Resource Productivity

The choice of indicators is relevant to assess how resources are used in Germany. It is pos-sible, for example, to take account of such changes in the international division of labour as reduced vertical integration and an increase in international trade over and above the level of economic growth. Raw material equivalents can be used both to determine initial raw material input and to allocate exports to the country of ultimate use. The data show that Germany is making considerable advances in resource productivity and its progress compares well with that of other EU countries. However, the Federal Government’s target of doubling Germany’s 1994 level of raw material productivity by 2020, as envisaged in its 2002 National Sustainability Strategy, will be hard to achieve.