Renewable energy is not enough: Paper highlights what more is needed to reach climate targets
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched a new paper, in collaboration with Material Economics, revealing the need for a fundamental shift in the global approach to reach climate targets
The UK-based charity, whose mission is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy to tackle the world’s most significant challenges, says it is vital to move beyond the current focus on renewable energy as a solution to climate change.
As set out in Completing the Picture: How the Circular Economy tackles Climate Change, moving to renewables can only address 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve UN climate goals, the paper highlights the urgent need to tackle the remaining 45%.
The paper demonstrates the potential of the circular economy in tackling these overlooked emissions. To illustrate this potential, the paper looks at five key areas to demonstrate this — steel, plastic, aluminium, cement and food.
Adopting a circular economy framework in these areas can achieve a reduction totalling 9.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2050. This is equivalent to eliminating current emissions from all forms of transport globally.
These examples provide a clear message to other industries — such as fashion, electronics, and packaging — of the value the circular economy can offer.
Diet shift, emerging innovations, and carbon capture and storage are the final pieces required to complete the picture of how the world can achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
By releasing the paper, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said it sought to bring an important missing piece to climate change solutions, demonstrating how businesses, financial institutions, and policymakers can build a thriving and resilient economy while playing an essential role in combating climate change.
“Switching to renewable energy plays a vital role in addressing climate change, but this alone will not be enough. In order to achieve targets on climate, it is critical that we transform how we design, make, and use products, and food. Completing the…
