Indicators are required to monitor the progress of resource and circular economy policies. The German Sustainable Development Strategy and Resource Efficiency Program already include a number of indicators for mapping Germany's resource use and socio-economic metabolism. However, currently used indicators only include a subset of natural resources and often lack an impact evaluation (e.g., considering resource scarcity or environmental relevance). Resource and environmental footprints indirectly caused through the trade of goods have so far only partly been considered by German resource policy and in official statistics. As a result, burden shifting between different resource categories, world regions, or environmental effects can remain undetected. To fill this gap, we discuss the overall scope of natural resource monitoring in Germany and review existing resource indicators evaluating them against a set of predefined criteria. We then propose a possible monitoring framework for Germany consisting of a materials-layer (the focus of resource and circular economy policies to date) for the evaluation of material flows and stocks, and corresponding water, land, and emissions-layers which should be monitored simultaneously to track contributions to the overarching objectives of resource and circular economy policies. Possible indicators and data sources are discussed and an outlook for future research provided.
