ACCELERATING LOCAL CIRCULAR ECONOMIES :
KEY LEVERS FOR LOCAL COUNCILS
By Dr Kar Mei Tang , Chief Circular Economist , NSW Circular
WHY GO CIRCULAR ? Australia has urgent challenges in three areas : jobs , environment , and productivity .
Any recovery and growth strategy needs to address all three of these . We need a jobs and productivity boost . And the circular economy is the key .
It involves tackling the point that we continue to waste resources -- whether throwing them away or leaving them idle -- at a time when those resources could be used by others , be recycled and put back into our supply chains , and be more sustainable alternatives to using virgin resources .
Rising public debt and zero wage growth mean increasing pressure on both household and government budgets .
We need to get more mileage out of the resources we consume to drive these pressures down . This is the very definition of productivity improvement .
Modelling by the Centre for International Economics shows that even a 5 % improvement in materials efficiency can increase real wages by 2.85 %. 1
Increasing our use of scarce resources enhances our resilience to production squeezes and supply chain shocks , as well as reducing the environmental impacts of extracting these virgin resources .
Recognising this , Australia ’ s global counterparts such as the US , Canada and the UK have all already allocated billions in funding towards a green recovery .
Australian federal and state governments are also starting to pivot in this direction .
Importantly , these investments are also job creation opportunities .
A recent report on the City of Sydney , for example , identifies five sectors with particularly strong growth prospects in the City : green buildings ; sustainable finance ; sharing economy ; environmental advisory ; and green research . 2 Modelling and analyses by a swathe of experts and think tanks including the Grattan Institute , KPMG , PwC , the Centre for international Economics , Beyond Zero Emissions , the Climate Council , and Centre for Policy Development , all similarly show that investment in renewables and CE initiatives have triple bottom line outcomes and net positive job creation .
VOL 14 NO 3 2021 08 www . edaustralia . com . au