Focusing on decarbonising the energy sector alone will not put the world within touching distance of a net-zero carbon economy, according to a new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which claims that the transition to a circular economy is also vital. The study found that moving to renewables across the globe will only address 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, the remaining 45 percent requires transitioning to close-loop value chains, diet shift, emerging innovations and carbon capture and storage. The report examined the role of the circular economy in tackling overlooked emissions, namely in the production of steel, plastic, aluminium, cement and food. It found keeping products and materials in use can reduce emissions per sector by up to 40 percent. In the food system, regenerative farming and designing out waste can reduce emissions as part of a circular economy by 49 percent. adopting a circular economy framework across those production areas could achieve emissions reductions of 9.3 billion tonnes - equivalent to eliminating current emissions from all forms of transport globally.

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The Edie