Natural resources are becoming a strategic concern in the 21st century, where risks emerge across resource categories. Current resource use models fail to underpin a stable economy and long-term human well-being. Risks related to increased resource use include negative effects on health and the environment, and greater price volatility of natural resource commodities. The annual World Economic Forum Global Risks Report highlights environmental and resource-related risks, including extreme weather events, natural and man-made disasters, the failure to address climate change, and ecosystem collapse as some of those most likely to occur and most impactful to a prosperous global economy and human well-being.
Resource extraction and processing cause more than 90 percent of global biodiversity loss and water stress and more than half of the effects of global climate change. Without action, resource use will more than double from current levels to 190 billion tonnes by 2060. Concerted resource efficiency and sustainable resource management measures can reduce global resource use by 25 percent and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 90 percent, and boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by 8 percent, as compared with a historical trends scenario, from 2030 to 2060.