The extraction and processing of resources accounts for 90% of biodiversity loss and over half of total greenhouse gas emissions. Our outdated model of take, make, use and dispose cannot continue. Instead, we must profoundly change the way that products and services are designed, made and consumed.
This is a true paradigm shift: for more than two centuries, our economies have grown at the expense of nature. We now need to overhaul that entire model in just one generation. But we have the tools we need to do it and we know where we need to go.
The circular economy is the model of the future, for Europe and the world. This is why it is one of the pillars of the European Green Deal. Making our economies circular could cut EU industrial emissions by 56% annually by 2050. It would bring balance back to our relationship with nature and reduce our vulnerability to disruptions in global, complex supply chains.