What is
Eco-Efficiency?
The World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) defines Eco-Efficiency
as:
.....'the delivery of competitively priced goods and
services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while
progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity
throughout the life cycle, to a level at least in line with the earth's
estimated carrying capacity.'
Put simply, Eco-efficiency or Cleaner Production is
about improving environmental performance and saving money by using less
resources (water, energy, raw materials) and producing less waste.
It involves rethinking conventional practices to come up
with smarter solutions by following the CP hierarchy as pictured
below.
How is
Eco-efficiency related to Cleaner Production?
The definition of Cleaner Production that is
adopted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is:
.... ‘the continuous application of an
integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, products, and
services to increase overall efficiency, and reduce risks to humans and
the environment’.
The concepts of Eco-efficiency and Cleaner Production
are almost synonymous. The slight difference between them is that
eco-efficiency starts from issues of economic efficiency which have
positive environmental benefits, while Cleaner Production starts from
issues of environmental efficiency which have positive economic benefits
(UNEP).
