The framework for inclusive circular trade is designed to help guide trade and trade-related circular economy and development policies, practices and agreements to ensure these all work towards a shared goal of an inclusive circular economy.

This paper sets out a framework for inclusive circular trade, intended to enable a pathway in which circular trade helps to promote fair, inclusive and circular societies. The framework was developed through the work of an alliance of organizations spanning Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe.

Chatham House does not express opinions of its own. The opinions expressed in this publication are the responsibility of the authors. A Spanish translation of the paper is also available as a PDF.

The EU Green Deal includes a commitment to shift the tax burden from labour to pollution. EU companies seek to adopt circular practices, but financial incentives in their tax systems curb circular growth.

This study presents a roadmap for a rebalancing of the tax mix, both at national and EU levels. It assesses the impact of 20 taxshift measures significantly decreasing the tax burden on labour while increasing taxation of resource use and pollution.

The analysis shows that a well-considered, broad-based tax reform could lead to more jobs, higher economic growth, fewer emissions and less dependence on imports. It also shows that it is possible to design policy measures addressing environmental issues (Polluter Pays Principle) and social issues (leaving no-one behind) simultaneously.

Many actors see the EU’s circular economy (CE) as a promising narrative which steps outside dominant end-of-pipe solutions towards an encompassing vision for strategies across the supply chain. However, this study finds that the EU CE Action Plan maintains the status quo narrative instead of suggesting radical changes.

By focusing on stakeholder narratives, this analysis shows that the inertia is primarily due to CE proponents’ self-perception of being in a legitimacy crisis and their strategic arguments that have:

• concealed social conflict and potential trade-offs
• strengthened the agency of ‘status quo’ agents
• excluded alternative voices questioning the proposed CE narrative.

The paper discusses how to develop new environmental narratives outside the status quo.

This is a guide to help practitioners in a city government to adopt a more circular approach to public procurement. Public procurement processes differ from one city to another and therefore this guide is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it provides an overarching framework that should be adapted to the local context and the realities of a city.

Users are not expected to read the guide in full from beginning to end, but rather, once they have read the framework overview, to jump to the section they need by using the menu bar on the left.

Is it possible to enjoy both economic growth and environmental sustainability? This question is a matter of political debate between green growth and post-growth advocates. Considering what is at stake, a careful assessment to determine whether the scientific foundations behind this decoupling hypothesis are robust or not is needed.

This report reviews the empirical and theoretical literature to assess the validity of this hypothesis. The conclusion is both overwhelmingly clear and sobering: not only is there no empirical evidence supporting the existence of a decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures on anywhere near the scale needed to deal with environmental breakdown, but also, and perhaps more importantly, such decoupling appears unlikely to happen in the future.

The goal of the circular economy is to take full advantage of all available resources through reducing, reusing, repairing and recycling. The recent Nordic Circular Summit in Copenhagen covered topics from public administration programmes to innovative techniques and renewable practices in the marine and food industries.

What can we learn about the circular economy from the Nordic perspective? Find some answers in this position paper.

SMEs hold the key to the circular economy. Their innovation potential to introduce and mainstream sustainable business models is blocked by many obstacles such as lack of demand, additional costs, and the complexity of circular design.

To unleash their full potential and realise the European Green Deal’s objectives, Ecopreneur.eu recommends: launching regional circularity hubs, active engagement of ecopreneurs as front-runners, true pricing using economic incentives, 100% green implementation of the European Recovery Plan, introducing innovation funding and subsidies that are attractive to SMEs, and enacting progressive EU legislation such as a mandatory gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment for all companies.

Click here for the Executive Summary.