This briefing from the European Environment Agency looks at the links between the circular economy and climate change mitigation.

It is increasingly recognised that the circular economy plays a key role in reducing GHG emissions: the 2025 Clean Industrial Deal, the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan, the 2022 UN Environment Assembly Resolution 5/11 and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, along with many other papers, have all made this case.

This briefing takes stock of the existing findings and assesses the climate mitigation potential of circular economy actions. It provides a consolidated overview of how circular approaches contribute to climate mitigation, highlighting hotspots where the potential is greatest.

Most importantly, it finds that studies come to very different conclusions on mitigation potential. It aims to establish why that is and how the body of research on this subject can be interpreted.