ABOUT WRF25
The Premier Global Forum on
Resource Governance and Management.
Ensuring sustainability in the management and use of natural resources is a global challenge calling for collaborative solutions. The World Resources Forum Association has hosted a series of landmark conferences over the past decades, bringing together stakeholders from policy, industry, multilateral organisations, research, and civil society to address the world’s most pressing resource challenges. Since its inception in 2009, WRF has grown to become the globally-recognised premier platform on resource governance and management, where innovative ideas, good practices, and new policies are developed and discussed.
So far, we have organised conferences in Japan, Switzerland, China, Peru, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Belgium and Ghana.
WORLD RESOURCES FORUM 2025
CONFERENCE CONCEPT
Tackling three critical hotspots of resource use through drivers for systemic change.
Shaping Resource Strategies for a Sustainable Future.
At the heart of WRF25 lies a critical objective: to co-develop, assess, and discuss innovative strategies that deliver sustainability and fairness through improved governance and management of natural resources. These strategies are urgently needed to simultaneously address the global challenges of sustainability, resource scarcity, and socio-economic inequities. Coordination across all sectors is essential to ensure that these strategies are holistic and inclusive, engaging decision-makers and stakeholders from all regions and walks of life.
We recognise that achieving this major transition requires engaging stakeholders beyond the “usual suspects”. That is why WRF25 will bring together a diverse set of voices, from high-level policymakers and corporate leaders to local community representatives, especially from the Global South.
The resource hotspots
The three identified resource hotspots were chosen not only because of their significant environmental, economic and social impacts but also because they offer substantial opportunities for transformation. Together, these sectors drive global resource use and management, directly influencing sustainability outcomes. WRF25 aims to facilitate an inclusive, global debate on how we can reshape these sectors to ensure a fair and sustainable future.
EXTRACTIVE SECTOR
Enhance public and private governance for responsible sourcing of minerals and metals.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Deliver resilient, sustainable and fair buildings and infrastructure.
CONSUMER & INDUSTRIAL GOODS
Shift to sustainable production and consumption patterns.
EXTRACTIVE SECTOR
The extractive sector supplies the raw materials essential for nearly every facet of modern society, from infrastructure to consumer goods. However, it is also associated with some of the greatest environmental and social challenges, including deforestation, pollution, use of scarce water resources and community displacement.
As the world undergoes the twin energy and digital transition, the demand for minerals and metals is growing exponentially. The energy transition, in particular, requires vast amounts of critical minerals like cobalt, lithium and nickel for batteries, copper for electric vehicle wiring, and rare earth elements for wind turbines and solar panels.
This exponential growth in demand bring new challenges. While these minerals are crucial to achieving global climate goals, their extraction can have devastating environmental and social impacts, especially in regions with poor governance and enforcement. The pressure on mining and extraction industries to meet rising demand sustainably, while addressing human rights concerns and environmental degradation, has never been greater. The sector needs to adopt responsible sourcing, ethical trade practices, and circular economy principles to mitigate these impacts and ensure that the transition to a green economy is not built on the exploitation of resources and people.
The extractive sector holds immense potential for transformation through coordinated strategies across multiple fronts. Effective change requires strong multilateral governance frameworks to ensure that global standards are upheld across regions, particularly in countries where resource governance is weak. International agreements on issues like conflict minerals, deep-sea mining, and critical material sourcing must be strengthened to ensure fairer and more sustainable outcomes.
Circular economy solutions, such as improving material efficiency and recycling critical minerals, offer pathways to reducing dependence on virgin resources and minimizing waste, including hazardous tailings. At the same time, technological innovations—like AI for precision mining and blockchain for supply chain transparency—can increase efficiency, reduce environmental damage, and promote fair trade.
The development of robust lifecycle assessments, private sector standards, and assurance schemes can drive accountability, ensuring that companies and governments meet minimum environmental and social benchmarks. This is complemented by the role of finance and trade, where ethical financing mechanisms, due diligence in trade agreements, and green investment policies can incentivise more responsible practices across the industry. Finally, embedding sufficiency strategies can help manage the growing demand for critical minerals in a way that ensures intergenerational equity.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
The built environment—comprising buildings, infrastructure, and urban areas—stands as one of the largest consumers of natural resources, accounting for a significant portion of global energy use, raw materials, and waste. It is a sector that not only drives significant resource consumption and environmental impact but also profoundly shapes social and economic outcomes across the world. Understanding the built environment’s importance requires examining both its global footprint and its local nuances.
The construction, operation, and eventual demolition of buildings contribute to large amounts of waste, water use, and land degradation. The extraction and processing of materials for construction—such as cement, steel, and sand—can lead to habitat loss, biodiversity destruction, and pollution. However, the environmental challenges are not uniform. In the Global North, much of the building stock already exists, and the focus is on retrofitting and upgrading aging infrastructure to meet sustainability standards. On the other hand, the Global South is experiencing rapid urbanisation. This creates both an opportunity and risk: new construction can either lock in resource-intensive practices or become a catalyst for sustainable growth.
The social dimension is equally critical. Buildings are not just structures—they define human lives, providing shelter, safety, and public spaces where communities thrive. However, there are stark disparities in access to adequate housing and infrastructure between the Global North and South, as well as within countries.
The economic impact of the built environment is vast, with construction being a key sector that drives employment and economic growth globally. However, the sector is also highly fragmented, with different countries enforcing unique building codes, standards, and regulations. This lack of harmonization makes it difficult to apply uniform sustainability strategies across regions. Thus, the built environment is not just a technical challenge; it is also a social and governance issue. The diverse regulatory frameworks and resource needs across the world necessitate region-specific solutions that align with both global sustainability targets and local socio-economic contexts.
Transforming this sector requires a multi-faceted strategy that addresses sustainability, resilience, and fairness through an integrated approach. Multilateral governance is essential in aligning national policies and international frameworks with these goals. Agreements like the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide overarching targets, but their implementation depends on strong national and regional commitments. Cross-border cooperation on sustainability standards for cities and infrastructure can further guide local actions to achieve global impact.
One of the key levers is adopting circular economy principles to design buildings and infrastructure with cradle-to-cradle lifecycles. This includes innovative approaches like modular construction, design for deconstruction, and the use of renewable materials such as timber-hybrid systems, which reduce resource intensity while extending the lifespan of buildings. Additionally, rethinking urban spaces to prioritize resource efficiency—such as through smart cities and space optimization—can help mitigate the immense pressure on natural resources.
Tools like lifecycle assessments and environmental product declarations (EPDs) enable more transparent decision-making, while green building certifications and ESG reporting frameworks can drive higher levels of accountability in the construction and real estate sectors. The adoption of private sector standards and assurance schemes, along with public sector regulations, will create a stronger compliance landscape for sustainability goals.The financial sector also plays a pivotal role in this transformation. Green financing and financial incentives for sustainable cities and buildings are critical to supporting the transition. Finally, sufficiency strategies in urban planning and construction can further reduce the resource footprint of the built environment.
CONSUMER & INDUSTRIAL GOODS
The consumer and industrial goods sector is a critical driver of global resource consumption and environmental degradation, but it is also deeply intertwined with social and economic well-being. From everyday items like clothing, electronics, and household products to large-scale industrial equipment and machinery, the production, consumption, and disposal of these goods have far-reaching impacts across the globe.
The production of consumer goods involves complex supply chains that often span multiple continents, requiring vast amounts of raw materials such as metals, plastics, chemicals, and textiles. Furthermore, the current linear model—where goods are manufactured, consumed, and discarded—generates enormous amounts of waste, much of which ends up in landfills or polluting natural ecosystems.
The sector also plays a pivotal role in social and economic systems, providing jobs, driving economic growth, and influencing consumer behavior worldwide. In many regions, particularly in the Global South, manufacturing industries are a major source of employment and economic development. Yet, these industries are often marked by inequities, including low wages, poor working conditions, and the exploitation of workers. The environmental harm caused by unsustainable production practices disproportionately affects low-income communities, where factories are often located, exacerbating social inequality and environmental injustice.
Moreover, consumer habits vary significantly across the globe. In the Global North, high levels of overconsumption drive demand for new products, many of which are discarded after a short lifecycle, contributing to the throwaway culture that fuels resource depletion. Meanwhile, in the Global South, where consumption patterns are rapidly rising as economies grow and populations urbanize, the demand for consumer goods is expanding, albeit in a context of different socio-economic realities. These diverging consumption patterns create challenges for ensuring equitable access to resources, as the ecological footprints of wealthy nations far exceed those of developing countries, yet the environmental consequences are felt worldwide.
The challenges posed by this sector—ranging from unsustainable production models to the exploitation of labor and environmental degradation—underscore the urgent need for coordinated, innovative strategies that address both consumption and production.
To drive transformation in the consumer and industrial goods sector, multiple strategies must converge. The transition to a circular economy is one of the most promising pathways for reducing the environmental footprint of consumer and industrial goods. By designing products that can be reused, repaired, or recycled, the sector can minimize waste and reduce demand for virgin materials. Circular business models, such as products-as-a-service, allow companies to retain ownership of goods and their materials, encouraging durability and reducing resource extraction. However, adopting these models requires design innovation to ensure that products are modular, upgradable, and recyclable at the end of their life cycle.
Equally important is the role of digitalization and technological innovation in enhancing resource efficiency. Technologies like 3D printing, AI-driven supply chain management, and blockchain for traceability enable more efficient production processes, reduce waste, and provide greater transparency in sourcing materials. Data-driven innovations can also help companies monitor and improve their environmental performance, making it easier to implement and scale circular economy practices.
However, technological innovation alone cannot deliver sustainability unless supported by multilateral governance. Given the globalized nature of supply chains, it is essential to create international frameworks and agreements that promote sustainable production and consumption. This includes developing cross-border regulations that govern labor rights, environmental protections, and fair trade practices. International cooperation is necessary to address the complex web of social and environmental justice issues that arise from the sector’s global operations, ensuring that the benefits of sustainable practices are equitably distributed across regions and stakeholders.
Finance and trade mechanisms are also essential in scaling sustainable solutions. ncentives like green bonds, impact investment, and sustainability-linked loans can encourage companies to adopt more responsible production methods. At the same time, trade policies can be structured to prioritize low-carbon products and penalize environmentally harmful practices.
The development of common metrics for measuring the environmental and social impacts of consumer goods is crucial for ensuring accountability and driving improvements. Finally, in regions where overconsumption is prevalent, sufficiency strategies aim to reduce demand for excessive, short-lived products while promoting longer-lasting, higher-quality goods. The focus on sufficiency ensures that economic and environmental gains are not undone by ever-growing consumption patterns. This shift requires consumer behavior change as well as corporate responsibility to produce goods that meet essential needs without encouraging wasteful habits.
The drivers for change
The six drivers for change serve as foundational pillars that can catalyse systemic change across the Extractive Sector, Built Environment and Consumer & Industrial Goods. Each driver not only addresses specific challenges within these sectors but also possesses the ability to inform and shape comprehensive strategies aimed at fostering sustainability and fairness. When coupled together, these drivers create a synergistic effect that enhances their overall impact, enabling solutions that are more effective, holistic and sustainable.
MULTILATERAL GOVERNANCE
Fostering global cooperation to address complex challenges.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Reimaging resource flows to preserve value.
FINANCE & TRADE
Driving investments and creating markets for sustainability.
INNOVATION, DESIGN & DIGITALISATION
Unlocking transformative solutions for sustainable resource use.
INDICATORS, METHODS & STANDARDS
Guiding transparent measurement and aligning performance.
SUFFICIENCY
Meeting human needs of all within planetary boundaries.
OUR OBJECTIVES
The World Resources Forum is more than a platform for dialogue; it is a catalyst for action. Out mission is to support international processes and multilateral environmental agreements, while also engaging with the private sector to foster responsible resource use across industries. By enabling informed and science-based discussions, WRF contributes to the development of international standards, resource management practices and sustainable innovations.
SUSTAINABILITY
LEADERSHIP
Promoting a future where resources are managed within planetary boundaries.
EVIDENCE-BASED
ACTION
Providing a strong science-policy-industry interface to support decision-making.
COLLABORATION ACROSS BORDERS AND SECTORS
Fostering partnerships beyond established networks to create systemic change.
Empowering multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Science-Policy-Industry dialogue
Foster international cooperation
Knowledge co-creation and dissemination
Awareness raising & advocacy
Build support for concerted action
Explore synergies for new collaborations
Be part of this dialogue for change
Become a partner.
There are endless opportunities to collaborate with us and increase the impact of WRF25. Explore them and get in touch with us!