A Mount Everest every 20 months
In 2015, global production systems used 90 gigatonnes (billion tonnes) of natural resources and discarded 112 gigatonnes as waste and energy. To put this in perspective, the world economy processes resources equivalent to an entire Mount Everest every 20 months. This is a result of an expanding process. The global economy involves the inflow, outflow, and accumulation of resources, all of which are experiencing exponential growth as you can see from the graph. Looking ahead, the United Nations Environmental Programme projects resource consumption to reach 184 Gt per year by 2050 in a business-as-usual scenario. This means a Mount Everest of resources every 10 months! Even under a high-efficiency scenario, resource consumption is expected to rise to 132 Gt per year by 2050, representing a 43% increase from the current level.