EU resource productivity slightly decreased in 2020

Since the start of the millennium, the EU’s resource productivity has increased by around 35%, despite a slight decrease in 2020 (Eurostat figures)

Resource productivity quantifies the relationship between the size of the economy and the use of natural resources. The value of resource productivity increases when the economy, measured by GDP, grows at a faster rate than the consumption of raw materials, measured by domestic material consumption (DMC).

After a period of moderate growth in the early 2000s, resource productivity increased sharply during the financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009, resulting from pronounced falls in domestic material consumption. The crisis affected the material-intensive industries of manufacturing and construction more than the rest of the economy.

Impact of Covid-19

Then, following several years of steady growth, resource productivity slightly decreased in 2020.

This was largely due to a significant decrease in GDP due to the COVID pandemic, while domestic material consumption decreased moderately as the consumption of construction material and biomass remained stable.