Natural resources are essential for life on our planet, and always will be. Many natural resources, however, are in limited supply. Conserving natural resources is therefore of vital importance, including for future generations. The Federal Government of Germany embraces its responsibility in this regard. As early as 2002, it set a target in the National Sustainable Development Strategy of doubling Germany’s raw material productivity by 2020 relative to 1994. The German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess) of 2012 was directed towards achieving this target. The overarching goal of the German Resource Efficiency Programme is to make the extraction and use of natural resources more sustainable and meet the country’s responsibility to future generations by helping to secure the natural foundations of life for the long term. 

In its National Sustainable Development Strategy of 2002, the Federal Government set a target of doubling raw material productivity by 2020 (relative to 1994). With the adoption of the ProgRess programme, Germany is working towards that goal and is among the first countries to determine targets, guiding principles and approaches to the conservation of natural resources. The programme describes measures for increasing energy efficiency along the entire value chain – from raw material extraction and product design to production, use and circular economy. The Federal Government pledged to report every four years on developments in resource efficiency in Germany, assess progress, and further develop the resource efficiency programme. The first progress report, ProgRess II, was adopted by the Federal Cabinet on 2 March 2016, the second, ProgRess III, on 17 June 2020.

Like ProgRess I, ProgRess II is based on the following four guiding principles:

1. Combining ecological necessities with economic opportunities, innovation focus, and social responsibility

2. Considering global responsibility as a key guide of national resource policy

3. Making economic and production practices in Germany less and less dependent on primary resources; developing and expanding the circular economy

4. Securing sustainable resource use for the long term by guiding society towards quality growth

To translate these guiding principles into practice, resource conservation indicators and targets under the German Sustainability Strategy are supplemented with additional indicators and targets, and options are shown for improving resource efficiency along the entire value chain.

Like ProgRess I, ProgRess II is a participative document. Comprehensive consultation processes were held to update the programme and address current challenges in order to further improve the programme's effectiveness. Representatives of civil groups, associations and the Länder have had the opportunity to comment on the draft programme and contribute their own proposals.

The work under the German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess) and the measures listed in the programme have generated a wide variety of results like:

- securing a sustainable raw material supply to German industry by enhancing efficiency in the exploitation of deposits and resource use and transparency in the value chain, supporting sustainable resource extraction in partner countries, and increasing the material use of regenerative resources

- raising resource efficiency in production by promoting knowledge diffusion and expanding resource efficiency advice for businesses, developing and disseminating material-efficient and energy-efficient production and processing methods, and integrating resource conservation into standardization

- promoting resource-efficient consumption by increasing the supply of, promote public awareness of, and intensifying communications on resource-efficient products and sustainable lifestyles, as well as using public and private Resource-efficient procurement.

- enhancing resource-efficient closed cycle management via waste prevention programmes, increasing the collection and recycling of precious and rare metals, improving the recycling of resource-relevant bulk waste streams, supporting recycling and recovery structures in emerging and developing countries

- use of cross-cutting instruments, such as Economic instruments and review of subsidies regarding resource use, legal instruments, funding for research and implementation, and activities at European and international level.

Overall, the programme’s focus is not only on enhancing resource efficiency, but also on showing how in many cases the use of raw materials – such as in environmental technologies – can actually conserve natural resources.