Strategies to cut global emissions

The Circularity Gap Report 2021 finds that three key human needs – housing, mobility and nutrition – out of seven, are responsible for almost 70% of global emissions.

The world is on course for climate breakdown, despite pledges to cut carbon emissions. A new report has identified a set of circular strategies that could keep global warming below 2°C by cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 39%.

The Circularity Gap Report 2021 finds that three key human needs – housing, mobility and nutrition – out of seven, are responsible for almost 70% of global emissions. Launched by impact organization Circle Economy during the World Economic Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda Week, the report recommends circular strategies that could eliminate 22.8 billion tonnes (Gt) of annual emissions (compared to 2019 levels). Read on…

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Here are some of the report’s circular strategies to tackle key gaps across selected areas of the economy:

Housing

• Build fewer – but more thoughtfully designed – new houses and multi-occupancy dwellings to reduce overall floor space and optimize resource efficiency.
• Re-occupy underused and disused buildings to meet housing demand.
• Help regenerate material flows by using natural or renewable building materials, such as wood, straw and hemp.
• Incorporate the regenerative benefits of features such as green roofs and living walls.
Nutrition
• Champion unprocessed food, alongside an ongoing decrease in consumption of all meat, fish and dairy.
• Produce food sustainably. Fresh, regional, local and seasonal options mean less need for hot-housing vegetables. Such options also require fewer miles for transport.

Mobility

• Reduce travel through a range of work solutions also interventions, including shared and virtual offices, telecommuting and working from home.
• Improve vehicle design, ensuring lightweight and smaller-sized vehicles such as cars and scooters that use less fuel, steel and aluminium.
• Encourage shared travel interventions like car clubs, car pools, ride-sharing, public transport and park-and-ride. Such options also help cut fuel consumption.

Communication

• Digitization is key to the efficient design and use of communication equipment and can reduce material flows.
• Buy smaller and lighter laptops instead of desktop computers with LCD monitors to reduce resource consumption and enhance efficiency.

Consumables

• Increase digitization to reduce paper use; don’t make textiles from animals; aim to eradicate single-use plastic; specify only eco-labelled responsibly-sourced timber furniture; and prioritize local purchasing and sourcing.
• Introduce and encourage repair, maintenance, sharing, re-manufacturing and take-back programmes for textiles, appliances, furniture and machinery.

Healthcare

• Develop virtual healthcare service models. This can improve access to diagnosis and treatment, whilst reducing the need for physical consultation spaces and associated resource consumption costs, including travel.

• Housing, travel and food are responsible for almost 70% of global emissions
• Only 8.6% of the economy is circular – but this needs to almost double to 17% to keep the planet sustainable.
• Circular strategies can “drastically reduce” the amount of minerals, fossil fuels, metals and biomass consumed by the world’s economy, the authors say.
• Specific opportunities include building fewer, but better, houses; championing unprocessed food and improving vehicle design.

Source: WEF

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