Global material flows and resource productivity
Worldwide extraction of materials triples in four decades, intensifying climate change and air pollution. Rising consumption fuelled by a growing middle class has seen the amount of primary materials extracted from the Earth triple in the last four decades, according to a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme-hosted International Resource Panel (IRP). The dramatic increase in the use of fossil fuels, metals and other materials will intensify climate change, increase air pollution, reduce biodiversity and ultimately lead to the depletion of natural resources, causing worrying shortages of critical materials and heightening the risk of local conflicts, warns the report. The alarming rate at which materials are now being extracted is already having a severe impact on human health and people's quality of life. It shows that the prevailing patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable.