The Circular Economy Coalition of Latin America and the Caribbean: working groups leading dialogues on the design of circularity metrics
One of the six priority work areas of the Circular Economy Coalition of Latin America and the Caribbean focuses on metrics. It aims to improve knowledge of metrics in order to contribute to greater alignment and implementation of circular economy indicators to facilitate the measurement of progress and the impacts of the transition in the region.
The circular economy promotes a resilient, diverse and inclusive economic model that creates opportunities for sustainable growth contrary to the linear economy model of “take-make-dispose”. It also fosters long-term productivity and green jobs, contributing to development and, at the same time, preparing us to better cope with climate change.
Understanding the need to boost this trend, the Circular Economy Coalition of Latin America and the Caribbean, a regional initiative created in 2021 to promote the transition to a sustainable economic system, joined forces with Enel to promote dialogue and design metrics for the circular economy.
The initiative was organized in two working groups, one linked to the institutional world and the other to the business sector, bringing together both government officials and a wide range of representatives from relevant international institutions, companies and academia from the different member countries of the Circular Economy Coalition. The invitation was to collectively imagine the future of the region based on sustainable growth that works on a larger scale, in order to design new metrics and tools to establish criteria to contribute to the circular economy of each country.
The objectives of these roundtable discussions were to:
- Share the current practices and ambitions of companies and institutions in the region
- Discuss best practices worldwide for measuring circularity
The meetings included a series of short presentations and space for discussion and open exchange among the participants. This collaboration has also enabled the identification of some initial conclusions and has laid the groundwork for the drafting of a series of Guidelines for the implementation of circularity metrics.
This program is carried out with the support of strategic partners such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE).
"Through the development of new tools and indicators, the initiative aims to support the implementation of a diverse and inclusive circular economy in the region, both at the institutional and the business level," notes Vanessa Esslinger, circular economy expert and coordinator of the Circular Economy Coalition at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Luca Meini, Head of Sustainability Initiatives and Circular Economy at Enel Holding, comments: "As a leading company in the energy sector, we are interested in promoting a sustainable development model. That’s why the circular economy is a strategic driver for us: it allows us to redesign the flow of raw materials and energy from our activities along the entire value chain, while at the same time achieving greater competitiveness. To reach this goal, we know that it’s extremely important to coordinate with the different actors involved in our value chain, because it’s not possible to be truly circular if we don’t use a broad and integrated approach that enables us to come up with new solutions.”
After an initial launch in 2022 and given the excellent participation from both the private and institutional sectors, the Coalition and Enel are working together to expand activities for the exchange of best practices with a new program to be developed in 2023.
To learn more about this work, visit the Coalition's website at the following link: https://coalicioneconomiacircular.org/en/home/