The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has entered into a new agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), the leading global environment authority, to “scale up and accelerate” the shift towards a circular economy.
Such an economy supports sustainable consumption and production systems which are central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos last week, Ellen MacArthur and Erik Solheim, executive director of UN Environment (pictured), announced an agreement that will see the organisations focus their joint efforts on stimulating public-private sector engagement with circular economy solutions.
“An outdated, take-make-dispose linear economy is the root cause of some of today’s most challenging problems. The circular economy provides a framework to design an economy that is restorative and regenerative, and creates benefits for society and the environment.”
This will include strengthening the scientific basis for policy decisions, including at city level, to decouple economic development from environmental degradation.
The announcement was made alongside the launch of the World Economic Forum’s Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), for which the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a Knowledge Partner and is represented at board level.
PACE brings together companies, organisations and governments to create innovative partnerships that drive actions at global and regional levels to decouple economic growth from resource use.
Dame Ellen MacArthur, founder, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “An outdated, take-make-dispose linear economy is the root cause of some of today’s most challenging problems. The circular economy provides a framework to design an economy that is restorative and regenerative, and creates benefits for society and the environment.
“I am delighted to work with UN Environment to further our shared goals of scaling up and accelerating this systemic shift at a global level.”
The news follows the publication of a new report, launched at Davos, which shows how much our current linear economy is “failing people and the planet”.
