Circular Solutions for a Warming World: How a Circular Economy Drives Climate Action

Written by Dr Zainab Bibi

“The future won’t be built from virgin materials—it’ll be repaired, reused, and reimagined.” This vision lies at the heart of marrying circular economy practices with climate action. As a sustainability advocate, I’ve seen how rethinking waste and resources can slash carbon emissions. Production and disposal of goods contribute a significant share of global greenhouse gases. Yet today, only 7.2% of the world’s economy is circular, down from 9.1% in 2018 – a gap we urgently need to close. The circular economy offers a systems-level solution: designing out waste, keeping materials in use, and regenerating nature. In this newsletter, let’s explore six key sectors – fashion, electronics, construction, food, plastics, and mobility – where circular practices are making waves and cutting emissions. Each sector tells a story of innovation, policy shifts, and inspiring progress.

Fashion: Closing the Loop on Style

Popular high-street brands now offer second-hand sections as resale and vintage fashion go mainstream. The fashion industry is awakening to circularity – and not a moment too soon. Often cited as responsible for up to 10% of global emissions, fashion’s wasteful linear model is being upended by a boom in reuse and recycling.

Global sales of “pre-loved” clothing hit $211 billion in 2023, on track for 10% of all fashion sales in 2024. Second-hand marketplaces and rental services are transforming consumer habits, shedding the stigma around used clothes. “This is a monumental moment for circular fashion,” said one stylist at London Fashion Week 2024, where for the first time a runway show featured only vintage and second-hand outfits. Major brands are joining in: from repair programs to collections made with recycled fibers, the industry is experimenting with ways to use garments longer and make new ones from old.

Regulators are pushing, too. The EU’s new Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles aims to make clothing more durable, reusable and recyclable by design. By 2030, the EU wants all textiles on its market to be longer-lasting and made largely of recycled fibers, with producers responsible for waste. France already bans the destruction of unsold fashion goods, forcing donations and recycling. These moves come amid stark statistics: as many as 40% of garments produced each year – ~60 billion pieces – go unsold, often ending up incinerated or in landfills in Ghana or Chile. Extending each item’s life and recirculating materials can dramatically shrink fashion’s footprint. From innovative plant-based leathers to digital “product passports” that track a garment’s lifecycle, the message is clear: circular fashion is in vogue, and it’s a climate imperative.

Electronics: Reuse and Right to Repair Revolution

Old laptops and phones pile up as e-waste – a fast-growing waste stream that contains valuable metals. Our gadgets connect us, but they also fuel a mounting e-waste crisis. In 2022, the world generated a record 62 million tonnes of electronic waste, yet only about 22% was recycled.

The rest – discarded phones, laptops, batteries – often leaks toxins and wastes the energy and resources originally used to make them. This linear tech cycle carries a big carbon cost: producing and disposing of electronics consumes energy and materials, from mined metals to plastics. In fact, manufacturing a new smartphone accounts for around 80% of its lifetime carbon footprint – so using devices longer can yield huge climate savings. One analysis found that adding just one year to the lifespan of all smartphones worldwide would save as much CO₂ by 2030 as taking 4.7 million cars off the road.

Today, a global Right to Repair movement is challenging throwaway culture. New policies empower consumers to fix electronics instead of replace them. In the EU and UK, manufacturers now must design appliances for repair and provide spare parts. And in 2024, California enacted a landmark Right to Repair law requiring tech companies to supply parts, tools and manuals for at least 3–7 years. This ensures phones, laptops and appliances can be mended by anyone, extending their life and preventing e-waste. “This Act is an important step towards a circular economy,” noted California’s recycling authority, reducing electronic waste and even creating repair jobs. At the same time, innovators are rising to the challenge: modular designs like the Fairphone allow easy part replacements, and major brands are using more recycled content (for example, 100% recycled aluminum in some phone frames). Such shifts not only cut waste but also curb the need for energy-intensive mining of new minerals. With governments and consumers demanding longer-lasting electronics, the age of disposability in tech is (slowly) short-circuiting.

Construction: Building for Circularity

A co-working hub in Berlin was built with 70% reclaimed or sustainable materials, designed to be disassembled and reused decades later. The construction sector – building our homes, offices and infrastructure – is a massive driver of resource use and emissions. About half of all raw materials extracted in Europe go into construction, and construction and demolition sites create over one-third of Europe’s waste. Globally, production of cement, steel, and other construction materials emits huge carbon volumes. The EU estimates that just the manufacture of building materials and the act of building/renovating contribute 5–12% of its total greenhouse emissions. Clearly, reimagining construction in a circular way – where buildings become material “banks” rather than one-off waste generators – offers tremendous climate benefits. Indeed, shifting to a circular built environment could cut global emissions from construction materials by 38% by 2050.

What does circular construction look like? First and foremost, it means using what we already have. “The most sustainable building is the one you don’t build,” as one engineer quipped – emphasizing retrofitting and extending the life of existing structures over constant new-build. When new buildings are needed, circular principles prioritize reused and recycled components, design for easy disassembly, and lean use of materials. In practice, this might mean renovating an old warehouse into apartments using its original bricks and beams, or constructing modular units that can be taken apart like LEGO. The Berlin project above demonstrates this ethos: walls made of reclaimed wood and clay, sinks salvaged from a campsite, and no paint or permanent sealants so that pieces can be recovered later. Across Europe, similar pilot projects showcase that circular design doesn’t hamper creativity – it inspires it.

Policy is catching up here as well. The EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan targets construction with measures like material reuse quotas and “material passports” for buildings to document all components for future recovery. Cities including London and Amsterdam now favour “deconstruction” (carefully taking buildings apart for reuse) over demolition. Even using materials more efficiently has huge payback: engineers note many structures could achieve required strength with 50% less cement, potentially saving 1 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2050. From low-carbon concrete mixes to recycled steel rebar, greener materials are emerging. Piece by piece, a circular construction paradigm is forming – one where buildings are seen not as end-products but as temporary assemblies of materials that will live on. It’s an exciting foundation for a low-carbon future.

Food & Agriculture: From Waste to Regeneration

When food gets tossed out, all the water, energy and labour to produce it are wasted – and it emits methane as it rots. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases on Earth. Shocking? Consider this: roughly one-third of all food produced for human consumption never gets eaten. Farms, processors, shops and households together bin millions of tonnes of food yearly – even as 730 million people go hungry. This squandered food accounts for an estimated 8–10% of global GHG emissions, not only from decomposing in landfills (releasing methane) but from all the wasted fertilizer, transport fuel, packaging and land use. In other words, feeding landfills feeds climate change. Cutting food loss and waste is thus one of the most immediate and tangible climate actions – a true win-win that also improves food security.

The push for circular food systems centres on keeping edible food in the loop and returning nutrients to soil. Around the world, innovative solutions abound. Supermarkets in France and Italy are donating unsold food by law, while apps like Too Good To Go connect consumers with cafes’ leftover meals at closing time. A new wave of upstart companies is upcycling food byproducts into new products – turning juice press pulp into high-fibre chips, spent grain from breweries into flour, or “ugly” produce into gourmet jams. In the U.S., such startups have exploded in popularity. They’re tackling a big problem: nearly 40% of food in the US (worth $473 billion) goes uneaten, giving it a climate footprint equal to the entire US aviation sector. Meanwhile, communities are scaling up composting and anaerobic digesters to recycle food scraps into fertilizer and biogas, closing the nutrient loop and avoiding methane emissions.

Policymakers are starting to treat food waste as a climate priority. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 calls for halving per capita food waste by 2030, and the EU and UK have launched campaigns to that end. Yet as of 2024, only a handful of national climate plans address food waste – an oversight experts urge countries to fix. Indeed, reducing food waste could cut 0.1°C off global warming by 2100 according to some analyses, and it’s one of the cheapest carbon-cutting measures available. Whether through better supply chain management (e.g. smarter inventory and date labeling to prevent supermarket waste) or consumer education (did you know “best before” dates are often arbitrary and food is edible well beyond them?), the opportunities are huge. This is a fight where everyone from big retailers to individual households can contribute. As I often say, waste less food, feed more people, and cool the planet – it’s a recipe we can all get behind.

Plastics: Breaking the Fossil Fuel Cycle

Plastic waste at a landfill is a familiar sight – one that countries now aim to eliminate by 2040 through a new global plastics treaty. Plastic is everywhere in modern life, but its benefits come at a steep environmental cost. Plastics are made from oil and gas, and their lifecycle – from drilling and refining to manufacturing and incineration – pumps out significant greenhouse emissions. If current trends continue, plastic production and burning could consume 10–13% of our remaining carbon budget by 2050 – a huge slice for a material that often becomes single-use trash. Already, we produce about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste per year worldwide, yet only 9% gets recycled. The rest ends up polluting land, rivers and oceans or is burned, releasing CO₂. Tackling plastic pollution is therefore also critical for meeting climate goals. Our linear plastic habit is a climate liability.

The good news is a powerful shift toward a circular plastics economy is underway. In 2022, 175 nations agreed to negotiate a Global Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution by 2040, an effort now in progress. The vision: keep plastics in the loop through better product design, reuse systems, and effective recycling, rather than continually making new plastic from fossil fuels. Governments aren’t waiting idly. The EU already banned many single-use plastic items (like straws and cutlery) and introduced a Plastic Packaging Tax to spur recycled content. Dozens of countries have plastic bag bans or bottle deposit-return schemes. Crucially, the EU is advocating that the global treaty cap virgin plastic production and ensure the “whole lifecycle” of plastic is addressed – from production to waste management. Why? Because if business as usual continues, plastic output will triple by 2060, which would derail climate efforts. Instead, a circular approach aims to decouple plastics from new fossil inputs.

Industry and innovators are responding with new solutions: refill and reuse models (think refillable shampoo bottles or soda dispensers) are scaling up, and major brands have pledged to use dramatically more recycled resin in packaging. Advanced recycling technologies are being developed to break down harder-to-recycle plastics into feedstock (though these remain controversial and energy-intensive). Importantly, tackling plastic waste has co-benefits for climate adaptation too – cleaner environments, less clogged drainage (reducing flood risks), and protected biodiversity. The momentum feels reminiscent of the Paris climate accord, but for plastics: a recognition that we must “turn off the tap” of pollution at the source. Every piece of plastic kept in circulation – a bottle refilled, a yogurt tub recycled into a park bench, a plastic film avoided altogether – is a small climate win, preventing emissions from both production and end-of-life burning. The ultimate goal is no less than reinventing our relationship with plastics from a throwaway material to a circular resource.

Mobility: Driving a Circular Revolution

Electric vehicle battery modules being prepared for reuse or recycling represent a key step toward circular mobility. The transport sector is undergoing a twin transformation: electrification and circularity. Electric vehicles (EVs) promise to cut tailpipe emissions, but building them still requires intensive resources – from steel and aluminum for the chassis to lithium, nickel and cobalt for batteries. In fact, as cars go electric, the share of emissions embodied in materials and manufacturing grows. One startling finding: producing a typical mid-sized EV can emit as much carbon as several years of driving that car. Thus, making mobility truly sustainable means not only swapping petrol for renewables, but also rethinking the car’s entire life cycle. The circular economy provides the roadmap: design vehicles to last longer, use more recycled and low-carbon materials, enable easy repair and upgrades, and ensure end-of-life recycling or repurposing of components. Essentially, keep cars and their parts in circulation as long as possible – and reduce the need to manufacture so many new ones.

One powerful strategy is mobility-as-a-service and shared transport. Private cars sit parked about 95% of the time, a gross inefficiency in resource terms. Expanding car-sharing, ride-hailing, public transit and micro-mobility (bikes, e-scooters) means fewer vehicles can serve the same transport needs. Studies in Belgium show each shared car can replace 3 to 10 private cars on the road. Fewer cars produced means less steel, rubber, and plastic consumed, and fewer manufacturing emissions. Meanwhile, carmakers are embracing circular principles in design and production. Leading automakers have targets to incorporate recycled plastics, metals and even old fabrics into new models. Volvo, for instance, aims for 25% recycled or bio-based material in its new cars by 2025 – a move that cuts emissions and demand for virgin petrochemicals. Manufacturers are also developing remanufacturing programs: collecting end-of-life or retired components like engines and gearboxes, and refurbishing them to like-new condition for resale. This is already big in heavy-duty vehicles and industrial equipment, and now growing in passenger autos.

Perhaps the most crucial circular step for mobility is in EV batteries. Batteries are both precious (full of rare metals) and potentially polluting, so a circular approach is critical. Governments have stepped in: the EU’s new Battery Regulation mandates that from 2030 onward, all EV batteries must contain minimum recycled content – for example, 16% of the cobalt and 6% of the lithium and nickel must come from recycling. It also requires batteries be designed for disassembly and user-replaceable by 2027, tackling planned obsolescence in consumer electronics and ensuring batteries aren’t glued irretrievably into devices. Already, companies are racing to scale up EV battery recycling to harvest cobalt, lithium and more from used cells.

Others are finding second-life uses: for example, retired EV batteries are being repurposed as stationary storage for solar and wind farms, extending their life before eventually recycling. The World Economic Forum’s Circular Cars Initiative points out that only by addressing manufacturing emissions – especially in materials like steel, aluminum, and batteries – can the auto industry align with climate goals. Policies like the EU’s Digital Battery Passport will track batteries’ origins and recycling histories, while green steel initiatives (using hydrogen instead of coal) promise to shrink the carbon footprint of car frames. In short, the circular revolution in mobility is turning what could be an electric waste problem into an opportunity: to reinvent how vehicles are made, used, and recovered.

Conclusion: Call to Action – Embrace the Circular Shift

From our wardrobes to our wheels, the case is clear: circular economy practices amplify climate action across the board. By designing out waste and keeping materials in use, we not only cut emissions but also build resilience – creating supply chains that rely less on virgin resources and are less prone to volatility. The trends highlighted – a resale boom in fashion, right-to-repair laws, buildings-as-material banks, food waste activism, plastics retooling, and circular mobility – are all pieces of a hopeful puzzle. They show a future emerging where economic activity is regenerative, not extractive. But scaling this future demands all of us to play a part. Governments must implement and enforce bold policies (we need that global plastics treaty, and food waste in every climate plan). Businesses must innovate and invest in circular design and business models, rather than clinging to throwaway paradigms. Investors should back circular ventures and recognise that resource efficiency is the new competitive edge. And as individuals, we can shift our habits: buy second-hand, repair instead of replace, sort our waste, support sharing schemes, and vote with our wallets for sustainable options.

Above all, we must shed the notion that climate action is only about renewable energy or efficiency in isolation. It’s also about rethinking consumption and production at a fundamental level. The next time you reuse a tote bag, fix a broken gadget, or compost leftovers, know that you are part of this larger movement – one that connects climate targets with daily life through the circular economy. Let’s advocate for these solutions, scale them, and weave circular thinking into education and policy. The climate clock is ticking, but as we’ve seen, circular strategies can buy us time by slashing emissions quickly and cost-effectively. It’s often said that “we don’t need a handful of people doing sustainability perfectly; we need millions doing it imperfectly.” So let’s get to it – adopt, advocate, and invest in circular economy practices. In doing so, we’ll not only tackle the climate crisis but also create a cleaner, more equitable and regenerative world. The circular future is one of promise – and it’s in our hands to make it reality.

At RTN Zero Consulting Ltd, we are championing the very principles of circularity outlined above — transforming waste streams into valuable resources while driving measurable carbon reductions. From pioneering insect farming solutions and strengthening sustainable supply chains, to deploying AI-powered tools like RTNZero.AI, our work is grounded in science and practicality. We focus on enabling businesses, particularly SMEs, to navigate the complex transition to Net Zero with clarity and confidence. By embedding circular economy thinking into everyday operations, we help organisations move decisively beyond greenwashing and towards strategies that create real, lasting impact for both climate and community.

We hope this edition of Sustainability Spotlight has illuminated how circular economy solutions — from resale fashion and repairable electronics to regenerative food systems, plastic reuse, and circular mobility — are reshaping industries and cutting emissions. What began as niche innovations are now becoming mainstream pathways to resilience, efficiency, and climate action.

What matters now are the choices we make. Whether you’re extending the life of a garment, backing low-carbon construction, investing in battery recycling, or simply starting conversations about waste in your community, your role is vital. Every product repaired, every building retrofitted, every meal saved from the bin, and every tonne of plastic avoided brings us closer to a regenerative, low-carbon future.

At Sustainability Spotlight, we’ll continue to track these transformative shifts, follow their ripple effects across sectors, and highlight the practical solutions already working on the ground. The challenges of decarbonisation and resource scarcity are immense — but so too is our collective innovation, creativity, and determination. Together, we can turn today’s linear habits into tomorrow’s circular solutions, ensuring our economies work not just for profit, but for people and planet alike.

📬 Stay connected with Sustainability Spotlight for insights, strategies, and stories of climate leadership 🌍✨. Because we’re not just participants in this transition — we are the builders of a truly circular future ♻️🚀.