{"id":183196,"date":"2026-11-04T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=183196"},"modified":"2026-10-29T13:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T12:14:12","slug":"why-a-circular-economy-is-increasingly-crucial-and-profitable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/why-a-circular-economy-is-increasingly-crucial-and-profitable\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a circular economy is increasingly crucial and profitable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\u00a9 Justin Jin\/UNEP<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Businesses around the world rely heavily on nature and biodiversity \u2013 it underpins our agricultural systems and food supply, and an estimated 1.2 billion jobs depend on the management and sustainability of ecosystems.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet today, biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in human history. Over the past 50 years about half of Earth\u2019s forests have been lost, while recorded populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have fallen by more than two-thirds.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business and the systems that provide us with food, energy, transport and housing are driving most of these losses through resource extraction and processing. They account for more than 95 per cent of biodiversity loss, up to 60 per cent of climate emissions and nearly 40 per cent of environmental health impacts of particulate matter. And in recent decades the scale of resource extraction has increased dramatically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Resource Panel<\/a> (IRP), established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), examines interactions between sustainability and natural resource use. In a new paper<\/a>, Taking Action for Nature: the Role of Business and the Circular Economy<\/em>, it argues that circular economy approaches offer a practical way to reduce environmental impacts while improving resilience, profitability and long-term sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business, biodiversity and the circular economy opportunity<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For businesses, nature and biodiversity loss creates very specific risks. These include supply chain disruptions; the reduced availability of raw materials; and regulatory risks as governments increasingly require businesses to become more sustainable. Agriculture also relies on healthy ecosystems for crop pollination and fertile soils, without which our food systems would collapse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Circular and resource-efficient approaches offer a way to mitigate these risks. By providing an alternative to the \u201ctake, make, use, dispose\u201d model of traditional business, they can reduce pressure on ecosystems by lowering demand for raw materials, maximizing the value of resources in the value chain, and reducing waste.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This in turn can make businesses more profitable by opening up new revenue streams, enhancing corporate reputation and creating jobs. A 2025 report by the International Labour Organization, World Bank Group and Circle Economy estimated that 121\u2013142 million people worldwide are already employed in the circular economy, representing more than 5 per cent of global employment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How businesses can take action for nature<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The IRP paper proposes six ways businesses can use circular approaches to unlock these opportunities, enhancing their resilience while supporting global biodiversity goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is to apply circular economy strategies to reduce demand for virgin materials, leading to less extraction and less pressure on ecosystems. This can be achieved by analyzing how to make supply chains more efficient, innovating new ways to cut down on the amount of raw materials needed, and rethinking the systems that rely on these materials. It also requires finding lower-impact substitutes for some materials, designing more durable products, and stepping up systems to recover, reuse and recycle the materials already in the economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second is to introduce biodiversity-informed integrated land-use planning, since growing pressure on land is a major driver of biodiversity loss. Agricultural expansion, for example, was responsible for almost 90 per cent of global deforestation between 2000 and 2018. Businesses can help by collaborating with governments, communities and civil society to improve land use planning, minimize conflict over land rights and improve environmental outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third recommendation is to eliminate waste and pollution, which are damaging to nature and economically inefficient. The IRP suggests that businesses can take simple, cost-beneficial steps to boost circularity and stop plastic leaking into nature, such as redesigning packaging, improving collection, and avoiding chemicals harmful to human health and ecosystem integrity. Minimizing food loss and reducing nutrient pollution (such as excess nitrogen and phosphorus) can also significantly improve biodiversity outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth is to adopt sustainable bioeconomy practices \u2013 using renewable natural resources to produce food, energy and industrial goods \u2013 that can also help regenerate ecosystems and support biodiversity. This involves more than simply using biological materials; it requires businesses to use biomass within ecological limits, reducing avoidable demand and ensuring that biological resources are used at their highest value for as long as possible. It also means protecting the ecosystems that produce these resources, promoting regenerative agriculture and protecting soil health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fifth message speaks to governments and urges them to foster circular business practices through targeted regulation and incentives. Existing financial incentives \u2013 including public subsidies, procurement rules, financial risk models and tax systems \u2013 tend to favour the linear use of resources; government policy can level the playing field. The IRP highlights the need for more investment in circularity infrastructure (such as recycling), and for public procurement practices that create more demand for circular materials or services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, the paper emphasizes that businesses should measure and track their impacts on nature. Understanding where materials are sourced, how ecosystems are affected and which interventions actually reduce resource demand gives businesses a more complete picture of their impact. Better data can also improve access to finance, giving investors a better sense of their exposure and credibility.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Businesses around the world rely heavily on nature and biodiversity \u2013 it underpins our agricultural systems and food supply, and an estimated 1.2 billion jobs depend on the management and sustainability of ecosystems.\u00a0 Yet today, biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in human history. Over the past 50 years about half of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":183221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The\u00a0International Resource Panel\u00a0(IRP), established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), examines interactions between sustainability and natural resource use","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[14356,22614,10416,20578,18529,5528],"supplier":[28806,1832],"class_list":["post-183196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodiversity","tag-biofeedstocks","tag-circulareconomy","tag-environmentalfootprint","tag-landuse","tag-sustainability","supplier-international-resource-panel-irp","supplier-united-nations-environment-programme-unep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183223,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183196\/revisions\/183223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183196"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=183196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}