Circular economy is climate policy

The German Delegation at the World Circular Economy Forum 2025 (WCEF 2025) in São Paulo, Brazil, May 13–14, 2025

According to the International Resource Panel´s Global Resources Outlook 2024, resource use accounts for over 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, a systemic shift towards greater resource efficiency and a circular economy is central to meeting the 1.5°C limit. However, the Circularity Gap Report published at the World Circular Economy Forum 2025 shows a dramatic decline in the global circularity rate to 6.9%. Ahead of the UN climate conference in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, the WCEF2025 focused on the climate protection potential of the circular economy and integrating circular solutions into national climate policies. “We need the circular economy to effectively combat climate change,” said COP30 President Corrêa do Lago at the conference. 

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conversation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) pursues the goal of strengthening cooperation with important emerging countries such as Brazil on the circular economy and resource efficiency through structured political dialogue. This implementation of the National Circular Economy Strategy (NCES) measures occurs in the context of international cooperation. As a resource-rich emerging market with growing resource consumption, Brazil plays a central role in the transformation towards a global circular economy. Brazil has ambitious policy frameworks, such as the Plano Nacional de Economia Circular, which is initiating a strategic shift towards sustainable reindustrialization that explicitly takes social inclusion, employment and equitable development into account. Politically supported dialogues are crucial to promoting regulatory coherence and enabling sectoral cooperation, such as on design standards and public procurement and facilitating investment in circular solutions.