New study launched on integrating the circular economy in the NDCs

More than 5 years after the Paris climate conference in December 2015, it is now of paramount importance to increase the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and to accelerate their implementation. While some states already include measures relating to the waste sector in their NDCs, the potential of cross-sectoral circular economy strategies remains largely untapped.

Circular economy (CE) presents a meaningful lever to close the emissions gap, while offering economic and social benefits and opening up new opportunities for a transformational change in our production and consumption patterns.

However, the design of CE-smart NDCs requires commitments beyond the current international framework for NDCs as well as guidance.

A new study published by GIZ on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) provides a practical guide for NDC coordinators and policymakers at national and subnational levels who aim to design and implement ambitious climate action by including CE in their NDCs and long-term strategies.

This guide shades light on several challenges that need to be overcome and tackled by a set of dedicated preparation and action but also emphasizes the opportunities and potentials of linking CE to climate action.

Starting with the introduction of the concept of CE as a central element for climate action, different methodologies to quantify mitigation potentials of CE measures are presented and the differences of contribution and attribution-based climate action are pointed out.

As a result, the study presents relevant know-how on the design and implementation of CE-smart NDCs and subnational policies. It further provides a comprehensive yet pragmatic Roadmap towards CE-smart NDCs which consist of seven key elements: Strategy, Learning, Process, Design of CE-Smart NDC, Cooperation, Action, Knowledge management and dissemination.

The study is available for download here.