dematerialisation
Dematerialisation, or dematerialisation, is the process by which economic activity and material throughput decline relative to GDP or service output. In practice, it describes shifting from material‑intensive production to services, digital goods, and information‑based activities, so that growth can occur with a lower use of physical resources, raw materials, and energy.
Key metrics include material intensity (materials used per unit of GDP), domestic material consumption, and total
Drivers and mechanisms include digitalization, the shift to services, cloud computing, data networks, and dematerialization of
Examples and policy relevance include the move from physical media to streaming; paperless offices; teleconferencing reducing