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This collection features a selection of case studies, based on the global *Circularity Gap Reports*, that can mitigate climate breakdown by reducing virgin material consumption, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The latest **[Circularity Gap Report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download)** reveals that the global economy is now only 7.2% circular and outlines how circular solutions across four sectors can bring global planetary boundaries back within safe limits. 

In the six years of the *Circularity Gap Report*, the global economy has extracted and used unprecedented amounts of materials. The first edition of the *Report *in 2018 found that global circularity was 9.1% and it has decreased every year since—leaving a Circularity Gap of over 90%. If this trend continues, we will have to find more and better solutions to combat the negative effects of climate change. This is why we have identified case studies from across the globe—based on the needs of society and planetary health—that serve as real-world examples of the circular economy in action.

Circle Economy is a not-for-profit organisation working to accelerate the circular transition. Through the *Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative*, our mission is to deliver an annual global Circularity Metric that measures the state of the world economy and identifies key levers to transition to global circularity. With nature as our guide, we work alongside cross-sector stakeholders from academia, businesses, NGOs and governments to provide a powerful combination of practical and scalable interventions that transform circular opportunities into realities. 


To learn more about these interventions to accelerate the circular transition, read the latest [Circularity Gap Report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download), as well as previous editions of the global [Circularity Gap Reports](https://www.circularity-gap.world/global).

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Global Circularity Gap Report 2023

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Article / Report

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Reduced use and withdrawal of water and rate of recycling and reuse of water

Save Water (SDG6)

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

Replace freshwater with less impactful alternatives and enact water efficiency measures

Regenerative water

Using bio-based materials such as bioplastics, mushroom-based materials, etc.

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Replacing freshwater use with rainwater, fogwater, seawater, etc.

Alternative water use

Build countries consume 13% of the global material footprint, while they account for almost 50% of the population. 

Examples include countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia such as: 
- Bangladesh
- Ethiopia
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- The Philippines
- Some small island states, ...

Minimal contribution to the overshoot of planetary boundaries: these countries contribute 20% of land use change, 30% of
freshwater use, 23% of phosphorus emissions to soil, and 11% of nitrogen emissions.

To find out what country profile your country belongs to, explore [this interactive story](https://circularity-gap.world) and search for your country on the final map.

Build

Grow countries globally account for 55% of all raw material extraction and 52% of the material footprint, while housing around 37% of the global population.

These are larger Southeast Asian countries and countries in Latin America and Northern Africa, as well as those with an economy in transition in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Examples include :
- China
- Indonesia
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Vietnam
- Myanmar
- Egypt, ...

Large contribution to the overshoot of planetary boundaries—largely due to the consumptions of local materials in higher-
income (Shift) countries: these countries contribute 50% of climate change, 62% of nitrogen, 60% of phosphorus, 53% of freshwater use and 42% of land use change.

To find out what country profile your country belongs to, explore [this interactive story](https://circularity-gap.world) and search for your country on the final map.

Grow

The need that represents the largest resource footprint, with 42.4 billion tonnes, is for construction and maintenance of houses, offices, roads and other infrastructure, especially in the developing world.

Housing

- Green roofs
- Passive houses
- Produce own renewable energy

Saving: 6.47 Gt emissions and 3.07 Gt material use 

🏠 Natural housing solutions

- Construction materials with recycled content
- Diversion of construction and demolition waste

Saving: 1.14 Gt emissions and 3.55 Gt material use 

🏠 Circular construction materials

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Impacts

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Industries

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Whilst no two countries are the same, there are still obvious similarities between some of them, with discernible development patterns and parallels in evidence. Common problems and shared solutions help place unique country identities and individual issues in context.

Whilst this classification is far from clear-cut and exhibits some overlap, it does underline how the discourse on transitioning to a circular economy needs to account for both differences and commonalities, if we are to arrive at a more strategic and instructive analysis. It also allows to highlight a set of key themes that are likely to be central to the countries that fall under the respective profiles. 

Country profiles (Build, Grow, Shift)

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A framework to distinguish between different country profiles and their circular transition needs.

The framework consists of 21 complementary interventions, across six scenarios - one for each of the six societal needs we model. These interventions can mitigate climate impact by curbing GHG emissions

Note: interventions are currently focused on:
- 🏠 Housing 
- 🍎 Nutrition
- 🚗 Mobility
- 👚📺 Consumables
- 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Healthcare
-  🔊 Communication

These 21 interventions are spread across six societal needs and wants, with a set of solutions. Within these solutions are strategies on ’how to get there'.  

The framework moves beyond incremental action and provides solutions that will require behavioral change (dietary shifts towards less meat consumption, for example) and the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies in the industry to mitigate emissions in hard-to-abate sectors (such as steel manufacturing). It illustrates how continued globalisation can benefit from the uptake of digital solutions. The combined interventions showcase the mitigation potential that begins where the current country pledges end; illustrating the additional impact our interventions can bring to the NDCs. In short, the interventions provide input for a more profound fundamental transformation than the more current pathways that make up the vast majority of NDCs. 

Together, the combined interventions can almost double the current global Circularity Metric of 8.6%, bringing it to 17%. 

This results in:
• Shrinking global material use and extraction by 28%. 
• Cutting global GHG emissions by 39%—fully closing the Emissions Gap as defined in our report and taking into account the updated NDCs.
• Allowing the world to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping at 1.5-degrees of warming by 2032.

*This framework was developed in the Circularity Gap Report 2021. Read more about it [here](https://www.circle-economy.com/resources/circularity-gap-report-2021)*






Global Circularity Gap Report

An intervention-based framework for nations and stakeholders working towards circular countries

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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Most "Grow" countries have already experienced a degree of economic growth and industrialisation, broadly expected to continue due to a combination of rising standards of living and population increase. As a result, resource use in these countries is characterised by fast economic growth and associated material consumption, rapid stock build-up and an expanding industrial sector (also responding to demand from Shift countries). ‍In part, therefore, sustainable growth is about more efficient use of natural capital — investing earnings from the likes of minerals into infrastructure and education, thereby developing human capital. Such investment results in growth of total wealth. Designing new infrastructure, buildings and consumer goods in a circular manner, simultaneously considering both enhanced durability for lifetime optimisation and end-of-life scenarios, are key strategies for these countries to become more circular. ‍Alongside this, professionalising and improving the labour conditions in the informal parts of waste management in these countries also bears potential to reduce the environmental impact of both industrial and consumer waste.Foster smart consumptionThis can be done through new technology and design to increase material efficiency and introducing sharing business models. In Brazil, for instance, HP is building a zero-waste factory, promoting take-back schemes, and using reverse logistics to remanufacture, reuse and recycle products.Design circularity at all levelsConsumer goods should be built to last, easy to maintain, and designed to be disassembled or recycled at end-of-life. Long-term infrastructure being built now must be durable, adaptable and upgradable. China has pioneered eco-industrial parks where the waste of one business becomes the feedstock for another.Transform the informal economyIn Brazil a mobile phone app is linking residents with informal waste collectors who sell recyclable materials to scrap centres. In Ghana, where up to 10,000 people work in Accra’s Agbogbloshie scrapyard dismantling everything from toasters to aircraft, a programme offers training to become designers and manufacturers so they can get greater value from their work.Waste from agriculture, forestry and fisheries can be recycled and used to feed new industries. A programme in Niger has helped subsistence farmers reclaim degraded land and increase crop production by protecting and managing the growth of trees, benefiting 2.5 million people.Transform the informal economyIn Brazil a mobile phone app is linking residents with informal waste collectors who sell recyclable materials to scrap centres. In Ghana, where up to 10,000 people work in Accra’s Agbogbloshie scrapyard dismantling everything from toasters to aircraft, a programme offers training to become designers and manufacturers so they can get greater value from their work.Waste from agriculture, forestry and fisheries can be recycled and used to feed new industries. A programme in Niger has helped subsistence farmers reclaim degraded land and increase crop production by protecting and managing the growth of trees, benefiting 2.5 million people.



 Designers tune the thermal characteristics of buildings so that they moderate external environmental conditions and maintain internal conditions using the minimum resources of materials and fuel.
Passive design maximises the use of 'natural' sources of heating, cooling and ventilation to create comfortable conditions inside buildings. It harness environmental conditions such as solar radiation, cool night air and air pressure differences to drive the internal environment. Passive measures do not involve mechanical or electrical systems.
This is as opposed to 'active' design which makes use of active building services systems to create comfortable conditions, such as boilers and chillers, mechanical ventilation, electric lighting, and so on. Buildings will generally include both active and passive measures.
Hybrid systems use active systems to assist passive measures, for example; heat recovery ventilation, solar thermal systems, ground source heat pumps, and so on. Very broadly, where it is possible to do so, designers will aim to maximise the potential of passive measures, before introducing hybrid systems or active systems. This can reduce capital costs and should reduce the energy consumed by the building.
However, whilst passive design should create buildings that consume less energy, they do not always produce buildings that might be considered 'sustainable' as sustainability is dependent on a range of criteria, only one of which is energy usage.
Passive design can include:
 NB: Passive solar design is an aspect of passive building design that focusses on maximising the use of heat energy from solar radiation.
Passive design can include consideration of:
 In its simplest form, a shallow building orientated perpendicular to the prevailing wind with openings on both sides, will allow sunlight to penetrate into the middle of the building and will enable cross ventilation. This should reduce the need for artificial lighting and may mean that cooling systems and mechanical ventilation are not necessary. In taller buildings, stack ventilation can be used to draw fresh air through a building, and in deeper buildings atriums or courtyards can be introduced to allow light into the centre of the floor plan.
However, difficulties arise, for example; when buildings have cellular spaces that block the passage of solar radiation and air, or where site constraints create complex massing or mean that windows cannot be opened because of noise or air quality issues. This can lead to the introduction of more complex passive measures, such as trombe walls, solar chimneys (or thermal chimneys), solar stacks, acoustic louvres, thermal labyrinths, and so on.
The situation is complicated further by different climates, changing seasons, and the transition from day to night, so that passive design may have to allow different modes of operation, sometimes rejecting external inputs and expelling the build up of internal conditions, whilst at other times, capturing external inputs and retaining internal conditions.
Typically, these variations can be dealt with through measures such as shading, shutters, overhangs and louvres that allow low-level winter sun to penetrate into the building, but block the higher summer sun. Thermal mass can be used to store peak conditions during the day and then to vent them to the outside at night. Even deciduous trees can be beneficial, their leaves shading buildings from summer sun, but then allowing the solar radiation to penetrate through their bare branches during the winter.
Additional complexities can be introduced by internal heat loads such as people and ICT equipment and by occupancy patterns. In a 9-to-5 office with a moderate amount of installed equipment, it may be possible to use thermal mass to store heat loads during the day and then to vent these and cool the thermal mass when the building is unoccupied at night. This may not be possible with a building such as a hospital that is continuously occupied.
Considering all these issues early in the design process, so that they can be incorporated into the fundamental design of the building, requires close working across the entire design team. The historic model, where the architect designed a building and then a structural engineer made it stand up and then last of all a services engineer made it comfortable, is unlikely to achieve a satisfactory result.
Passive design measures can require occupant involvement, for example to open windows, turn out lights, adjust louvres, and so on. This requires education so that occupants are able to understand the building and to operate it efficiently. Occupant behaviour is often cited as one of the prime causes of the 'performance gap', that is, the difference between the expected and actual energy consumption of completed buildings.
As well as reducing energy consumption, adopting passive design strategies can help building ratings across standards such as PassivHaus, BREEAM, the Code for Sustainable Homes and LEED.
NB: The urban heat island effect, is an effect found in urban environments where the predominance of hard, heat absorbing surfaces results in a higher ambient temperature than in rural environments. It has been found that simply selecting lighter coloured materials that reflect solar radiation rather than absorbing it can significantly reduce urban temperatures and so the need for active systems to provide cooling.
 

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Namibia

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Government of South Africa

Government of Namibia

Government of Zimbabwe

<p>As build countries are still building up their basic infrastructure for public services, hospitals and transport, they have an opportunity to apply circular strategies such as modular, passive and flexible design and avoid, by design, the operational inefficiencies which characterise infrastructure in Shift countries.</p>