The circular economy provides an innovative and sustainable way for Portugal to decrease GHG emissions by improved waste management and lower total needs for primary resources (such as energy, water, land and materials), increase the gross value added (GVA) via higher efficiency and productivity throughout the value chain, and foster a major diversity in types of employment. For these reasons, In December 2017 the Portuguese Council of Ministers adopted a circular economy plan. The plan aims at reorganising the economy in a closed loop cycle, and setting targets to work towards 2050 objectives, such as a carbon neutral economy, innovation, resilience, and an inclusive society. The more short-term expected changes of economic processes are: efficient use of resources, More recycling and use of recycled materials, remanufacturing, refurbishment and reuse of products and components, more circular design.

The global economy operates on the basis of extracting 65 billion tonnes of materials every year. By 2050, this figure will have doubled. On average, everyone will use 70% more materials than needed in 2005. And with higher consumption, GHG emissions, air pollutants and waste will increase, from extraction all the way along the production chain to the consumer and end of life. Portugal’s economy has a slow metabolism, i.e. it tends to accumulate materials. It extracts and imports more raw materials than the amount of finished goods it exports, accumulating stock in materials, above all in real estate (e.g. buildings and infrastructure). Material productivity is also slow. In 10 years, it improved by 23%, while in the European Union (EU) by 30% and Spain by 134%. In terms of water use efficiency, only 65% of what is captured is effectively used and reuse is still residual when compared with other member states. In energy, and despite the focus on renewable sources with a lessening of dependency on external energy, production and transportation is still essentially dependent on imported fossil fuels. The circular economy provides an innovative and sustainable way for Portugal to decrease GHG emissions by improved waste management and lower total needs for primary resources (such as energy, water, land and materials), increase the gross value added (GVA) via higher efficiency and productivity throughout the value chain, and foster a major diversity in types of employment.

Leading the transition: A circular economy action plan for Portugal was adopted by the Portuguese Council of Ministers in December 2017. Three levels of actions were considered:

• Macro: actions structural in scope that produce transversal and systemic effects which enable society to appropriate the principles of the circular economy;

• Meso (or sectoral): actions or initiatives defined and accepted by all players in the value chain of sectors relevant to raising productivity and the efficient use of the country’s resources, seizing the economic, social and environmental benefits;

• Micro (regional/local): actions or initiatives defined and accepted by all regional and/or local government, economic and social actors which incorporate a local economic aspect and which emphasise this in the approach to social challenges.

The different levels of actions are inter-related and reinforce each other positively, creating feedbacks that evolve the context iteratively and allow knowledge, policies, projects and results to be consolidated, spurring the actors involved.

The circular economy is not a goal in itself. Rather, it is a reorganised economic model focused on coordinating production and consumption systems in a closed loop. The Action Plan for the Circular Economy (APCE) does not, therefore, set specific targets since it aims to contribute to the attainment of set goals in different plans and strategies that work towards the same end. For example, the APCE is designed to leverage and spur development towards the following 2050 objectives:

• A carbon neutral economy that is efficient and productive in its use of resources and neutral in terms of GHG emissions

• Knowledge as impulse: focusing on research and innovation creates solutions – in products, services, business models, consumption/use, behaviour.

• Inclusive and resilient economic prosperity: economic development that impacts all sectors of society, is resilient against price and risk volatility and gradually decoupled from negative environmental and social impacts;

• A flourishing, responsible, dynamic and inclusive society: an informed, participative and more collaborative

More short-term expected changes of economic processes are: efficient use of resources, More recycling and use of recycled materials, remanufacturing, refurbishment and reuse of products and components, more circular design.