As the circular economy agenda moves forward at pace, through policies and industry initiatives in consumer countries, there is a risk that it will create trade barriers for developing country producers. At the same time, there is a huge opportunity for producers who adopt circular strategies to become favoured suppliers in certain high value market segments. Developing country producers that implement a circular production strategy can both manage their environmental impacts and stay competitive in greening export markets.
This policy paper, produced under the Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains project, assesses how EU policy is accelerating the circular economy transition, what implications this will have for global value chains, and how developing country producers may navigate changing markets.
Authors: Klas Wetterberg, Jack Barrie, and Patrick Schröder, Chatham House
