This report takes stock of Circle Economy’s achievements in 2024 and accumulated results over the past decade.
In 2024, we launched a new approach to delivering impact, focusing on three key objectives to accelerate the global transition to a circular economy:
Together, these objectives drive our activities, partnerships, and projects—laying the foundation for transformative, long-term impact. Explore stories of progress in our 2024 Impact Report.
By identifying potential impacts of EU policies beyond Europe, this study—Socioeconomic Impacts of European Union Circular Textiles Policies on Trading Partners—uncovers challenges in understanding extra-EU effects and highlights significant blind spots, positioning itself as a foundation for continued research. The report further examines the likely social and economic effects of these policies across five themes: Competitiveness and transition costs, Labour market and sectoral transformation, Work reallocation and skills development, Informality and the circular economy, and Decent work and social equity.
This report is a part of a series which explores both the upstream and downstream aspects of the textiles value chain. The project is led by Circle Economy Foundation, Chatham House, and the European Environment Bureau, together with organisations in two trading partner focus countries, BUILD (Bangladesh) and The Or Foundation (Ghana).
See other reports in the series here.
This study—Textile Trade Flow and Employment Baseline Analysis: Bangladesh—aims to shed light on the trade and employment dynamics in Bangladesh as a key upstream trading partner to the EU. This enables a better understanding of the context within which recent EU policies, including the Sustainable and Circular Textiles Strategy, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Corporate Due Diligence Directive (CDDD), will take place.
This report is a part of a series which explores both the upstream and downstream aspects of the textiles value chain. The project is led by Circle Economy Foundation, Chatham House and the European Environment Bureau, together with organisations in two trading partner focus countries, BUILD (Bangladesh) and The Or Foundation (Ghana).
See other reports in the series here.
• Socioeconomic Impacts of European Union Circular Textiles Policies on Trading Partners
• Textile Trade Flow and Employment Baseline Analysis: Ghana
• Circular Textiles Policy Review Considerations for EU Trading Partner Countries
• Circular textile trade scenarios between the EU and Ghana
• Circular textile trade scenarios between the EU and Bangladesh
This study—Textile Trade Flow and Employment Baseline Analysis: Ghana —seeks to understand the reverse textile value chain between the EU and Ghana. Through analyses of trade flows and employment, it sheds light on how post-consumer textiles are managed, especially in the context of the EU policy landscape, including the Sustainable and Circular Textiles Strategy, the Waste Framework Directive, and the Waste Shipment Regulation.
This report is a part of a series which explores both the upstream and downstream aspects of the textiles value chain. The project is led by Circle Economy Foundation, Chatham House, and the European Environment Bureau, together with organisations in two trading partner focus countries, BUILD (Bangladesh) and The Or Foundation (Ghana).
See other reports in the series here.
This first-of-its-kind Circularity Gap Report Textiles—the pioneering global Circularity Gap Report for an industry—examines how materials flow throughout the entire textile value chain, from design to postconsumer management. It explores how materials are extracted, transformed and managed at their end-of-life—from cotton farming and petrochemical production to spinning, weaving and dyeing to product assembly and distribution—and delves into the resource and energy inputs of each stage.
This report from the SWITCH to Circular Economy Value Chains (SWITCH2CE) program focuses on key global value chains in Morocco, Bangladesh, and Egypt. It highlights opportunities for integrating circular practices in plastic packaging, textiles, and ICT sectors to boost competitiveness and sustainability.
By addressing current challenges and analysing case studies from Morocco, Bangladesh, and Egypt, the report offers solutions such as shifting to bioplastics and improving recycling systems. The circular economy not only helps mitigate environmental impacts but also enhances innovation and competitiveness, particularly for producers in lower-income countries. Through strategies of regeneration, reduction and reuse, the report outlines pathways for creating resilient, sustainable value chains that are crucial for future global markets.
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Read moreThis report presents the findings from a review of definitions, databases, methods and models that are used globally today to measure or model employment in the circular economy. The review outlined in this report was led by Circle Economy, with technical inputs from teams at the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank Group (WBG) in close partnership and with support from Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE).
This review lays the groundwork for a global report with the first authoritative global modelled estimates of employment in the circular economy, which will be produced under the Initiative from 2024 to 2025. It was produced under Jobs in the Circular Economy, a joint initiative of the ILO, Circle Economy and the WBG, which aims to put data and practical tools in the hands of policymakers and decision-makers to inform and support pathways towards more socially fair and just environmental and economic policies and interventions.
This white paper is designed to enhance understanding of the informal sector’s role within the circular economy—a group of actors that are often overlooked. Additionally, it aims to foster dialogue on how to empower informal workers and their collaborators, particularly social entrepreneurs, in advancing circular practices. It is based on insights recorded from a series of learning circles—generative conversations that involve genuine inquiry and sharing, leading to expanded understanding and shared meaning. They brought together social entrepreneurs, Ashoka Fellows, UNDP Labbers, and other stakeholders.
The goal of the Design for Transformation (D4T) pilot was to demonstrate a system of technologies capable of processing mixed textile waste, while generating biomimetic outputs based on textile waste streams arising in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
As the result of the pilot project, cellulosic component of the mixed textile sample was successfully converted into glucose through enzymatic hydrolysis. The textile-derived glucose was not only found to be comparable to commercial grade glucose in performance, but in some cases outperformed it. The residual stream from the enzymatic hydrolysis step contained primarily synthetic fibres, such as polyester and nylon, as well as some remaining cellulose due to incomplete hydrolysis. This stream was successfully gasified into syngas.
This report contains the pilot’s experimental setup and results.
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