform the infrastructure for energy, transport and housing in Asia-Pacific countries into truly sustainable and resource-efficient systems.

Regional challenges

The Resource Efficiency: Economics and Outlook for Asia and the Pacific report shows that domestic material consumption in the region grew at a compounding annual rate of 4.9 per cent during each decade between 1975 to 2005, while the corresponding growth rate for the rest of the world was approximately 0.5 per cent.

“Emissions in this region have grown at a faster speed than in any other region, and many [Asia-Pacific] countries have reached the limits of domestically available resources… this has implications, such as problems with avoiding environmental degradation,” the report states.

“This rapid change is exacting a high current and future environmental cost, with problems including pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, deteriorating ecosystems and rapid resource depletion.”

With the region’s greatly increased participation in the world economy, any pronounced carbon dioxide trend now heavily influences the emissions trajectory of the world as a whole, according to the report.

In the region, overall greenhouse gas emissions increased between 1990 and 2005 from 10 billion to 16 billion tonnes, a compounding annual growth rate of approximately 3.2 per cent. From 1970–2005, both South East Asia and South Asia had growth rates for carbon dioxide above the regional average, at 4.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively.

Energy focus

Energy use in the Asia-Pacific region has rapidly grown since 1970, from less than 45 to approximately 170 exajoules by 2005, a compounding annual growth rate of 3.9 per cent. The corresponding figure for the rest of the world is only 1.4 per cent.

The region has largely been able to meet the increased demand from domestic energy production by greatly expanding the share of coal in the energy mix.

“There is no example of a country in the Asia-Pacific region demonstrating a clear, sustained decrease in energy use per capita, and so there is little empirical support for the notion that increasing affluence beyond a certain point will lead to a decrease in energy use,” the report states.

Australia’s demand for energy more than doubled between 1970 and 2005 yet its relative share across the region declined in this period, indicating the rapid growth of energy demand across the whole region.

Japan was found to be one of the most energy efficient economies in the world, with the energy intensity as low as 4.4 megajoules per United States dollar of gross domestic production.

“The Asia-Pacific region has shown increasing energy intensity per unit of economic output – this is the opposite of what is required to maintain GDP growth while lowering the environmental impact,” the report states.

Potential solutions

While increased resource efficiency may help to constrain the global environmental impact of rapid development and modernisation in the Asia-Pacific region, it will not avoid environmental degradation if implemented in isolation.

A key recommendation from the report is that effective public policy should be used to achieve a sustainable transition to clean energy and low-emissions infrastructure.

According to the study’s findings, transitioning to a new, more environmentally sustainable industrial system as one element of a long-term path to a ‘green’ economy will require:

A rapid increase in the efficiency of resource use and movement to systems of provision that use less resources Innovation in policies that support resource efficiency and systems innovation New forms of governance and institutions, including (but not limited to) markets.

“Because the changes required are fundamental and large, policies that change the functioning of the whole economy, such as ecological taxes and budget reform, may be well suited to guide resource efficiency and systems innovation,” the report states.

“This will be instrumental to deal with the dual objectives of increasing the material standard of living of people and reducing poverty, while ensuring the integrity of resources and the environment.

“What is required is a new ‘industrial revolution’ that provides food, housing, mobility, energy, and water with only approximately 20 per cent of the per-capita resource use and emissions found in current systems.”