Published 2025 – This paper explores how rethinking resource use and shifting to a circular economy can create fair global prosperity.
Extracting and processing natural materials forms the physical basis for human prosperity, yet current consumption patterns drive severe ecological crisis. In this paper, the authors argue that shifting to a circular economy is essential to decouple social wellbeing from resource exploitation and avoid geopolitical conflict.
What is a sustainable circular economy?
A sustainable circular economy is an economic framework that minimizes primary raw material extraction and keeps materials in use as long as possible to decouple prosperity from environmental degradation. Natural resources underpin human wellbeing and ecosystem services, which account for 55% of global gross national product. However, the prevailing linear “take-make-waste” model extracts resources relentlessly, causing over half of global greenhouse gas emissions and 90% of land-use biodiversity loss. A genuine circular economy transforms this extractive system by prioritising material reuse, repairability and equitable distribution within planetary limits.
What are the key resource challenges?
Current patterns of resource use create severe ecological, economic and geopolitical vulnerabilities:
- Escalating material demand: Global resource extraction has tripled since 1970, with human-made mass now surpassing all living biomass on Earth.
- Severe consumption inequality: High-income countries average an annual material footprint of 24 tonnes per person, compared to just 4 tonnes in low-income nations.
- Clean energy material dependencies: The renewable energy transition requires strategic metals like lithium and rare earths, yet recycling rates for technology metals remain under 1%.
- Rentier capitalism and market barriers: Powerful actors privatise public natural commons for private profit, while unpriced environmental impacts make secondary materials less competitive than cheap primary resources.
How can we transition to a circular economy?
In this paper, the authors argue that achieving systemic economic change requires structural policies, circular design and societal moderation:
- Set binding reduction targets: Industrialised countries must aim to halve primary raw material extraction through clear sector-specific targets.
- Internalise ecological costs: Implement higher levies on primary resources and full cost pricing to ensure recycled materials can compete fairly on the market.
- Mandate circular product design: Expand extended producer responsibility, guarantee product repairability and eliminate legal hurdles to material reuse.
- Strengthen collaborative governance: Build supply chain partnerships, manage natural resources democratically as shared commons and foster sufficient lifestyles to counteract rebound effects.
About the authors
- Monika Dittrich is Head of the Circular Systems Research Unit at the Wuppertal Institute.
- Peter Hennicke is Senior Advisor at the Wuppertal Institute and member of the Club of Rome.
- Till Kellerhoff is Programme Director of the Club of Rome and Director at Earth4All.
This paper forms part of the Earth4All deep-dive series, which explores further the issues and solutions needed to transform our economic system and provide an equitable future for all on a finite planet.
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If you want to understand how transforming resource use can secure prosperity for all, this deep-dive paper provides a clear roadmap.
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