CEWI

The path to a circular economy is a key strategy for achieving the 2030 climate protection targets and climate neutrality by 2050. According to the International Resource Panel's (IRP) Global Resources Outlook 2019, half of the world's CO2 emissions are directly or indirectly attributable to raw material mining and processing. The combined consideration of climate and resource protection is a central component of the joint project "Circular Economy as Driver of Innovation for a climate-neutral and resource-efficient economy" and contributes to the entrepreneurial implementation of a circular economy in Germany. The joint project is composed of Stiftung KlimaWirtschaft, WWF Germany and Wuppertal Institute and is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

Around 30 companies, stakeholders and other relevant players, such as communities and associations from the building and automotive sector, are brought together in a targeted, moderated process and are supported and accompanied by the project consortium in the development of innovative, cross-sector business models and pilot projects. The basis for the development of ideas are the fields of action which are derived within the framework of two preliminary studies (for the building and automotive sector) and in which high potentials for climate and resource protection exist. Within the scope of design thinking sprints and similar innovative formats, cross-sector topics and issues will be discussed and then put into practice in the form of subsequent pilot projects. The developed ideas are intended to address key CO2 reduction potentials, reduce primary raw material mining and waste, and initiate systemic changes toward a circular economy.

The solution approaches derived in CEWI are published by the project participants on the CEWI website and present tapped potentials, obstacles and challenges that companies face on their way to a Circular Economy.