Currently, many advanced economies around the world are aiming to decarbonise by 2050, with China committing to a 2060 deadline, writes weforum.org

Reaching the net-zero goal by 2050 will mean achieving the seemingly unimaginable, such as completely eliminating the internal combustion engine or creating the equivalent of the world's largest solar farm every day.

To sustain and expand these efforts, speed will be of the essence - especially given last year's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which confirmed that urgent action is needed to prevent global temperatures from rising above 1.5°C and 2°C. To build the energy infrastructure the world needs quickly and at scale, the circular economy will play a vital role in three main ways.

1. Recycling can preserve essential materials

The energy transition means moving away from natural gas and oil to solar, wind, hydrogen, geothermal or other zero-emission technologies supported by batteries.

But the transition to these technologies is triggering massive demand for critical minerals needed, such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), reaching net zero emissions by 2040 will require a six-fold increase in mineral supply by 2040, some key metals such as lithium could see growth rates of more than 40 times, and demand for nickel and cobalt could increase by more than 20 times. Demand is already booming, with the price of lithium hitting an all-time high of $50,000 per tonne in February 2021, up from $10,000 just a year ago.

Obtaining these materials exclusively through mining presents sustainability challenges. For example, the process of extracting neodymium, a rare earth metal used in many electric motors and generators, including those in wind turbines, is a highly polluting process. The metal also occurs in relatively low concentrations and is difficult to capture, making its extraction more intensive compared to other minerals.

The circular economy can reduce reliance on mining and ensure longer-term use of these materials if implemented on a large scale. Recycling could help recover metals from the nearly 60 million tonnes of smartphones, laptops, hard drives and many other electronic devices. Currently, only 1% of neodymium is recycled, and other metals in electronics that are key to the energy transition (tantalum, lithium, cobalt and manganese) also face low recycling rates.

2. Use of low carbon circular materials

To reach net-zero, clean technologies, such as electric cars or energy transition equipment, will need to be made from zero-emission materials, as well as producing zero emissions when in use. According to a World Economic Forum study, by 2040, when the majority of vehicles are expected to be electric, the materials used to produce them could account for 60% of total lifetime emissions, compared to 18% in 2020.

In fact, emissions from the production of all materials globally have more than doubled in the last 20 years. A recent UNEP study estimates that emissions have risen from 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 1995 to more than 11 billion tonnes in 2015, accounting for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions.

The circular economy can be a solution. For example, recycled aluminium emits up to 95% less carbon dioxide than that from virgin sources.

3. Designing circular systems

We need to install massive amounts of renewable energy in the coming decades. However, by the early 2030s, the first generation of solar panels will have been decommissioned, and by 2050 it is projected that we could be decommissioning 78 million tonnes of panels a year. In the same year, wind turbine blades could account for 43 million tonnes of waste.

So now is a good time to think about how these products are designed for longer life, for easy disassembly and recycling, and how we create and operate waste management systems.

Companies are starting to implement this. For example, Siemens Gamesa recently announced the world's first fully recyclable wind turbine blade. The resin used in the blades allows easy separation of different materials at the end of the blade's service life, allowing the component materials to be recycled.