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Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia–Pacific region revisited.

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Title: Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia–Pacific region revisited.
Authors: West, James1 (AUTHOR) jim.west@csiro.au, Schandl, Heinz1,2 (AUTHOR), Miatto, Alessio1 (AUTHOR), Krausmann, Fridolin3 (AUTHOR), Fischer-Kowalski, Marina3 (AUTHOR), Lutter, Stephan4 (AUTHOR)
Source: Global Environmental Change Part A: Human & Policy Dimensions. May2026, Vol. 97, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Subject Terms: *Infrastructure (Economics), *Resource exploitation, *Sustainable development, Production (Economic theory), Standard of living, Resource allocation
Geographic Terms: Asia
Abstract: • Rapid growth in materials usage in the region reported in 2010 has since plateaued, reducing pressure on global resources. • Living standards continued to increase while materials efficiency emerges to drive relative decoupling. • Consumption based metrics confirm that plateau is not driven by regional outsourcing of materials intensive processes. • A GDP transformation is introduced that provides a consistent basis for regional performance comparisons over time. This analysis of material use and resource efficiency trends in the Asia Pacific region provides an important update to a study conducted 15 years ago on the same subject. Our findings indicate that some of the concerning trends identified in the earlier study have since moderated, with regional material demand plateauing in recent years. Resource efficiency improvements have continued and even accelerated over the decade to 2020. The impact of these trends is evident in a series of IPAT analyses, which indicate that improvements in the Technology factor used (Materials Intensity) were finally sufficiently strong to enable the region to continue raising living standards without notably increasing materials demand. As these empirical outcomes were not anticipated in the earlier study, we explore potential explanations for these trends. One consideration is whether the resource efficiency improvements indicated in an IPAT analysis of the most recent data provides support for Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) dynamics, a hypothesis largely dismissed in the previous study. Additionally, we examine whether the unprecedented expansion of productive infrastructure in the region during the early 21st century may now be sufficient to accommodate further infrastructure development in the region's lower-income countries, thereby reducing the need for continued growth in material throughput. Finally, revisiting the observations made in the 2010 paper highlighted the need to develop and use GDP measures that remain stable over time. We propose one such measure and demonstrate why a consistent GDP basis is essential for ratio-based metrics, such as resource efficiency, when used to monitor long-term performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Global Environmental Change Part A: Human & Policy Dimensions is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia–Pacific region revisited.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22West%2C+James%22">West, James</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> jim.west@csiro.au</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Schandl%2C+Heinz%22">Schandl, Heinz</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Miatto%2C+Alessio%22">Miatto, Alessio</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Krausmann%2C+Fridolin%22">Krausmann, Fridolin</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fischer-Kowalski%2C+Marina%22">Fischer-Kowalski, Marina</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lutter%2C+Stephan%22">Lutter, Stephan</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Global+Environmental+Change+Part+A%3A+Human+%26+Policy+Dimensions%22">Global Environmental Change Part A: Human & Policy Dimensions</searchLink>. May2026, Vol. 97, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Infrastructure+%28Economics%29%22">Infrastructure (Economics)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Resource+exploitation%22">Resource exploitation</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sustainable+development%22">Sustainable development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Production+%28Economic+theory%29%22">Production (Economic theory)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Standard+of+living%22">Standard of living</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Resource+allocation%22">Resource allocation</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
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  Data: • Rapid growth in materials usage in the region reported in 2010 has since plateaued, reducing pressure on global resources. • Living standards continued to increase while materials efficiency emerges to drive relative decoupling. • Consumption based metrics confirm that plateau is not driven by regional outsourcing of materials intensive processes. • A GDP transformation is introduced that provides a consistent basis for regional performance comparisons over time. This analysis of material use and resource efficiency trends in the Asia Pacific region provides an important update to a study conducted 15 years ago on the same subject. Our findings indicate that some of the concerning trends identified in the earlier study have since moderated, with regional material demand plateauing in recent years. Resource efficiency improvements have continued and even accelerated over the decade to 2020. The impact of these trends is evident in a series of IPAT analyses, which indicate that improvements in the Technology factor used (Materials Intensity) were finally sufficiently strong to enable the region to continue raising living standards without notably increasing materials demand. As these empirical outcomes were not anticipated in the earlier study, we explore potential explanations for these trends. One consideration is whether the resource efficiency improvements indicated in an IPAT analysis of the most recent data provides support for Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) dynamics, a hypothesis largely dismissed in the previous study. Additionally, we examine whether the unprecedented expansion of productive infrastructure in the region during the early 21st century may now be sufficient to accommodate further infrastructure development in the region's lower-income countries, thereby reducing the need for continued growth in material throughput. Finally, revisiting the observations made in the 2010 paper highlighted the need to develop and use GDP measures that remain stable over time. We propose one such measure and demonstrate why a consistent GDP basis is essential for ratio-based metrics, such as resource efficiency, when used to monitor long-term performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Global Environmental Change Part A: Human & Policy Dimensions is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2026.103136
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      Pagination:
        PageCount: 1
        StartPage: N.PAG
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Infrastructure (Economics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Resource exploitation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sustainable development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Production (Economic theory)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Standard of living
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Resource allocation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Asia
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia–Pacific region revisited.
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            NameFull: West, James
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            NameFull: Schandl, Heinz
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            NameFull: Krausmann, Fridolin
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            NameFull: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Text: May2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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              Value: 97
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Global Environmental Change Part A: Human & Policy Dimensions
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