Circular Economy and GHG Emissions, Current Situation

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are directly related to economic growth. Throughout the years, men’s search for human progress has disregarded the idea of planetary boundaries, and, as a result, our societal organization is now built around a linear economic model in which overconsumption is stimulated, pushing resources’ exploitation to aggressive levels, and normalizing the generation of waste and pollution. GHG emissions are among the greatest impacts of human activity, because, as levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere rise, the world’s average temperature increases, causing a series of disturbances into the climate that are already threatening life on Earth. Experts suggest that over half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature, and, therefore, is also subjected to the risks of nature loss. In this scenario, the concept of sustainability can be understood as the choice of practices that do not compromise the life of future generations and their access to critical resources, a system of values that often clashes with business as usual. Promoting this change is a complex problem that requires a great amount of innovation and adaptation from industry leaders, consumers, and policy-makers so that growth can be decoupled from GHG emissions and other environmental impacts. The idea of a circular economy dates back to the 80s, but only now it has gained the spotlight as it encompasses a new framework for business which could potentially help to cap GHG emissions significantly while guaranteeing economic profits and reducing risks of feedstock scarcity. This chapter recapitulates the path of modern society towards a linear economy and describes how it impacts GHG emissions and ultimately the climate. It provides a brief history of how scientists first developed ideas around sustainability and minding of resources and systems’ limitations, and presents the impacts of waste generation and waste management, to finally introduce the circular economy model. The principles of Circular Economy are presented and their benefits to the society are highlighted, as well as the challenges around its implementation in the current system. Circularity on natural resources and energy is exemplified and some key processes and industries are identified as potential areas of change with great leverage to solve the climate crisis.