Environmental-economic accounting supports the federal government’s sustainability strategy by analysing and specifying detailed trends of various environmental indicators in the sustainability strategy and revealing interrelations with economic and social aspects. This relates, in particular, to the indicators on energy and raw material productivity (indicators 1a and b of the strategy), greenhouse gas emissions (indicator 2), the growth of settlement and traffic areas (indicator 4), the intensity of passenger and freight transport (indicator 11 a and b) and air pollutants (indicator 13). The results of the analyses on the above and other indicators of the sustainability strategy are contained in the Indicator Report 2010. The respective data and additional information are available in a special data collection: Data relating to the Indicator Report 2010.
One of the indicators is indicator 1b raw material productivity: The use of raw materials is essential for economic development. But it is also associated with burdens on the environment. In addition, non-renewable minerals, which are consumed today, will no longer be available to future generations. That is why we need to deal with raw materials in a more economical way. The federal government has set the goal to double raw material productivity by 2020 in relation to the base year 1994.
The term "raw material productivity" expresses the amount of gross domestic product (in euro, adjusted for price) per tonne of input of abiotic primary material. Abiotic primary materials include raw materials extracted within Germany – excluding agricultural and forest products – and all imported abiotic materials (raw materials, semifinished products and finished goods).
Raw material productivity increased by 47.5% from 1994 to 2010. With decreasing material input (-17.1%), the gross domestic product rose by 22.3%. After a rather marked increase in productivity had been recorded from 2008 to 2009, it rose just slightly in 2010. Although the indicator generally developed in the desired direction, the rate of increase shown in the last five years would not be sufficient to achieve the goal set.
