Each week, the Lab selects a document or project deemed particularly interesting and relevant and presents it in a few lines. This week, the Lab focused on a toolkit developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation "Delivering the circular economy: a toolkit for policy makers".
A method to move from intention to action.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has recently developed a toolkit designed to support policy makers towards a circular economy. The proposed method for identifying the most relevant policy options has been designed to apply to any country or region. Internationally recognized for its innovative initiatives in the fields of circular economy and sustainable development, Denmark has been the subject of a pilot study that identified significant levers to accelerate its transition to a circular economy.
A structured approach in three steps
The developed method consists of three main steps
- The first step is to establish a baseline of circularity and the political context of the studied territory, determine the level of ambition, and target the sectors that will be evaluated. 4 Target sectors in Denmark: construction and real estate, food, machinery, hospitals.
- The second step aims to identify and evaluate possible measures to make the territory's economy more circular. The most relevant measures are first mapped and then prioritized. Next, the economic impact of each measure on the relevant sector is assessed, and obstacles that may hinder the implementation of these measures are identified, along with the sectoral policies needed to overcome these obstacles. Examples of possible measures in Denmark: reducing food waste, developing biodegradable packaging, reducing and recycling waste from the healthcare sector, industrialized production and 3D printing of modular buildings.
- The third step involves quantifying the economic impact of the measures at the national level. The sectoral policies defined in step 2 can also be complemented by national policy options. The different policy options must then be prioritized and grouped to form coherent policy bundles.
Measurable economic and environmental impacts
In Denmark, the transition to a circular economy could allow by 2035 to:
- Reduce CO2 emissions from 3 to 7 %
- Create between 7 300 and 13 300 jobs,
- Increase GDP from 0,8 to 1,4 %
- Reduce the consumption of natural resources from 5 to 50 %
- Increase exports from 3 to 6 %.
Removing barriers to accelerate the transition
In this report, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation emphasizes that the establishment of a circular economy is primarily hindered by non-financial obstacles. Policymakers therefore have an important role to play in enabling, under favorable conditions, the transition to this new economic model. The developed method thus offers public decision-makers the opportunity to implement concrete measures in synergy with private decision-makers, to accelerate this transition.
