The project "Analysis and evaluation of policy measures and economic instruments for resource protection for the further development of ProgRess", published by the Federal Environmental Agency, will be submitted to the Fraunhofer Institute for System and Innovation Research (ISI), Forum sozial-ökologische Marktwirtschaft (FÖS) and the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) of Freie Universität Berlin.

The background to the project is that Germany does not reach the goals for improving resource efficiency. Although raw material productivity has increased by 48% relative to 1994 (BMUB 2016) by 2014, the goal set out in the Federal Government's national sustainability strategy in 2002 to double raw material productivity by 2020 is, however, likely to be missed if the current trends in material usage and economic performance are continued.

The current resource policy instruments are aimed primarily at promoting resource-efficient innovations and their dissemination, for example through advisory programs or the promotion of innovation. In contrast, market-based instruments that provide incentives for more economical material consumption by means of price signals or regulatory instruments, for example in the case of plant approval or the restriction of market access for inefficient products, are hardly used. They are used for the most part with regard to waste prevention or treatment as well as energy production and consumption, but not to effectively reduce the input of other (primary) materials.

Therefore, the central task of the project will be to elaborate the evidence on the advantages and disadvantages of market-based instruments of the resource policy. The analyzes are designed to inform the political actors in the implementation and development of the resource efficiency program comprehensively with the evidence on the effects of market-based instruments and to support their decisions.