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Rampant material extraction is pushing the ecosystems of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to their limits. Over 11% of global raw materials are extracted within the region, yet it represents only about 8% of the world's population.

[*The Circularity Gap Report* (CGR) Latin America and the Caribbean](https://www.circularity-gap.world/lac), a first of its kind, demonstrates how the region can leverage the circular economy to tackle systemic inefficiencies in satisfying societal needs, conserve its unique natural wealth, and improve its people’s well-being.

To devise pathways for a circular transition, the report analysed the sectors where circular interventions could yield the most positive impact—environmentally, economically, and socially. This entails shifting to a circular food system, building a circular built environment, advancing circular manufacturing, transforming the energy system, reducing waste generation, and improve waste cycling.

[Circle Economy](https://www.circle-economy.com/) is a global impact organisation with an international team of passionate experts based in Amsterdam. We empower industries, cities, and nations with practical and scalable solutions to put the circular economy into action. Our vision is an economic system that ensures the planet and all people can thrive. To avoid climate breakdown, our goal is to double global circularity by 2032. Through the Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative, our mission is to deliver Circularity Metrics that measure the state of the global and national economy and identify key levers to transition to circularity. 

Latin America Collection

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Business case

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

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

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

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

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

Biodiversity

Producing and providing business and consumer goods and services

Goods and Services

Producing and providing leisure and personal products and services for consumers, such as cleaning products, sports equipment and toys, personal and beauty care products, as well as domestic and personal services such as caretaking, cleaning, hairdressing and other beauty treatment, funeral and related activities

Personal Products and Services

Providing goods on the Internet, through mail order, or television, or providing goods in stores, including apparel, electronics, furniture, food and drug, etc.

Retail

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

Work together throughout the supply chain, internally within organisations and with the public sector and communities to increase transparency and create joint value

Team up to create joint value

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

Regenerative materials

Deliver products through business models that ensure maximum value

Product business models

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

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

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Working together with the community and engaging them in the company operations

Joint product development

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

Consumables are a diverse and complex group of products - such as mobile phones, refrigerators, clothing, cleaning agents, personal care products and paints - that generally have short to medium lifetimes in society. Textiles including clothing also consume many different kinds of resources such as cotton, synthetic materials like polyester, dye pigments, and chemicals.




Consumables

- Recycle plastics
- Use recycled toilet paper
- Use recycled writing paper
- Increase recycled materials in furniture
- Start closed loop recycling of synthetic fibres

Saving: 0.31 Gt emissions and 0.45 Gt material use

👚📺 Circular consumables

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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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

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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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 Microfactories - Local Production    Our business is to supply kits and knowhow to locally owned and managed microfactories where bikes and upcoming vehicles are build. We franchise these low
entry point enterprises. Our transport products are made locally,
made for local use and the microfactories
are locally owned. Maintanance and customization can be performed by the knowlegeable microfactory staff.  Our first microfactory was setup in 2018 in Sharpeville, Gauteng, South Africa. The project was supported by the German BMU (Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety).   
  

   Press release | Social Entrepreneurship | 8. July 2020    Electromobility is being discussed worldwide as the technology of the future. Sub-Saharan Africa can be a pioneer in leapfrogging into a climate-friendly mobility future. © Siemens Stiftung    A growing population, rampant urbanization, and insufficient connections within rural areas create major, daily challenges for Africa’s people and transport sector. At the same time, climatic conditions there represent an exceptional chance for a direct transition into a climate-friendly mobility future. Today’s publication of Siemens Stiftung’s new booklet, “E-Mobility Solutions for Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Leveraging Economic, Social and Environmental Change,” provides an in-depth look at the electromobility sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Siemens Stiftung collaborates closely with African start-ups and social enterprises that work on custom solutions for leapfrogging to a sustainable mobility sector: converting conventional cargo motorcycles into electric motorcycles, local assembly of electric cargo bikes, or transitioning from gasoline-powered to electric-powered fishing boats are just some examples of this local innovation boom.
The now published booklet introduces currently available technologies and related business models being implemented by local companies. The booklet provides a snapshot of the current range of regional challenges and opportunities and is supplemented by reliable data and expert interviews.
Engagement focused on rural regions
Siemens Stiftung’s efforts are focused on the feasibility of electromobility for small businesses, trade, and agriculture in rural Africa. “Achieving the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals is inextricably linked to a functional transport system that connects people and goods. In the fight against poverty and hunger, or air and water pollution, light and robust electric vehicles can play a key role,” said Rolf Huber, Managing Director of Siemens Stiftung.
Local vehicle production and locally-sourced renewable energy for the battery charging infrastructure create jobs and new perspectives for local populations that are future-oriented and economically sustainable.
Electromobility solutions compiled in a single booklet
The innovative technical solutions and business models, which include rental models and circular economy principles, still require appropriate regulatory and policy framework conditions in addition. For this, Siemens Stiftung works to connect local institutions, start-ups, universities, and public authorities. Key findings from the “Spotlight on E-Mobility” conference that took place at the end of 2019 in Kisumu/Western Kenya are also included in the booklet, which was created in response to the urgent demand for a current survey of viable, sustainable business models and technical solutions for an emission-free future. It compiles technical facts and data on the mobility situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlights the tremendous innovative spirit in the region, and shares stories from people who are putting these innovative solutions to use in their lives.
You can read and/or download the complete booklet here: Please write us an email if you are interested in a free copy of the print edition of the booklet:
alexandra.kovanetz@siemens-stiftung.org    

Brazil

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Natura & Co

<p>Brazilian cosmetics company, Natura &amp; Co, sources ingredients from the Amazon while protecting it from deforestation.</p>