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Resource Wende

During many decades there has been a firm belief in large parts of the world that economic growth brings an end to poverty and will realise welfare for all humans. This belief has prevailed despite signals that indicate there are limits to growth, as already highlighted in the famous Club of Rome report Limits to Growth 50 years ago and recently in a personal and anxious message received from one of the writers Dennis Meadows in april 2023.

The Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine have served as a wakeup call in many areas, but most of all brought the realisation that the European societies are very much dependent on resources that are mainly produced abroad. The obvious first reaction is to implement measures that improve supply chain security (diversification of suppliers, increased autonomy, strategic stocks and circular economy), so we can continue the growth paradigm. These are indeed important initial measures to limit the risks. However, when taking a closer look at the numbers of sustainable production levels and growing worldwide resources demand, it becomes clear there will be a resource gap in the near future. Any attempt to increase and secure the supply for one continent, will have repercussions for other parts of the world.

The Resource Wende promotes a transition from a Winner Takes It All towards a Common Future scenario, to ensure a healthy future for all current and future life on earth. The programme looks at resource scarcity on a systemic level and aims to incorporate the outcome of expert thinking in all sustainability transitions in the Netherlands and beyond.

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Next conference: May 30th and 31st 2023, KIT Amsterdam

Resource Wende Coalition

Urgent sustainability transitions are delayed at country, regional and global level. Persuasion power is needed to bring these transitions back on track as an integrated whole, while at the same time taking into account the imminent resource scarcity challenges. The Resource Wende Coalition aims to be the driving force for the most urgent transitions. Dialogues will be organised with a network of business and political leaders, professionals and social representatives. Past experience has shown that a combination of a powerful network and structured dialogues are key ingredients to develop a common story of the future and a decision-making framework that guide the realisation of an integrated set of sustainability transitions. As you can imagine, the limiting factors of our earth system will become a natural part of this framework. The ultimate goal is to deliver a widely supported Futures Agreement as the basis for broad prosperity in The Netherlands and beyond.

Dossiers

There are many dossiers that promote a transition to a more sustainable world. Most of these transitions require (large amounts of) resources. If resource scarcity is not taken into account when making investment decisions, many of these transitions will fail and only deliver stranded assets.

Dialogues

Nobody has detailed knowledge of all the necessary sustainability transitions and the overall implications of resource scarcity. There is a need to combine the various areas of expertise into a common story of the future and underlying systems-model that enable integral decision-making. Structured dialogues are a means to bring the right people and knowledge together to create the necessary common understanding.

Network

Many transitions are delayed or halted due to lack of support from society, experts, public and private organisations. Without a common vision and commitment from a network of leaders and influencers in each of these areas, most sustainability transitions will run aground. The development of the vision and support-network is a crucial part of the Resource Wende programme.