A new report published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation offers new analysis that highlights rapid growth in circular economy financing and investment. It lays out the opportunities for investing, banking, and insurance – and calls on the financial sector to seize the full potential by scaling the circular economy in collaboration with governments and corporates.
Representing over USD 18 trillion in assets under management, over 30 CEOs and senior executives from leading asset managers and banks are backing this latest research, Financing the Circular Economy – Capturing the opportunity.
The endorsers of the report include BlackRock, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, the European Investment Bank, the international business of Federated Hermes, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, LGIM, Lloyds Banking Group, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Rabobank, Standard Chartered, and UBS.
The growth in investment in the circular economy is, in part, a result of the growing understanding of the central role the circular economy can play in tackling climate change and other Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. Our report, How the circular economy tackles climate change, published in September 2019, showed that if the circular economy were adopted in just five key sectors (steel, aluminium, cement, plastic, and food), annual greenhouse gas emissions could fall by 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2e in 2050, equivalent to eliminating all transport emissions globally.
“We have seen huge growth in circular economy financing over the past three years, with major players capitalising on its value creation potential while meeting their climate change objectives. Investors, banks, and other financial services firms can play a vital role in rapidly scaling the circular economy by supporting businesses to make this shift, and in doing so seize new and better growth opportunities.” – Andrew Morlet, CEO Ellen MacArthur Foundation
