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GOVERNMENTS CAN HELP BY STRENGTHENING AND MAINSTREAMING RESOURCE POLICYThere are various reasons why the planet’s stock of natural capital continues to be depleted excessively rapidly. The subsidies that are provided for the extraction and consumption of fuels, minerals, and biomass, the low, or non-existent, pricing of extractive and polluting activities, and the limited competitiveness of the repair, remanufacture, and recycling sectors all serve to promote resource use above and beyond what would otherwise be the case. In some instances, policies addressing these issues could represent win-win propositions, creating much needed government revenues while resulting in new economic opportunities and a more efficient use of natural resources.OECD policy guidance on resource efficiency8 contains three key messages for policymakers. First, realising the benefits of resource efficiency will require coherent domestic action. G7 governments can take the lead here, both by implementing effective policy mixes, and by highlighting and promoting their use elsewhere. We need an approach that ensures an aligned set of incentives for material efficiency throughout the entire product lifecycle. Measures promoting material recovery in the waste sector, while vital, are no longer enough. More attention should be directed upstream, to the perverse incentives provided for material extraction, to the currently limited incentives for eco-friendly product design, and to the insufficient and often confusing product information provided to consumers. Mainstreaming resource efficiency policy into cross-cutting policy domains – investment, innovation, procurement, education – represents one concrete step that policymakers could take to ensure a more coordinated and coherent set of incentives.Second, as globalisation continues, and value chains increasingly span multiple jurisdictions, there is an increasing need for a more co-ordinated approach to resource efficiency at the global level. Again, the G7 has a role to play, for example by addressing the trade and investment-related obstacles – export restrictions on secondary raw materials, restrictions on trade in used products, barriers to trade in environmental goods and services - that serve to hinder resource efficiency.Third, G7 governments can promote resource efficiency by coordinating and supporting research on information gaps related to material flows. There is currently little harmonised data on the indirect material flows associated with international trade, the flows of secondary raw materials, disaggregated resource use by industry, and the quality or deterioration of natural resource stocks. Better data and analysis is needed to support policy development, and to help make the case for increased ambition on resource efficiency. ■REFERENCES1 OECD council recommendation C(2008)402 3Rs = reduce, reuse, recycle³ IEA, 20164 Activities considered to involve materials management include (i) the pro-duction of goods and fuels, (ii) the transportation of goods, (iii) crop and food production and storage, and (iv) waste disposal5 UNEP IRP (2016)6 SERI material flows database7 OECD Dotstat8 OECD (2016): Policy Guidance on Resource EfficiencyABOUT THE AUTHORAngel Gurría has been the Secretary-General of the OECD since June 2006. He was re-appointed to a third mandate in May 2015. As Secretary-General, Mr Gurría reinforced the OECD’s role as a ‘hub’ for global dialogue and debate on economic policy issues while pursuing internal modernisation and reform. Mr Gurría is a Mexican national and came to the OECD following a distinguished career in public service in his country, including positions as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance and Public Credit in the 1990s. He holds a BA degree in Economics from UNAM (Mexico) and an MA degree in Economics from Leeds University (United Kingdom). “WE NEED AN APPROACH THAT ENSURES AN ALIGNED SET OF INCENTIVES FOR MATERIAL EFFICIENCY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE ”Figure 3. Global material extraction: 1980 - 2010Source: OECD, 2015: Material Resources, Productivity, and the EnvironmentGLOBAL VOICES 065