Library | ESG issues
Circular Economy
A circular economy is an economic model focused on minimising waste and maximising resource efficiency by reusing, recycling, and regenerating materials. It emphasises designing out waste, keeping materials in use, and regenerating natural systems, offering opportunities for sustainable growth and resilience. Companies that demonstrate circularity can enhance long-term business resilience, resource efficiency and cost-savings.
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Reconsidering Limits to Growth: Integrating energy transition and circular economy in an extended World3 framework
This research extends the World3 model to analyse the impact of the energy transition and circular economy on global sustainability. Findings indicate that while these strategies delay systemic overshoot and collapse, they cannot prevent decline under continued growth. Structural changes in consumption patterns are identified as necessary for stability.
Circular solutions to achieve nature targets: circular economy as an enabler for Responsible Banking
This guidance details how circular economy strategies help banks achieve nature-related targets under the Principles for Responsible Banking. It identifies specific circular interventions across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, highlighting the business case for financing transitions that reduce resource dependency and manage nature-related physical and transition risks.
Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Australia's Productivity - clean energy, electrification, net zero and the environment
The Smart Energy Council provides recommendations to enhance national productivity through electrification, circular economy initiatives, and regulatory reform. Key focuses include a $7.3 billion solar resource recovery opportunity and addressing mining approval delays that risk $51 billion in GDP, advocating for streamlined environmental standards and transport decarbonisation.
The UK’s bioeconomy: A case for building growth, resilience and sustainability
This report evaluates the UK’s £325 billion bioeconomy, which supports 6.4 million jobs but underperforms in growth. It advocates for a coordinated policy and financial architecture to link frontier innovation with established industries, enhancing productivity, national resilience, and the transition to a nature-positive, sustainable economy.
Financing zero waste: Practical guidance for immediate action by local and national governments
This report provides guidance for governments to finance zero waste systems. It highlights fiscal benefits, including job creation and cost reductions of 66–75% compared to incineration. It details mechanisms like procurement reform and extended producer responsibility while identifying pitfalls such as capital-intensive debt traps and dependency on grants.
Investing in Southern Africa’s bioeconomy: A regional pathway for value creation, resilience and green industrialisation
This report examines the potential for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to transition from raw resource extraction to a value-creating bioeconomy. Identifying six high-growth sectors, it highlights opportunities for green industrialisation and advocates for regional policy harmonisation and innovative financing through the African Bioeconomy Finance Hub.
Europe’s industrial transformation — From environmental progress to clean competitiveness
This report evaluates the EU’s industrial transformation, noting a 27% decline in GHG emissions since 2010 despite stagnant circularity rates. It identifies system-readiness barriers, including an annual EUR 30-60 billion funding gap and infrastructure bottlenecks, while proposing strategic options to align decarbonisation with long-term global competitiveness.
Financing zero waste: A high-level synthesis report
This research outlines a two-tier strategy for financing zero waste, highlighting systemic barriers and the economic value of resource recovery. It details how aligning national policy with local implementation through tiered city archetypes can generate fiscal savings, improve public health, and create inclusive employment opportunities in circular economies.
Realising Aotearoa New Zealand’s full potential: What will it take?
This report outlines a roadmap for transitioning to a circular economy in Aotearoa New Zealand. It identifies significant value loss in current linear systems and proposes a strategy based on coordinated leadership, a national framework, and durable regulatory settings to enhance productivity, resilience, and environmental health.
Green Industry Platform
The Green Industry Platform provides SMEs with technical knowledge and self-assessment tools, such as the I-GO Assistant, to enhance resource efficiency and implement net-zero measures. Managed by the GGKP, it offers sector-specific guidance, research, and circular economy insights for a sustainable industrial transition.
Sand and sustainability: An essential resource for nature and development
This report identifies sand as the world's most consumed solid material, with 50 billion tonnes extracted annually. Valued at USD 569.4 billion in 2024, the market threatens biodiversity and ecosystems. The document provides 24 strategic recommendations to treat sand as a strategic national asset and improve environmental oversight.
The battle for plastic hegemony: the petrochemical historical bloc and the UN Global Plastics Treaty
This report examines the petrochemical historical bloc and its influence on the UN Global Plastics Treaty. It analyses how corporate-led partnerships, such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, use the circular economy concept to prioritise downstream waste management while protecting plastic production from restrictive upstream regulations.
Battery circularity: Innovation trends for a future source of critical materials
This report examines global innovation trends in battery circularity and critical metal refining. It highlights a surge in patenting activity since 2017, led by Asian companies. The analysis covers policy drivers, recycling technologies, and the role of secondary supplies in enhancing supply chain resilience and environmental sustainability.
Driving circular economy innovation in India and Kenya
This report evaluates the Circular Economy Innovation Cluster (CEIC) programme in Bengaluru and Nairobi from 2023-2025. It identifies impacts including 124 collaborations, support for 1,550 informal workers, and a potential reduction of 218 kt CO2eq annually through upstream innovation and enhanced ecosystem coordination.
Circular economy perspectives in solar value chains: Circular business models for photovoltaic and solar water heating systems
This report examines transition strategies for solar value chains, focusing on circular business models for photovoltaic and solar water heating systems. It explores lifecycle management, modular design, and policy frameworks needed to manage projected cumulative solar waste of 60–78 million tonnes by 2050 while recovering critical materials.
Advancing responsible recycled plastics value chains through traceability and transparency: Learnings from the Responsible Sourcing Initiative
This report explores implementing traceability in recycled plastics value chains. Drawing on pilots in Viet Nam and Indonesia, it identifies misaligned incentives and data governance as primary barriers. It recommends integrating traceability into existing business processes and provides a decision framework to support organisations at different maturity stages.
