Resource efficiency means reducing the environmental impact of the consumption and production of goods and services. The doing more with less slogan indicates the focus on more outputs with fewer impacts. Efficiency gains do not guarantee that the overall outcome stays within the ecological carrying capacity of the Earth. Influencing the demand side is therefore another prerequisite for sustainable development.
It is indeed timely to recognize that the world cannot achieve sustainable, economic growth with old fashioned consumption and production patterns. Companies will have to accelerate the trends of polluting less and of designing, producing and marketing better products and services. Consumers have to get used to the fact that environmental concerns are as important in their daily choices as considerations of price, convenience and quality. And governments and civil society have a key role to play in inspiring such a process.