Some 30 global experts are calling on world leaders to back the transition to a real circular economy, as governments prepare their Covid-19 stimulus packages to boost economies in the wake of the global pandemic.
In an open letter published last week, experts implored leaders to put green stimulus measures at the heart of the recovery package, calling for an economy where resources are only used if they are 100 per cent recyclable or reusable.
“The European Commission estimates investing in a circular economy could create some 700,000 jobs by 2030 in Europe alone,” the letter states, “invigorating sectors that will deliver long-term prosperity without trashing our natural world.”
The letter has been signed by global campaigners including Julie Andersen, Global CEO of Plastic Oceans International, and journalist and environmental activist George Monbiot, as well as politicians and international experts from across Europe.
The letter has been spearheaded by the Real Circularity Coalition, a global network of NGOs, campaigners, academics, politicians and business leaders founded this year to campaign for a real circular economy.
“As world leaders look to the economic recovery, short-term carbon-intensive solutions are not the answer,” the letter reads. “Instead creating an economy where resources are only used if they are 100 per cent recyclable or reusable represents our best route to a better future.'
“A real circular economy could once and for all realise the vision of a world free from the connected problems of runaway climate change and the global waste crisis,” the letter adds. “Now more than ever before the future belongs to companies that work with nature, not against it. The economic response to the crisis must be executed in line with our global sustainability goals and put green stimulus measures front and centre.”
