Absolute sustainability of natural resource use

The webinar examined the absolute sustainability assessment of natural resources, highlighting why current methods for defining resource boundaries remain immature and how the field is shifting from resource extraction to resource dissipation as the central issue. Practical examples illustrated how dissipative flows can be identified through concentration thresholds, extraction economics, and thermodynamic criteria such as polymer depolymerization yields. Presented by Mikolaj Owsianiak from the Technical University of Denmark’s Centre for Absolute Sustainability, the session proposed a science-based, needs-driven approach to boundary setting that protects the value resources hold for humans in the technosphere.