Dr. Patrick Schroeder, Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House
& Dr. Jack Barrie, Research Fellow, Chatham House
A successful circular economy transition relies on inclusiveness and social justice. Two main equity dimensions should be considered for the circular economy transition to be inclusive: rectifying existing injustices of mismanaged waste and pollution that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide on the one hand, whilst anticipating and addressing the negative future impacts on workers and industries that the transition from a linear to circular economy will create, on the other hand. To do so, understanding the impacts of national transitions in Europe on workers and communities in developing countries will be key, notably how to improve economic diversification and retrain workers in producer countries, and how to increase stakeholder engagement.
