The Circular Economy and Climate Change: The State of National and Global Evidence on Mitigation Potential

discussed among the widerpublic. Pressure points in-cluding climate change,waterandfoodavailability,price surges for strategicraw materials, and peakingglobal oil supply are con-verging rapidly in an un-precedented manner. Thecurrent global patterns ofproduction and consump-tion are hitting the reallimitsofglobalecosystems.The global economy seems to be at a turningpoint where decisions are urgent while informa-tion is incomplete.The urgency of addressing issues of industrialmetabolism

The article discusses key aspects to be considered for the orientation of sustainable resource policies. Resource management at the local scale needs to be supplemented by governmental action in order to adjust production and consumption toward acceptable levels of global resource use. What is acceptable is being informed by scientific findings on environmental degradation and relevant cause–effect relationships. However, the desired state of the environment, the tolerable level of uncertainties about environmental impacts, risks of societal conflicts, and ethical considerations all involve normative considerations. Policy decisions for sustainable global resource use must be taken on the basis of imperfect information. A wider systems perspective, longer time horizon, and broader involvement of available knowledge could provide a sufficiently valid basis to derive directionally safe targets. Possible proxy targets for global biotic and abiotic resource use, considering land, biodiversity, and water issues, are presented on a per-person basis for 2050 for further discussion and research. These values could be used to assess the resource footprints of countries with regard to sustainability, providing orientation for governments and industry.

As global wealth and population have grown, the world’s demand for materials has tripled since 1970, raising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from material production, extraction and use due to their intensive energy requirements (United Nations Environment Programme, 2024). The circular economy (CE) is considered a novel approach to production and consumption systems that emphasises cyclical, renewable arrangements that extend the life and usefulness of materials and resources (Korhonen et al., 2018), drawing extensively from work undertaken in the Industrial Ecology (IE) field. The transition to a CE is anticipated to have a profound impact on GHG emissions (Khalifa et al., 2022) across various sectors (Cantzler et al., 2020). Given this mitigation potential, calls have been made for Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to better integrate modelling of material stocks and flows (Pauliuk et al., 2017), enabling more comprehensive representation of material efficiency and CE strategies (Ünlü et al., 2024). However, both IAMs and CE scholars have faced significant criticism for their inadequate consideration of the so-called “Global South”. IAMs have been shown: to be insensitive to developmental needs (van Ruijven et al., 2008); to poorly interpret low-income economic and energy dynamics (Lucas et al., 2015); and to underrepresent Global South participants in scenario and model development (Miguel et al., 2019). Meanwhile, the Global South has been relatively obscured from dominant narratives of CE predicated on corporate leadership, technocratic solutions (Kirchherr et al., 2017) and decoupling growth from environmental impacts (Ghisellini et al., 2016). Global South circularity is shown to be more often necessity- and value-driven, building on bottom-up adaptive community and informal economic practices that respond to limited services and material scarcity (Korsunova et al., 2022; Schröder et al., 2019). Critically, there is now an opportunity within the IAM community to respond to these differing manifestations of circularity as model development is underway, widening the relevance of IAMs to academics and decision-makers operating in the Global South.In this paper, we aim to understand how process-based IAMs can better integrate the unique contexts and processes of the Global South while developing and extending modelling frameworks to better assess material cycles and CE strategies for climate change mitigation. First, we review the literature on Global South CE for climate change mitigation from which we derive five major modelling challenges for Global South circularity in IAMs, namely scalability, informality, applicability, developmental trade-offs and measurability. Then, we conduct interviews with IAM developers working on CE-related or Global South-based modelling to understand (1) the major factors involved in integrating material stocks and flows into process-based IAMs and (2) how these factors interact with the five aforementioned major challenges for modelling Global South circularity. We combine the insights from both the literature review and expert interviews to suggest improvements for modelling the Global South in IAM-material models from both theoretical and technical perspectives. Overall, our paper contributes actionable recommendations for modellers seeking to redress concerns around the equity and representativeness of climate mitigation models and scenarios and their applicability to diverse socioeconomic contexts. 

The article examines the development of the circular economy in Ukraine, as well as the prospects of implementation of the experience of leading EU countries in the field of circular economy in Ukraine. The relevance of the study is that for now in Ukraine very few steps have been taken towards a circular economy, although everyone understands its importance. First of all, the meaning of the circular economy is revealed and the main advantages of its implementation in Ukraine are determined. The advantages of the transition to a circular economy are as follows: significant material savings, sustainable use of resources, stimulating innovations, the ability to meet the needs of the ever-growing population of the Earth, economic growth, and income. The circular or closed-loop economy involves the recovery, reuse, and rational use of resources and, through services and smart solutions, leads to added value. The state of resource management in Ukraine and the EU, in particular waste management, is analyzed. It is established that in the field of waste management Ukraine lags far behind developed European countries. Today, huge amounts of waste have accumulated in Ukraine, and currently, there is no developed infrastructure to decide this problem, and landfills themselves have become sources of great environmental danger. The new EU policy and the policy of Ukraine in the field of circular economy are analyzed. Taking into account the best European practices, recommendations are given to Ukraine on the transition from a traditional, linear economy to a circular economy. The main ones are as follows: it is necessary to change the structure of public procurement and focus on environmentally friendly types of production; it is necessary to accelerate the transition of Ukraine from the traditional model of public procurement to the concept of “green” procurement; it is necessary to develop an effective legislative and regulatory framework for the functioning of the circular economy; it is necessary to move to more efficient business models (such as ecodesign, repair, reuse, recovery and exchange of products and maximum prevention of waste generation) and stimulate the development of environmentally friendly technologies; it is expedient to develop programs of financing of projects in the field of circular economy; it is necessary to promote better awareness of consumers about the concept of “circular” economy, environmental “footprint” of goods and services, as well as sustainable consumption; it is necessary to change the method of production and consumption of goods from short-term to long-term, as well as to encourage the economy, businesses and consumers to maximize waste recycling. It is also established that in general, Ukraine’s policy in the field of circular economy should be formed and implemented at all three levels: national, regional, and global. However, each of us can begin to change in the direction of a circular economy (for example, through conscious consumption and resource conservation). It is also important to realize the importance of sorting garbage because its removal to landfills and finding new ones is not the best solution. Garbage needs to be recycled, and this can only be done if it is sorted.

Circular Urban Metabolism Framework

Spaceship earth's odyssey to a circular economy - a century long perspective

Bioengineering textiles across scales for a sustainable circular economy

This We present a concise analytical write-up focusing on green AI architectures and sustainable resource use in circular economies. Two chenges in the transition to a circular economy are insufficient resource efficiency and sustainability assessment of decisions affecting resource use. AI-enabled solutions can contribute positively but often with energy and emissions costs that undermine their ecological value. The analytical lens examines green AI architectures that avoid, minimize or counterbalance adverse energy, data, and life-cycle sustainability impacts. The idea behind the circular economy is to use as few resources as possible and keep and recover as many materials as possible in socio-technical systems. It works by using closed-loop systems, product designs that make it easy to take things apart, and service models that make products last longer. The end goal is to separate economic growth from the use and depletion of natural resources. Encouraging the effective use of resources makes it easier to put circular economy ideas into action and speeds up the shift to fully circular production systems. The main goal of resource circularity is to close the material loop by efficiently getting valuable resources back through processes like extraction, collection, recovery, recycling, reproduction, and remanufacturing. Even though AI doesn't directly help, its impact on these processes is both big and life-changing.

The “circular economy” is an increasingly influential concept linking economic and environmental policy to enable sustainable use of resources. A crucial although often overlooked element of this concept is a circular nutrient economy, which is an economy that achieves the minimization of nutrient losses during the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food and other products, as well as the comprehensive recovery of nutrients from organic residuals at each of these stages for reuse in agricultural production. There are multiple interconnecting barriers to transitioning from the current linear economic system to a more circular one, requiring strongly directional government policy. This paper uses interpretive policy analysis to review six UK government strategies to assess their strengths and weaknesses in embracing nutrient circularisation. Our analysis highlights the acute underrepresentation of the circular nutrient economy concept in these strategies as well as the potential to reorient the current policy towards its development. We find significant barriers to transition presented by ambiguity in key policy terms and proposals, the use of inappropriate indicators, the lack of a systematic approach to key sustainability objectives, and the presence of a “techno-optimist imaginary” throughout the strategies. We develop these findings to make recommendations to help integrate definitions, objectives, and activities across the policy domains necessary for the operational development of a circular nutrient economy.

This paper explores the integration of Circular Economy (CE) principles and Industrial Ecology (IE) practices as a means to enhance sustainability and resource efficiency across various industries. The circular economy shifts away from the traditional linear model of “take, make, dispose,” promoting a closed-loop approach that minimizes waste and prolongs the lifecycle of products through reuse, recycling, and remanufacturing. Industrial ecology, on the other hand, emphasizes industrial symbiosis, where waste or by-products from one process serve as inputs for another, mimicking natural ecosystems. The study employs a qualitative methodology, analysing secondary data from industries such as automotive, energy, and electronics, revealing how CE and IE practices lead to significant reductions in resource use, waste generation, and carbon emissions. Results show that industries adopting CE and IE principles achieve improved efficiency and environmental sustainability, with specific examples of resource savings and reductions in CO2 emissions. Despite challenges in implementation, this research highlights the potential of CE and IE to foster innovation, economic growth, and environmental resilience. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of collaboration between governments, businesses, and academia to advance these concepts and address the environmental challenges of the 21st century.

Today’s production and consumption are increasingly overusing and polluting natural resources. In response, actors globally are developing circular economy strategies to use resources such as materials and products in a sustainable way. An important but often neglected part of the circular economy is hazardous chemicals. These are part of everyday products and when recycled they become part of the resource cycle. This paper discusses the management of circular non-toxic supply chains, focusing on goal conflicts and synergies in policy and regulation, issues of transparency and traceability in supply chains, and difficult trade-offs and knowledge gaps regarding circularity and end-of-life. The exploratory study builds on semi-structured interviews and reference group discussions with respondents from the chemicals management and circular economy sectors. The results show that the transition to a circular non-toxic economy is impeded by insufficient legislation, policy incoherence and low supply chain transparency and traceability. This leads to the circulation of hazardous chemicals in materials and products, including legacy chemicals, significantly increasing consumer and environmental exposure. The findings illustrate how designing products and materials to be non-toxic from the start creates synergies and opportunities for a sustainable use of resources and how a hazard-based approach to risk management promotes circularity and safer consumer products. It also identifies relevant management and policy steps to achieve a circular, non-toxic economy as part of the transition to a society that meets today’s environmental and resource challenges.

Plastics are of key importance for numerous technical applications due to their functional properties and cost efficiency. However, their production from fossil raw materials and disposal pose major environmental problems. The transition to a circular economy (CE) is supposed to address these problems and is particularly difficult for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A framework is developed that illustrates circular economy (CE) strategies in the plastics industry, focussing on the practical implementation in the product life cycle and the actual contribution to a CE. Case studies of a polypropylene desk equipment and a polyurethane foam insulation element illustrate the practical application of the developed framework in two German SMEs and indicate further need for support. The developed CE concepts for both product systems were evaluated based on their environmental impacts using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results show that CE strategies must be product-specific to be effective. Strategies such as the use of post-industrial recyclates and the use of biobased materials offer advantages but are not sufficient on their own to close material cycles. Closed-loop recycling and the reuse of products require customised collection systems but can contribute to truly closed material cycles. Overall, this framework serves as a starting point for identification of CE concepts for plastic products by companies and thereby promotes the transition to a more circular plastics economy. Future research should focus on evaluation of technical compatibility and long-term consequences as well as scalability of CE strategies and on alternative evaluation approaches.

Circular economy is an important concept aimed at reducing the level of use of resources and waste, has a significant potential for ensuring the efficiency of the economy. The article examines current trends in the development of the circular economy in the world. It emphasizes the growing awareness of the problems of the traditional economy and the use of resources and the impact on the environment, which leads to changes in the consumption and production of goods. Legislative support for the circular economy is growing, including the introduction of CO2 taxes and standards for manufacturers. It describes innovations and technological advances that contribute to the efficient use of resources, such as smart sorting systems and advanced recycling methods. Also noted is the expansion of business models, where companies pay attention to high usability, ease of repair and reuse of products. The article emphasizes the expansion of the global market of secondary raw materials, the involvement of consumers and international cooperation. In particular, common standards, regulatory frameworks and financial support for the development of circular models in different countries are discussed. The prospects for the development of the circular economy in megacities and its application in the food and textile industries are substantiated. In the context of local development, the circular economy becomes an important component, contributing to sustainable economic growth, creating jobs and improving the quality of life of residents. It has been determined that the circular economy is gaining more and more importance in the world, there is a growing awareness of the need to change the way of production and consumption in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment and ensure the sustainable use of resources. Trends in the development of the circular economy include legislative support, innovation and technological progress, the expansion of the global market for secondary raw materials, consumer involvement and international cooperation. The main trends in the development of the circular economy are systematized, which can be useful for researchers, businesses, government bodies and the public, who are interested in promoting sustainable development and saving resources.

The use of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) in both traction and stationary applications has become ubiquitous. It is essential that retired LIBs are wisely treated, with a basis in the concept of the circular economy, to mitigate primary resource use. A closed-loop repurposing and recycling treatment is required. Thus, using the concept of total material requirement as an indicator of natural resource use based on mining activity, a dynamic material flow analysis was executed considering the degradation of the battery, its lifespan, and demand patterns under several scenarios. Then, the effect of circularity on the savings in global natural resource use involved across the entire lifecycles of LIBs was evaluated. It was found that the global resource use for LIBs will increase to between 10 and 48 Gt in 2050. Circularity has the potential to contribute to an 8–44% reduction in the global resource use associated with LIBs in 2050. It was also found that a longer lifespan in the years leading up to 2050 would have a greater impact on the reduction of resource use for LIBs, despite the lower effectiveness of circularity, because it would reduce the demand for LIBs.

In search of standards to support circularity in product policies: A systematic approach