Moving to renewables will only solve just over half of global emissions, but resource efficiency and moving to a circular economy can take us most of the rest of the way.
Resource efficiency think tank the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched a new report showing that the global approach to climate change must start focusing on circular methods to keep resources in use for as long as possible.
The report demonstrates the potential of the circular economy by looking at five key areas: steel, plastic, aluminium, cement and food.
According to the think tank, adopting a ‘circular economy framework’ in these areas alone can reduce global carbon emissions by 9.3 billion tonnes by 2050 - equivalent to eliminating the current emissions from all global transport.
The hope is that the report will also send a clear message to other resource-intensive industries such as fashion, electronics and packaging.
‘Opportunities for every company, city and country’
Dame Ellen MacArthur said: “Switching to renewable energy plays a vital role in addressing climate change, but this alone will not be enough. In order to achieve targets on climate, it is critical that we transform how we design, make, and use products and food.
“Completing the picture through a transition to a circular economy can enable us to meet the needs of a growing global population, while creating a prosperous and resilient economy that can run in the long term.”
Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), added: “Carbon constraints actually represent huge ingenuity opportunities. That is true for every company, for every city, and any country. That is the direction in which we need to move, and this paper offers compelling figures to give confidence in our ability to optimise decarbonisation and economic development in mutual support of each other.”
