2024 Global Resources Outlook

The 2024 edition of the Global Resources Outlook, prepared by the International Resource Panel, shows that it is possible and profitable to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts and resource use, so that the environmental impact of resource use fall while the well-being contributions from resource use increase. According to the report, structural implementation of the circular economy could impact by generating a global GDP to 2060 three percent higher than projected and reduced economic equalities; growth in material use could decline by 30 percent and greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by more than 80 percent. The magnitude of impacts related to the way material resources are extracted and processed for our global economy are astounding impacting 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and over 90 per cent of total land use related biodiversity loss that is the lynchpin of vibrant ecosystems and life on Earth.

The circular economy model is a vision that intersects the contemporary world by presenting itself in its full scope: it calls us to a reconceptualization of our approach to resources, data, product and process design, and to an integrated view of business models, geopolitics and equity.  Circularity does not simply mean recycling: it means extending the life cycle of materials and rethinking the way we design and bring goods and services to market. It is about accelerating the ability to take a global view of the phenomenon, to lucidly address the barriers and challenges, and to develop new collaborative links: between sectors and production chains, between producers and consumers, between public and private sectors,  between economic and societal actors, to generate new business models.

Today, more than ever, concrete actions need to be taken to support this evolution.