Policy Brief On Circular Economy and Climate

Since the Paris Agreement adopted the 1.5° C limit to global warming, policymakers and civil society have worked to identify the most important pathways to keep this goal alive. The major emissions reductions needed to achieve this heavy lift have been recognized. However, these emissions reductions often target the source of emissions. While this is a reasonable approach, additional mitigation opportunities exist beyond the point where emissions are created. Transformational ideas add new climate action possibilities to the table and increase the likelihood of staying under 1.5° C. One set of policy options, in particular, is the circular economy, offering promise for cutting the current emissions gap significantly. Circular economy policies go beyond the source of emissions to socioeconomic practices that create the demand for emissions in the first place. The strategy involves moving beyond the current linear economic models, which extract materials, produce goods, sell them for consumption, and then discard them. Undertaking circular economy strategies can be accomplished while improving livelihoods and economies, and are often attractive from a business perspective. Circular economy models have been embraced by some subnational actors, especially cities; however, they have not been examined in much detail by the international climate community.