The circular economy as a means to support climate mitigation efforts is becoming increasingly important as the urgency to raise climate ambitions grows. While current climate action pledges are not sufficient to meet agreed goals and targets, the concept of the circular economy could help to bridge this target gap.
This guide introduces the concept of the circular economy as a central element for climate action. It then elaborates on methodologies to quantify mitigation potentials of circular economy measures and explains the differences of contribution and attribution-based climate action. From this base, the design and implementation process of circular economy-smart Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and sub-national policies are introduced. It further provides a comprehensive yet pragmatic roadmap towards such circular economy-smart NDCs.