Sustainability and climate action

Circular economy: Challenges and opportunities for businesses and policymakers

ICC, in cooperation with EY, has identified the key barriers that companies face when adopting circular business models and presents avenues for policymakers and businesses to overcome them and accelerate the transition to the circular economy.

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For further information please contact

  • Florence Binta Diao-GueyeLead – Trade and Customs+33 (0)1 49 53 28 29Contact by email

The linear economy has no future 

Without urgent action, global waste is expected to increase by 70%, totalling more than 3 billion tonnes by 2050, according to the World Bank. This is equivalent to filling three garbage trucks every second. 

With no thought given to reusing materials, the linear economy is a wasteful system that harms our planet and creates missed opportunities for business. 

To change this, the world needs to move from a linear to a circular economy. 

How far are we from a circular economy? 

In 2023, the world was estimated to be only 7.2% circular. This is a decrease from 9.1% over the past five years, due primarily to increasing virgin material extraction. This means that of the more than 100 billion tonnes of materials extracted from the planet annually, only 7.2% were cycled back into the global economy (Circle Economy Foundation).  

Don’t waste
our future

#BreakTheBarriers

Barriers and opportunities

How policymakers can enable change 

Multilateralism

Embrace multilateral cooperation to address barriers globally

Harmonisation and alignment of laws and regulations

Harmonise laws, regulations and technical specifications to level the playing field for companies across the globe and align them with the innovations and evolution of the circular economy

Technical expertise and inclusivity

Incorporate technical expertise in policymaking to allow for more granularity and bring all key stakeholders and organisations to the table

Basel Convention

Move the Basel Convention beyond circularity

Let’s put the circular economy into motion

#BreakTheBarriers

What does the circular economy do for business? 

How business can champion the transition​  

Download the report
John W.H. Denton AOICC Secretary General

We hope that our report can serve as a roadmap for clear and coordinated regulatory change – both at the domestic and international level – to put the circular economy firmly into motion. Reforming the Basel Convention to take into account the evolution of circular solutions and advances in technology is, in our view, an essential starting point for this effort.

Pär LarshansDirector of Sustainability, Ragn-Sells Group, and Co-Chair of ICC’s Working Group on Circular Economy

The transition to a circular economy is much needed if we want to reach the ambitions set in the Paris Agreement, and to ensure that humanity reduces the risk of overshooting any of the planetary boundaries. With this report, ICC focuses on the need for circular transitions to move away from a minimised waste focus to a resource efficiency focus where a decontamination step is included to enable free trade of recycled materials.

Mark WeickManaging Director, Climate Change and Sustainability Services at EY

Circular economy is a systematic approach that requires collaboration from all stakeholders across the value chain within an enabling regulatory framework. Concerted cooperation will be pivotal to drive meaningful impact to reduce climate change effects.

FAQs

A circular economy is an economic model that aims to maximise the economic value of materials by optimising resource efficiency and promoting longer use, reuse, and recycling. 

100% circularity is not realistic or feasible. For example, it is not possible to 

recover 100% of a car tire – parts of it become dust particles during use or are lost on the road. 

Circular business models help reduce the use of resources and support the integration of circular principles into product lifecycles. They do so by making products easier to reuse and collect while optimising handling, reprocessing and transportation. 

There is a general misconception that circularity is the same as recycling. However, there is more to a circular economy than recycling which is only one of the so-called “R-strategies”. They are key pillars of a circular economy and crucial to extending the lifespan of materials and products. 

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