Circular Economy Roadmap for Germany (Full Report)
Sprache des Titels:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Since the European Green Deal, at very latest, it has been clear that the only way a greenhouse gas-neutral Europe can be achieved is by fundamental structural transformation of our eco nomic activity. The ?Circular Economy?, a term now used in German too, proposes a framework for guiding and appropriately configuring this necessary systemic structural transformation of value creation from the linear, resource-intensive to the circular, resource-efficient. With this aim in mind, in 2019 we established the Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID). With the involvement of three ministries, 24 businesses, 22 research institutions and further relevant civil society organisations, we have set a dialogue in motion as to how to this comprehensive turnaround from the linear to the circular can be achieved. Two years on, we can now take a look at the findings of this wide-ranging work, the fruit of dedicated hard work by over 130 experts working together. Through far-reaching discussions at steering committee and task force level, reviews and the presentation of findings at national and international conferences, the compiled content has already given impetus to new discussions and has been continuously further refined. Detailed presentations of the findings and discussions at set out in the respective findings reports published by the three working groups ?Circular Business Models?, ?Packaging? and ?Traction Batteries?. These describe, among other things, how Germany can use new business models to become a supplier of ?Circular Services? (instead of products), how a circular plastics economy can counter the problem of waste by designing a new circular industry and how circular battery management can create a new services branch from a resource bottleneck. The report describes the potential of circular value creation not only in achieving environmental and economic objectives, but also in improving prospects for sustainable living conditions. The present Circular Economy Roadmap for Germany brings together the working groups? findings, develops a vision for a Circular Economy in Germany, models possible implementation paths and derives overarching policy recommendations for policy makers, business and academia. These policy recommendations now point the way for Germany?s progressive transition to a Circular Economy by 2030. The transition to a Circular Economy is a fundamental process of transformation for the whole of society, which can only succeed with the participation and cooperation of all stakeholders. Against this background, the present Circular Economy roadmap can and must be understood and used as a ?living document?. On the one hand, it offers a comprehensive guiding framework and describes the practical implementation steps which need to be taken by policy makers and businesses. On the other hand, however, this roadmap does not conclude the description of the transformation process, but rather constitutes the foundation for further work on a concrete system of objectives for a national Circular Economy strategy, as well as on issues surrounding the measurement of progress, the effects of economic incentives, the transferability of insights to other applications and embedding into a European framework. We hope that this roadmap can present a positive vision for Germany as a location for business at a time when German and Europe face important policy decisions.
Sprache der Kurzfassung:
Englisch
Veröffentlicher:
Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften; SYSTEMIQ