Abstract for: The nexus of international policies for climate protection and resource efficiency – the future needs to be shaped

A combination of qualitative, process, and system dynamics modeling of the nexus of climate protection and resource efficiency policies reveals that a global transition towards renewable energy would be possible, with the availability of certain raw material resources playing a crucial role. The model compares the scenarios from the World Energy Outlook (WEO) with the ambitious scenarios from the RESCUE-project of the German Environment Agency. Shifting to renewable energy sources also includes using more bioenergy. Therefore, we also modeled the global potential for biotic resources in the future after their use for food and industrial feedstock and with their potential for cascadic use. The view on biotic resources shows the urgent need for different consumption patterns with less consumption of animal products. This change of behavior could provide synergies for reducing resource and energy consumption in other areas as well - and it could support an overall reduction in the need for energy alongside shifting to renewable energy. With qualitative models we also have examined the lever for policies and with a general system dynamics model we showed the logic of rebounds from economic growth, resource consumption, and winners and losers from a shift of resource extraction to resource recycling.