Concepts of resource-efficiency: a trade-off between ambitions and viability

There is no shortage of concepts that aim to show how our economy can become more resource- efficient such as eco-innovation, cradle to cradle. We analysed a long list of concepts using three dimensions: scope of change, ambition with regard to the (paradigmatic) degree of change, and the existence of plausible drivers and pathways of change. Reviewed literature on governance and transitions suggests that the more extensive and radical the scope and ambition of change are, the higher systemic and institutional resistance to change will be. From roughly 30 concepts reviewed, none gave a credible answer on how to overcome this dilemma. Resource scarcity is not (yet) a clear driver for change. Where in the field of climate change policy starts to respond to compelling scientific evidence of danger, in the field of resources only win-win policies are seriously considered. Advocates of radical resource efficiency must find credible pathways that allow it to be pursued at scale in practice or hope that incremental change will open up space for more radical options, in order to avoid the significant economic and social disruption from supply-demand imbalances that some now fear.