HIGH-LEVEL PANEL on Fast-Forwarding the Green and Circular Economy

HIGH-LEVEL PANEL on Fast-Forwarding the Green and Circular Economy

Humanity is pushing the Earth beyond its natural limits, causing climate disruption, escalating pollution and threatening biodiversity through our economic activities. Resulting from this human activity, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated and exposed the world’s unsustainable path, while showing the need for action across different sectors, from upstream to consumption.  The transition to a green and circular economy is key to move to more sustainable economic models, as part of a green recovery.

The 2021 European Development Days’ Auditorium session “Fast Forward: New Business Models for a green and circular recovery” organized by the International Trade Centre and UNEP, brought together high-level  experts  to highlight ways of catalyzing such transition. The session was moderated by Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Director of the Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs at the Graduate Institute’s Global Governance Centre. This article captures the main messages conveyed by the speakers throughout the session.

Marjeta Jager, Deputy Director-General of DG INTPA, stressed the historical obligation to build back better, greener, and sustainably for  future generations. In the context of international cooperation, she enumerated five conditions for a greener recovery and economy: evidence to convince decision makers on the green transition’s opportunities, coherent policy frameworks and business environments, private sector engagement and support for SMEs, the mobilization of and access to finance to scale up green businesses and models, and a fair and just transition with re-skilling. She also highlighted that the EU Green Deal’s Circular Economy Action Plan provides concrete actions to deliver sustainable growth.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, remarked that trade can boost the opportunities from a circular economy in developing nations through technological transfer, new skills, and new market opportunities. Actors in the trade community need to work in a coordinated and complementary way to reduce barriers to circular goods and services, optimize circular chains, support environmental sustainability mainstreaming into trade agreements, and big businesses to make their value chains circular. She mentioned that the circular economy is a requirement that offers economic “opportunities that should not turn into a green squeeze” for SMEs in developing countries as a consequence of emerging circular standards in industrialized countries.

Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director of UNEP’s Economy Division, underlined that if we transform the way we are consuming and producing goods and move to a circular economy and to the sustainable usage of cement, aluminium, steel, plastics and food, we can achieve efficiency of 70% of CO2 emissions reduction. To achieve this circularity, she highlighted the key role of financial actors, the importance of building institutional structures and capacities that engage public and private actors, and the crucial role of trade to deliver international cooperation and achieve a green shift.  She told the audience that the key is to have all actors along value chains involved in a whole-of-society approach and to work with businesses, society and governments to create the “enabling environment where SMEs, big firms, and consumers can make the right choices, benefit from new market opportunities, and increase revenue” vis-à-vis business as usual. In this respect she stressed the huge opportunities of focusing on SMEs, which make up 90% of the businesses and provide 7 out of 10 jobs globally.

Daniel Villamar, Equatorial EDD Young Leader and co-founder of Tandari - Youth Assembly for Sustainability, said that the innovative solutions of young leaders can enable the economic inclusion of youth in the green and circular economy. Materializing such solutions requires support of the international community: “We must dare to take decisions that bring us closer to a sustainable future; investing in youth is one of them” he underscored.

Carin Jämtin, Director-General of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, mentioned three entry points to leverage engagement for a systemic circular shift: the driving force of the private sector and financial actors in developing circular business models for a green and just transition, building institutional structures and capacities by engaging public and private actors, and trade and international collaboration as crucial elements for a global shift.

Rosetta Muhoza, Rwandan EDD Young Leader and co-founder of My Green Home in Rwanda, explained that creating awareness and bringing in new ideas could get people closer to new concepts such as the circular economy. The interventions were followed by a discussion with the audience, which emphasized the five-way of heading towards circular and green economies. First, multi-actor coordination through the unifying tools of circularity. Second, coherent frameworks and incentives across national instruments, trade, finance, and development policies. Third, partnerships linking local actions with international instruments. Fourth, fostering a new generation of green and circular consumers. Lastly, bringing to light biodiversity’s economic potential.

Overall, speakers coincided on the fact that the circular and green economy are concepts that provide the tools for more sustainable business models and a green recovery.

Watch the recording here.