For over 15 years, China’s government has been a frontrunner on circular economy policies, with a focus on addressing pollution, promoting resource efficiency, and industrial ecology. Building on these efforts, in 2017 the government introduced a new set of policies, centred on concepts such as product redesign and the sharing economy, which highlight the innovation and value creation opportunities of a circular economy approach – particularly for cities.
The Circular Economy Opportunity for Urban and Industrial Innovation in China shows that applying circular economy principles at scale in China’s cities could save businesses and households approximately CNY 70 trillion by 2040 (16% of China’s projected GDP), while making cities more liveable, reducing emissions of fine particulate matter by 50%, emissions of greenhouse gases by 23%, and traffic congestion by 47%, by 2040. It identifies circular opportunities across five focus areas: built environment, mobility, nutrition, textiles and electronics.
The report is also available in Chinese.