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Going full circle for growth and the planet
Globally, transitioning to a circular economy — where materials are reused, remanufactured or recycled-could significantly reduce carbon emissions and deliver over US$1 trillion in material cost savings by 2025, according to the World Economic Forum report Towards the Circular Economy.
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Green earth – Taken from airplane window, this picture shows the Heart of Borneo rainforest conservation areas in Kapuas Hulu regency, West Kalimantan. (thejakartapost.com/Severianus Endi)
T
he business case for making our economy more sustainable is clear. Globally, transitioning to a circular economy — where materials are reused, remanufactured or recycled-could significantly reduce carbon emissions and deliver over US$1 trillion in material cost savings by 2025, according to the World Economic Forum report Towards the Circular Economy.
The benefits for Asia and the Pacific would be huge. But to make this happen, the region needs to reconcile its need for economic growth with its ambition for sustainable business.
Today, the way we consume is wasteful. We extract resources, use them to produce goods and services, often wastefully, and then sell them and discard them. However, resources can only stretch so far. By 2050, the global population will reach 10 billion. In the next decade, 2.5 billion new middle-class consumers will enter the fray.
If we are to meet their demands and protect the planet, we must disconnect prosperity and well-being from inefficient resource use and extraction. And create a circular economy, making the shift to extending product lifetimes, reusing and recycling in order to turn waste into wealth.
