Infrastructure is the backbone of the global economy. It comprises of public assets that provide essential services to people and businesses through investments in the transport, energy, social, communications, water, and waste sectors.
However, infrastructure consumes around 60% of the world’s materials and contributes around 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through construction alone. Better circularity in infrastructure has clear potential to bring about long-term impact in terms of climate change mitigation and resource scarcity.
“The 1.5°C Paris Agreement target can only be achieved by combining renewable energy and energy efficiency with other approaches, including circular economy.” Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Systemic change and innovation is needed at a global scale to advance the opportunities for circular infrastructure.
Explore GI Hub’s data analysis on potential impact to mitigate climate change and resource scarcity with a focus on infrastructure’s embodied and operational emissions.
This paper offers infrastructure practitioners transition pathways to apply circular economy principles and aims to raise awareness and knowledge of circular infrastructure.
Read the paper to access the full data analysis and key findings from our work for the G20.
Explore GI Hub’s data analysis on potential impact to mitigate climate change and resource scarcity with a focus on infrastructure’s embodied and operational emissions.
This paper offers infrastructure practitioners transition pathways to apply circular economy principles and aims to raise awareness and knowledge of circular infrastructure.
Read the paper to access the full data analysis and key findings from our work for the G20.
Circular economy: A definition
A circular economy is an economic system that organises production, supply and consumption of materials into closed loops, thereby reducing the pressure on the world’s finite materials and natural resource depletion. The circular economy transition is centred around the 6R principles for circularity: refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and refurbish, recycle, and residual.
The cross-section of infrastructure and the circular economy is what the GI Hub calls ‘circular infrastructure’. Circular infrastructure comprises investments in transport, energy, social, communications, water, and waste sectors that:
- Enable circular economy activity, and/or
- Minimise material use across the infrastructure value chain in line with the 6R principles for circularity.[1]
The circularity diagram for the 6R principles was adapted from PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency Outline of the Circular Economy (2019).
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