The first national roadmap aimed at putting an entire country on a circular economy path was developed in Finland in 2016. Many other European countries followed. With its second Circular Economy Action Plan, adopted in March 2020, the European Commission further reinforced its commitment to circular value chains, building on its first action plan from 2015. Similar developments can be observed across the world.

In Africa, several governments established the African Circular Economy Alliance in 2016. In Latin America, Peru and Chile launched initiatives to develop circular economy roadmaps in 2018 and 2019, respectively, while Colombia has pursued its own circular economy strategy since 2019.

Southeast Asia also offers considerable potential. Indonesia, in particular, is preparing to take on a leadership role in the circular economy to support sustainable development. In cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and with support from the Danish government, Indonesia launched an initial study in 2021 as the foundation for a Circular Economy Roadmap and an associated action plan.

Economic Opportunities and Climate Goals: More International Cooperation Is Needed

For Steven Stone, Deputy Director of the Economy Division at UNEP, the institutionalization of the circular economy around the world is already well underway: "We see many countries moving forward with remarkable ingenuity, even in the face of resource constraints."

What should become clear is that no country can truly succeed if others are left behind. Climate change is perhaps the clearest example of this reality. It affects us all and threatens not only global prosperity but also biodiversity hotspots such as those found in Southeast Asia. The circular economy can help us change course before it is too late. The question is to what extent climate action and circular value creation are already being considered together.
Stone stresses: "We can only achieve our climate goals if we make our economies circular." " Yet much remains to be done. Today, only 8,6 percent of the global economy is considered circular. Linear economic structures based on the "take-make-dispose" model still dominate worldwide. For Stone, Sustainable Development Goal 12, which calls for ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, best captures the essence of the circular economy. He also points to the global material efficiency rate as an important indicator of how natural resources are managed. While global material extraction has risen sharply, material efficiency has declined, particularly since the early 2000s.

Linear Economy as a One-Way Street? Industry Shows There Is Another Way

Many examples from German industry demonstrate that climate protection and the circular economy can form part of a successful business model.

The Hamburg-based company Aurubis is one of the world's leading multimetal producers, copper recyclers, and strong advocates of circularity. Using state-of-the-art recycling technologies, Aurubis processes more than one million metric tons of complex recycling materials annually within its smelter network, recovering individual metals in a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly manner.

Together with more than 50 industrial partners, the company has established "closing-the-loop" processes. Scrap copper and production waste from downstream value chains are directly returned to the production cycle. This enables substantial energy savings and CO₂ reductions without any loss of material quality. Metal production from recycled materials and concentrates generates less than half the average carbon footprint of global competitors.

Aurubis is also taking further steps. As part of its updated corporate strategy, the company plans to steadily increase the share of recycled content in its copper cathodes to at least 50 percent by 2030. A major component of this effort is a new recycling facility in Augusta, Georgia, the first secondary multimetal recycling smelter in the United States. The facility will return materials such as printed circuit boards, computer boards, copper cables, and other metal-containing recyclable materials to the economic cycle.

The European Green Deal and global megatrends such as digitalization, renewable energy, and electric mobility are expected to continue driving demand for critical future metals. The circular economy offers a significant opportunity to address this challenge while simultaneously combating climate change.