Fiscal pressures and the immediate needs of covering energy demand and ensuring food security make it challenging to put in place the policies that are needed to lay the ground for economic transformation. Despite being widely recognized as an effective vehicle in the fight against climate change, circular economy is not reflected in approximately 60% of the submitted NDCs.

Follow the COP27 side-event discussing strategies to accelerate the global shift towards a circular economy in the context of mounting debt levels and a food and energy breakdown that threatens to derail progress towards sustainable development, particularly for developing countries.

A bit old but still good: Circular economy: a question of design - UNIDO on the circular economy answer to looming resource scarcity and an overwhelming production of waste

All eyes are on COP27 and financing the clean energy transition in emerging economies is high on the agenda.

To build the renewable energy infrastructure the world needs at speed and scale, circular economy will play a vital role like factoring circularity into the design stage. In the transition to clean energy, critical minerals bring new challenges to energy security. According to the IEA, getting to net zero by 2040 will require a six-fold increase in mineral input by 2040, some key metals, such a lithium, could see growth rates of over 40 times, with nickel and cobalt demand growing more than 20 fold.

See the attached image: IEA, Minerals used in clean energy technologies compared to other power generation sources, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/minerals-used-in-clean-e…, IEA. License: CC BY 4.0

How can we reshape the renewable energy industry, including EVs and batteries, to reduce the dependence on virgin critical materials in order to stem biodiversity loss and ecological degradation from unsustainable mining?

What's the deal with methane?

Colourless, odourless and invisible to the naked eye, methane is a potent greenhouse gas, responsible for more than 25 per cent of the global warming we are experiencing today.

Methane is released in the atmosphere by the energy sector (oil, gas, and coal), agriculture particularly from livestock such as cattle and waste, as bacteria break down organic matter in landfills.

Reducing methane emissions is possible and it would hugely contribute to reduce global warming in the short term. One way of doing it is shifting our diets toward more plant-based food and composting organic waste.

A really insightful blog by Laxmi Haigh of Circle Economy - bringing up the circularity within the context of just, inclusive, and sustainable development, the blog highlights unsuitable circular economy policies that sometimes come at the expense of lower income countries; over reliance to technology and business model that sometimes don’t fit in the local context causing even more issues; and an example of inclusive energy transition while ensuring we leave no one behind, including women.

Thank you Ana Birliga Sutherland for bringing this to my attention!

If we continue business as usual, we will double the extraction of materials by 2060, far beyond planetary boundaries. It simply not possible. As a society, we need to face the fact that circularity is the only response possible to a growing population on a finite planet.

But what does circularity actually mean?

if you are asking yourself this question - and no worries, you are not the only one - have a look at the UNEP Circularity Platform. I think it is a very useful resource which summarises the circularity concept, its scope and how it contributes to sustainable consumption and production patterns.

If we continue business as usual, we will double the extraction of materials by 2060, far beyond planetary boundaries. It simply not possible. As a society, we need to face the fact that circularity is the only response possible to a growing population on a finite planet.

But what does circularity actually mean?

if you are asking yourself this question - and no worries, you are not the only one - have a look at the UNEP Circularity Platform. I think it is a very useful resource providing an understanding of the circularity concept, its scope and how it contributes to promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Sorting and recycling of low value, post-consumer textiles would generate an additional €74m per year in value for the European economy.

This is the finding of the Sorting for Circularity Europe Project analysing post-consumer garments in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.

This provides a strong business case for sorting of low value textiles in Europe and highlights that greater investment as well as policy reforms are needed.

Can Extended-Producer-Responsibility (EPR) be the response to circularity? Alberta, Canada, thinks so.

Alberta has started the regulatory process that will shift the cost of recycling away from municipalities and onto the companies that produce the items.

The new extended producer responsibility regulation, covers product packaging, single-use products, paper products, batteries, pesticides, most corrosive and flammable household products and their containers.

It sets out annual targets for what must be recycled. For example, 80 per cent of the paper products listed in the regulation that are used in Alberta homes must be recycled by 2027. The goal is 95 per cent by 2033.

? Is any EPR scheme available in your country or state? Let us know in the comments below!