Page 104 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Industrial Decarbonization:
The Role Of Material Efficiency Strategies

institutions (ME, 2019; IEA, 2020b; IRP, 2020; IEA, 2021b-2021c) concerning the
achievement of long-term net-zero emissions targets in industry emphasize
the efficient use of resources, particularly of materials.

d. Material Efficiency

As seen in Figure 4, material efficiency is one of the key components of
resource efficiency with energy and all other natural resources, and in its
simplest definition, means minimal use of materials for the same level of
output. However, there exist some alternative definitions as well. For instance,
according to Worell et al (1995: 216), material efficiency means the increase in
the functionality of raw materials without sacrificing the original functions or
purpose of a product. In a broader definition, it is defined as the substitution
of some of the emission-intensive materials with less emission-intensive
materials or providing the same functions for the same purposes with less
materials.

Figure 4: Resource Efficiency: Energy, Materials, and Natural Resources
Source: Adapted by the authors from IRP (2020) and Deckert (2016)

Figure 5 presents the global domestic material consumption (DMC) and
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (left axis) and material intensity (DMC/GDP)
(right axis) for the 1970-2019 period. As can be seen, DMC in 2019 is around

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