Factor 4 / Factor 10 Initiatives

For a 50% reduction of global material flows, future installations, products, and services would have to dematerialize by a factor of 10.

Recently some European countries have committed themselves to such reductions. The Netherlands hopes to achieve a Factor 4 reduction by halving resource use and doubling wealth; Austria hopes to achieve a Factor 10 reduction over the next decade; and Sweden proposes a Factor 10 reduction in materials and energy use over the next 25–50 years. Germany has gone for a more modest Factor 2.5 reduction in nonrenewable raw materials, to be achieved by 2020.

For more information, see Factor 4 by Weisacker and Carnoules Declaration.