Speech prepared for the launch of the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency at the Fifth UN Environment Assembly
Welcome to the launch of the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE).
Thank you to Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius, EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, for inviting UNEP to establish this alliance with long-term partner UNIDO, represented here today by Director-General Li Yong.
Thank you also to the founding members of the Alliance: Canada, Chile, Colombia, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Rwanda and South Africa. And a special welcome to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, and the World Circular Economy Forum, all of whom have indicated interest in supporting the alliance.
Colleagues, our commitment to step up action on the circular economy is welcome and timely. We are deep in the throes of three planetary crises. Climate change. Nature and biodiversity loss. Pollution and waste. These three crises are threatening our health, our prosperity and the planet itself. The common driving force behind these crises are our unsustainable modes of consumption and production. If we face this common enemy, we can tackle all three crises at once.
Circularity and sustainable consumption and production (SCP) are essential to deliver on every multilateral agreement, from the Sustainable Development Goals, to the Paris Agreement to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. They are essential to a sustainable recovery from the pandemic.
Let me cite just a few examples. Using available technologies to increase material efficiency for homes and cars can, by 2060, cut 25 billion tonnes of cumulative CO2e emissions in G7 countries. In 2019, collection and recycling of e-waste recovered materials worth USD 10 billion, and made four million metric tonnes of material available for recycling. This, from only 17.4 per cent of all e-waste generated. There is room for huge circularity gains.
The benefits are clear. Lower emissions. Less destructive resource extraction. Less pollution and waste. More jobs – as circular economies are more labour intensive than linear ones. As we seize these benefits, however, we have to be careful to make the transition just. Help countries that depend on resources to diversify their economies. Retrain those working in industries that will decline. Ensure new jobs are safe and decent.
This Alliance will be central to delivering this just transition. I ask you now to use your influence in this year of crucial meetings on climate, biodiversity and chemicals. Ensure everyone is aware of, and working to deliver on, the many benefits of circularity. Recruit new members. Above all, remember that what you do now can put the planet, and humanity, on a path to health and prosperity.
Thank you.
Executive Director
