The global economy is increasingly hungry for resources but decreasingly circular. On January 21, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the NGO Circle Economy sounded the alarm. In 2017, 100.6 billion tons of minerals, fossil fuels, metals, and biomass were used. However, only 8.6% were reused, details the third edition of the organization’s annual report, the “Circular Gap Report.” In 2015, this proportion was 9.1%.
Material extraction has more than tripled since 1970
This regression is mainly due to the ever-growing extraction of raw materials. Between 1970 and 2017, it more than tripled, rising from 26.7 to 92 billion tons. Since 2015, it has increased by 9%. Yet, the reuse of these resources is not increasing as rapidly: between 2015 and 2017, it grew by only 3%, rising from 8.4 to 8.65 billion tons.
The majority (52.6 billion tons) of the materials consumed annually worldwide are, in fact, used for products (energy or consumer goods) that reach the end of their life within a year, notes the report. 42% are then dispersed into nature, 28% are emitted as greenhouse gases, and 30% become waste. Additionally, 48 billion tons of materials are stored as buildings, infrastructure, and equipment: more each year due to the increasing global population.
Certainly, the report also highlights some progress around the world. Thirteen European countries (Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, and the Netherlands) have already developed national roadmaps to make their economies more circular. In Latin America, Colombia has done the same. China has restricted its waste imports to encourage domestic recycling: a decision that also pushed previously exporting countries to reconsider their strategies.
The circular economy will be the priority of the European “Green Deal”
The circular economy is expected to represent “half” of the EU’s effort to reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. The process thus becomes the priority for the upcoming European Green Deal.
But overall, “this report shows that no country meets the fundamental needs of its citizens while operating within the physical limits of our planet,” summarizes its lead author, Marc de Wit.
Measures tailored to the country’s context
However, nations can play a key role in reversing the trend, Circle Economy suggests, proposing various strategies based on the living standards of their population and their ecological footprint. In developing countries, the NGO invites, for example, the design of buildings and infrastructure in a circular manner and the strengthening of the informal economy (which already manages a large portion of the waste). In emerging countries, it encourages supporting the emergence of new economic models based on sharing, exchanging, reusing, recycling, as well as renewable energies. The NGO finally calls on developed countries to focus on eco-designing products and better managing their end of life.
Such measures can have multiple benefits, the association promises leaders gathered in Davos. Not only do they help these countries achieve their targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding deforestation, but also “make their economies more competitive” and “improve living conditions” for their inhabitants.
