45% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with product manufacturing. How can we ensure that climate strategies prioritise product longevity, sustainable consumption and other circular approaches and thus reduce these emissions?

In its new Guidance on Increasing NDC Ambitions through Circular Action, GIZ global programme Go Circular explores this question. The paper outlines how practitioners and decision makers can identify and integrate circular economy measures into climate strategies.

The Guidance includes 27 Circular Activity Sheets that directly translate circular economy measures into practical climate reporting. They describe circular activities from a climate reporting perspective, helping with defining, tracking and reporting circular climate impacts. The Guidance complements Building Circularity into Nationally Determined Contributions – A Practical Toolbox, prepared by the UNEP, the UNDP and the UNFCCC secretariat.

With many countries in the process of updating their Nationally Determined Contributions, integrating circular economy approaches can boost greenhouse gas mitigation and accelerate national climate efforts.

This study was published by GIZ in November 2024.