Bridging the Gap: Lessons from Energy Efficiency for Material Productivity in India

There are significant environmental, social and economic impacts of material extraction. Mining of minerals, metals, and other natural resources often occurs in ecologically sensitive areas rich in biodiversity and home to a significant tribal population. Additionally, as India imports a lion’s share of its requirements for strategic minerals like Cobalt, Nickel, and copper, it becomes highly import-dependent.

Despite this, figures show that the relative decoupling of production value from resource use is occurring slowly. The numbers have definitely not kept pace with the pace at which energy efficiency or reductions in energy consumption have occurred in the country. By material consumption, I mean the country’s consumption of resources related to construction (limestone, sand, etc.), metals and materials used in manufacturing processes, fuels, biomass, etc. Thus, while fuels are a part of this larger whole, they have followed a different trajectory as far as reduction in production intensities is concerned. Historically, material consumption patterns have followed sector-specific storylines. While rapid urbanisation has no doubt driven greater material use, India’s manufacturing sector growth has also necessitated greater use of minerals and metals. [Read more…]