Carmen Valache
Project Manager, Climate Change, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
There were many signs of progress at COP26 from countries and non-state actors alike, but if we want to fix the climate, we have to fix the economy.
The pledges made at COP26 to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are critical milestones in the movement to tackle the climate crisis. However, greater ambition is still needed to limit global heating to 1.5oC, commitments such as those to protect forests and address methane emissions are a significant step forward. Now, action is needed from both governments and industry, and the circular economy must be part of the solution.
The role of the circular economy
The circular economy offers a framework for climate solutions that can be scaled today by eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials and regenerating nature.
Take commitments to protect forests, for example, which have been pledged by more than 100 countries (including Brazil), with USD 20 billion to be allocated to these efforts. This recognises nature as a solution to the climate crisis for the first time at a COP, but cannot be achieved without a transformation of the food industry.
The pledges made at COP26 to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are critical milestones in the movement to tackle the climate crisis.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has identified agricultural expansion as the main driver of deforestation, with large-scale commercial agriculture accounting for 40% of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2010. But while the food industry is currently contributing to deforestation – as well as emissions and biodiversity loss – it holds the potential to actively regenerate nature and mitigate the climate crisis by creating a circular economy.
Ensuring sustainable food production
In a circular economy for food, products are designed using diverse, lower-impact, upcycled and regeneratively produced ingredients. Analysis shows that creating a food system based around these ingredient categories in Europe and the UK, compared to conventional production, could increase total food output over the same area of land by 50%, reducing pressure on landscapes, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 70%.
COP showed that the circular economy is increasingly seen as a potential solution to the climate crisis by businesses and government alike: around a quarter of the latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) include the promotion of circular economy measures.
However, there is scope to further develop its inclusion in international climate diplomacy and scale the environmental benefits. To achieve the pledges inked at the summit and fix the climate, we need a circular economy.