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  • Low carbon development
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Low carbon development

Circular economy

A circular economy is regenerative by design and as waste free as possible. At the heart of the circular economy is the idea of moving away from linear value chains to an approach that allows to cycle products and materials many times and make better use of existing assets.

Cities and urban mining

Cities are demonstrating leadership on climate change action and circular economy. As the share of urban population grows, offering city inhabitants more sustainable alternatives to the status quo is emerging as an essential component in the transition to low-carbon and circular cities.

Renewable energy

Investments in renewable energy reached USD 286 in 2015, again breaking the previous year's record. The renewable energy capacity under construction now exceeds conventional capacity. The pioneers of this transition, learn us interesting lessons for the shift to circularity.

Climate finance

In 2014, a total of USD 391 billion was invested in climate mitigation and adaption. The majority came from private sources. Although more is needed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, these investments drive a promising decrease in the price of renewable energy.

Energy and power

Industry

Agriculture and forestry

The agriculture and forestry sectors are responsible for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Approaches in agriculture are about moving to systems which effectively support development and which ensure food security in a changing climate. Climate action in forestry aims to provide forestry services while maintaining or increasing carbon stock.

Transport

Emissions from the transport sector are growing faster than in any other sector. Its emissions are hardly covered by international treaties or carbon pricing schemes. Sharing models, fuel switch and lightweight vehicles are promising strategies to reduce the impact of our desired mobility, although they often bring challenging trade-offs and rebound effects.

Construction

The construction sector drives the largest extractive industries in the world, storing valuable materials for long time spans in our buildings and infrastructure. This makes it the prime target sector for circular economy strategies, while on the other hand lowering the energy consumption of buildings during their usage.

Households and SMEs

Climate policy

Incentivising low-carbon and circular development is about incentivising what you want more off, and taxing what you want to see less. Putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging their mitigation is one way to gradually move towards higher taxes on resource extraction and use, and lower taxes on labour.

Waste

Water

Energy and resource efficiency

Blog: 6 ways to cut embodied carbon in construction (in pictures) This blog post examines the effects of reducing the embodied carbon of... read more
Embodied carbon reduction in EU construction makes economic sense The European Commission is considering whether to regulate GHG emissions related to... read more
Global Circularity Gap Report 2023: Cut material extraction by 30% With a circular economy, we can fulfil people’s needs with just 70%... read more
Open-source data and circular economy tools for climate policymakers Current efforts by countries to reduce their carbon footprint fall short of... read more
Blog: Five open-source, metabolic quick scan tools for countries There is a growing number of online tools available to map out... read more
Lao PDR: The circular economy brings net carbon neutrality within reach by 2040 A metabolic analysis and broad stakeholder engagement process brought 17 interventions to... read more
Blog: The Gambia receives global recognition as the circular economy keeps the country on track to below 1.5°C The second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) from The Gambia includes greenhouse gas... read more
12 priorities for circular investments and climate action in low- and middle income countries Commissioned by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP), which advises the... read more
Circular GHG mitigation opportunities in The Gambia: a systems’ approach The Gambia is enhancing its greenhouse gas mitigation pledge under the Paris... read more
2021 Global Circularity Gap: Merely doubling circularity can bring us back to ‘well below 2 degrees’ Enacted globally, a circular economy can close the Emissions Gap. This study... read more
Vanuatu: The circular economy pathway to reducing greenhouse gas emissions while preserving national assets The Government of Vanuatu is leveraging the circular economy to increase the... read more
The economic, social and environmental impact of the circular economy in Indonesia Entering a decade towards the sustainable development goals and the target of... read more
Blog Post: Data visuals for The Gambia Data visualization Decoupling economic growth from resource and energy use, requires understanding... read more
Circular economy NDC Paris Agreement UNDP Shifting Paradigms Enhancing ambition climate change mitigation adaptation UNDP UNEP UN Environment UNDP and UN environment colaborating on inclusive and systemic climate action through the circular economy UNDP and UN environment launched a joint article stating that a 1.5°C world... read more
2020 Global Circularity Gap Report: Circularity is in decline, but countries are stepping up to reverse the trend January 21, Davos – The 3rd Global Circularity Gap Report finds that... read more
Platform for sharing circular economy initiatives from across the African continent The transition to a circular economy can not go fast enough. To... read more
Chinese waste ban forcing a breakthrough in circular economy ambitions in Australia Since China decided to restrict the import of 24 categories of recyclable... read more
The circular economy gaining traction in the EECCA region With their heavy industry and highly educated workforce, the countries of the... read more
Blog: 7 lessons from a metabolic analysis in Asia 8 July 2019. The city of Almaty in Kazakhstan is the first... read more
Blog: Shifting Paradigms Environmental Policy 1 June 2019. Shifting Paradigms is dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions... read more
Material flow analysis and metabolic analysis of Almaty, Kazakhstan in Agriculture, food, construction, industry, green growth Kazakhstan, Belt and Road Initiative / Циркулярная экономика в г. Алматы - анализ материальных потоков, Зеленый рост, Один пояс – один путь Центральная Азия Metabolic analysis and circular economy strategies for Almaty, Kazakhstan 5 July 2019. The city of Almaty is the first city in... read more
2019 Gap Report: Circular economy strategies would tip balance in battle against dangerous climate change The world can maximise chances of avoiding dangerous climate change by moving... read more
Two circular Economy Scans for North Holland North published Seventeen municipalities in the Dutch province of North Holland have joined forces in... read more
Article in WE: The circularity gap and strategies to close it The circular economy  combines the transition to a circular economy with reducing... read more
“the GEF should mainstream circular economy concepts into its overall strategy” (STAP, 2018) The Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, an independent group of scientists that... read more
A draft agreement for international cooperation under Paris: the case of solid waste in Peru The Nordic Partnership Initiative by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) is... read more
Looking beyond borders: The circular economy pathway for pursuing 1.5°C Since the Paris Agreement adopted the 1.5° C limit to global warming,... read more
2018 Global Circularity Gap report reveals our world is only 9% circular 23 January 2018, Davos. – With over 90% of the raw materials... read more
Policy levers for a low-carbon circular economy The Paris Agreement calls for bold action to mitigate climate change. This... read more
COP23 Side Event: Elevating the ambition of climate action with circular economy strategies COP 23 side-event Wednesday, 15 November 2017, 13:15 – 14:45 Meeting Room... read more
Circular economy GHG mitigation strategies for Lao PDR Lao PDR is strategically located in the heart of Southeast Asia and... read more
circular economy initiative in Almaty, Kazakhstan, green growth, Belt and Road Initiative / Детская игровая площадка, построенная из б/у паллет, г. Алматы (Это двор), Циркулярная экономика, Зеленый рост, Казахстан, Один пояс – один путь Blog: Stakeholder engagement in Almaty through data visualisation The resource and energy efficiency of an economy is more than the... read more
Blog 4/4: Five actions to mobilise climate finance for a circular future A transition to the circular economy requires significant investment into research, developing,... read more
Blog 3/4: Five opportunities for the circular economy to strengthen the Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement entered into force in November 2016, after receiving sufficient... read more
Analysis of resource extraction, import and export in agriculture, mining, transport, construction to identify opportunities fo resource efficiency in a metabolic or material flow analysis Blog 2/4: Five ways the circular economy can raise the ambition of climate policies and strategies 21 percent of the resources we consume* are the fossil fuels that... read more
Blog 1/4: Five Questions to understand why the circular economy contributes to climate change mitigation The circular economy offers innovative greenhouse gas mitigation solutions which are mostly... read more
Policy session in Bonn: The circular economy pathway for pursuing 1.5°C Circular economy strategies offer promise to address the current greenhouse gas emissions... read more
The Guardian: 5 Ways the circular economy can help to mitigate climate change The 2015 Paris Agreement united 195 countries behind a commitment to limit... read more
Video launch by CarbonBay: The story of Nuetech Solar in Bangalore The story of Nuetech Solar, an Indian solar water heater manufacturer, has... read more
Circular economy: A key lever in bridging the emissions gap to a 1.5 °C pathway Circle Economy, Ecofys and Shifting Paradigms have called for a rapid transition... read more
The geographical distribution of climate finance for agriculture Investments in improved agricultural practices will be essential to address the intertwined... read more
Shaping international cooperation on climate action (article 6 of the Paris Agreement) The context for the operation of carbon markets and the specification of... read more
Urban mining of concrete End-of-life recovery altering the future of cement with Smartcrusher Concrete from demolished... read more
International cooperation under the Paris Agreement The Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) has worked in the area of international... read more
Industrial ecology in the cement sector of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is one of the worlds’ main supplier of raw materials. Its... read more
Assisting Morocco with integrating circular economy strategies in their climate policies The Government of Morocco is using circular economy strategies to reduce its... read more
Co-designing climate policies in the Ugandan agricultural sector The combination of good soils and a favourable climate define the high... read more
Microfinance to accelerate the adoption of efficient cookstoves and solar lanterns in Kenya Demand for small-scale renewable energy products among low-income consumers around the world is... read more
Due diligence on a portfolio of 11 waste water projects in Southeast Asia The Swedish Energy Agency has eleven Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under contract... read more
Co-developing a monitoring approach for the Ugandan transport sector Uganda has an ambitious programme to improve the fuel efficiency of its... read more
Blog: Why “Shifting Paradigms”? Paradigm shift Thomas Kuhn described a fundamental change in the basic concepts and... read more
Advancing climate policy development with Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania and DRC In a broader consortium Shifting Paradigms provided trainings on impact measurement and... read more
Lectures at Erasmus University Rotterdam – Urban Management Tools for Climate Change (UMTCC) Twice a year Shifting Paradigms gives a lecture on cities and climate finance at Erasmus... read more
Bikes for liveable cities Using climate finance to facilitate and promote cycling The transport sector is... read more
Climate finance and fossil fuel subsidies Globally, countries spent USD 523 billion on fossil fuel consumption subsidies in... read more
Lowering cities carbon emissions – new climate finance options Cities are demonstrating leadership on climate change action and an increasing number... read more
Gold Standard carbon credits from a waste biomass boiler in Bulgaria Wood processing industry can be a large source of renewable biomass, which can be... read more
Exploring opportunities to expand the World Bank Pilot Auction Facility The Pilot Auction facility (PAF) is an innovative model that seeks to... read more
Baseline emissions of rural off-grid-electrification in Sub-Saharan African countries Two-thirds of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives in scarcely populated rural... read more
Integrated approach to mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Central Asia Uzbekistan inherited an inefficient district heating system and poorly insulated building stock... read more
UNDP supporting bicycle infrastructure in Tuzla and Skopje Measuring the carbon impact of bicycle policy and infrastructure Transport is one... read more
Trainings on carbon accounting under the Nairobi Framework The Nairobi Framework is a cooperation between international organisations to build capacity in... read more
Will Kazakhstan be the next country to establish a carbon emissions trading scheme? Kazakhstan is among the few countries without access to international compliance carbon... read more
Marrying bottom-up sustainable biomass initiatives with top-down REDD+ There are two approaches to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) that... read more
Retrofitting a 1943 ferrochrome smelter in Aktobe, Kazakhstan Kazchrome is the second largest producer and supplier of chromium alloys in the... read more
Exporting Dutch experience with water management Trainings to VEWIN and Dutch water supply companies to promote their integrated... read more
Reforestation and avoiding forest fires in Bulgaria The World Bank supports afforestation, reforestation and improved forest management activities in Bulgaria... read more
Climate policies for the Peruvian waste sector and Vietnamese cement industry The cement sector is responsible for about 5% of global CO2 emissions... read more
Design support to emissions trading in Kazakhstan The Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MoEP) is... read more
Design options for sectoral market mechanisms and their implications for the EU ETS The European Commission initiated an in-depth study to identify, assess and elaborate... read more
SimGas: modular biogas systems for East Africa SimGas designs, produces and installs biogas systems for households in Africa and... read more
Towards an energizing partnership – China’s role as catalyst of renewable energy development in Africa On 8 November 2009, at the fourth Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)... read more
Bio-energy from Montenegrin forests Drafting a roadmap and providing trainings on bio-energy opportunities within the national... read more
Accelerating the adoption of solar water heaters in India with CarbonBay With about 300 clear sunny days in a year, India is gifted... read more
Option Review for Kazakhstan to Participate in the International Carbon Market Kazakhstan was a party to both the Climate Convention and the Kyoto... read more
Carbon offsetting in Europe post 2012: Kyoto Protocol, EU ETS, and effort sharing A legal and regulatory analysis of JI and offset mechanisms in the... read more
Due diligence on a credit line for energy efficiency in SMEs in Ukraine Investments in improving the energy efficiency of small businesses are affected by... read more
Due diligence on a credit line for energy efficiency in residential buildings in Ukraine Ukraine ranks among the world’s most energy intensive economies. The residential housing... read more
Methane reduction from the palm oil industry The palm oil industry is concentrated in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. A recent... read more
Energy modernization of multi-apartment buildings in Estonia Estonia inherited an energy inefficient building stock from the Soviet era. Kredex... read more
Trainings on compliance strategies under the Emission Trading Scheme in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan launched an Emission Trading Scheme to establish a national price on... read more
Lectures on the Kyoto Protocol at Universities in Kazakhstan (in Russian) KIMEP and Satpayev University gave me the opportunity for a lecture on the Kyoto... read more
Reducing potent greenhouse gas emissions in the Russian aluminium industry Under the Kyoto Protocol, Russian companies could trade emission reductions from their... read more
Household biogas appliances for Orissa, India The Orissa Household Biogas Programme supports the adoption biogas digesters by rural households in... read more
Accelerating the adoption of household biodigesters in Nepal The Biogas Support Program (BSP) supports the adoption of biogas applications in Nepalese... read more
Using domestic offset schemes to incentivise deep cuts in emissions in Denmark and Finland The prevailing legal conception of offset mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol was an arguably... read more
Sustainable waste management in Ukraine The Boryspil and Browary landfills are located near Kiev in Ukraine. Installing... read more
Decision Support Tool to quantify the biogas potential of different feedstocks Biodigesters can produce valuable methane from a range of feedstocks. End-I AG... read more
Assessing carbon offset projects for Luxembourg The government of Luxembourg developed a portfolio of offset projects, allocating climate funds... read more
Biogas in Nepal: Pioneering UN-registered carbon offset projects at household level Creating a price incentive for developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was... read more
MCCF biomass and waste water treatment projects in Bulgaria and Romania The Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund is a joint climate change initiative by the... read more
Reducing gas leakage in the Moscow gas distribution system The city of Moscow is one of the largest gas consumer in Russia.... read more
In-depth due diligence on the Ekurhuleni landfills in South Africa Landfills emit about 12% of global of methane emissions and the global... read more
Life-cycle analysis on the carbon impact of Jatropha biofuels from India The analysis estimated all emissions related to the Jathropha plantations on unused degraded... read more
Glass recycling in Russia Kavminsteklo JSC is a glass factory in Mineralnye Vody, Russia which wanted to... read more
Forecasting the methane production from Chloorkop landfill with an EPA 3rd order decay model By order of Enviroserve, a waste management company active in 12 African... read more
Emission reduction project due diligences in China Shifting Paradigms has pioneering experience with evaluating, scoring and proposing risk mitigation measures... read more
Green Investment Scheme for Ukraine A Green Investment Scheme is an investment fund based on the value... read more
Developing internal energy efficiency benchmarking for Cargill The Centre of Expertise for Energy Efficiency at Cargill in Bergen op Zoom... read more
Heat and power from coal mine methane Coal mining is a significant source of methane emissions. The methane is embedded... read more
How to best use sunflower seed husk at Cargill Donetsk Since 1995 Cargill operates a sunflower seed crushing plant near Donestk, Ukraine.... read more

shifting paradigms

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contact

Jelmer Hoogzaad
jelmer@shiftingparadigms.nl
+31(0)6 41 47 01 91

topics

  • Circular economy
  • Cities and urban mining
  • Climate finance
  • Climate policy
  • Energy and resource efficiency
  • Low carbon development
  • Renewable energy

sectors

  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Construction
  • Energy and power
  • Households and SMEs
  • Industry
  • Transport
  • Waste
  • Water

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