Completing the Picture: How the circular economy tackles climate change

This paper highlights the indispensable role that the circular economy plays in tackling the climate crisis. It aims to demonstrate how circular economy principles and strategies significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It sets out analysis on industry and the food system to illustrate how the circular economy transforms the way products are made and used, and how this transformation has the potential to reduce emissions. These insights have been drawn from two Material Economics reports – Industrial transformation 2050 (2019) and The circular economy: a powerful force for climate mitigation (2018) – and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Cities and circular economy for food (2019) report.

The paper concludes by setting clear priorities, the paper calls on governments, businesses, investors, and academia to integrate their efforts to respond to climate change with those to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

This position paper has been produced by a team from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with Material Economics, which has provided analytical support and expertise. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010 with the aim of accelerating the transition to the circular economy. The charity’s work focuses on seven key areas: insight and analysis; business; institutions, governments, and cities; systemic initiatives; circular design; learning; and communications.

Completing the Picture: How the circular economy tackles climate change