Publication: Circular Economy as an Opportunity for Central Asia - Summary Report
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2024-05-31
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2024-05-31
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The concept of the circular economy (CE) is gaining attention worldwide as a way to promote sustainable development and reduce resource consumption. The CE is an economic system that aims to reduce the use of natural resources and to minimize waste and emissions by keeping materials in use for as long as possible. A CE seeks to minimize the consumption of finite resources by promoting three key principles of waste management and sustainability: ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. If a product eventually needs to become waste, its materials should be recycled and used for a new purpose. Optimizing resource use in this way is the only strategy which allows for decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation and is critical for the green and low-carbon transition. The countries in Central Asia are still in the early stages of the CE transition. The CE is one of the main potential ways forward for Central Asia on the road toward carbon neutrality. Circular Economy Action Plans (CEAPs), such as the ones presented in this report, are essential for charting the way forward in the circular transition. This report summarizes three CEAPs: (a) CEAP for the Construction Value Chain in Kazakhstan, (b) CEAP for the Agri-Food Sector in Uzbekistan, and (c) Support in Financing and Delivering the Circular Economy in Almaty. The report is targeted at policy makers at national and municipal levels as well as sectoral level experts, associations, business support organizations, and others. The objective is to demonstrate the potential of the CE concept and to inspire further actions and consolidation with regard to sectoral and innovative circular policy development as well as designing of new, circular funding opportunities.
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“World Bank. 2024. Circular Economy as an Opportunity for Central Asia - Summary Report. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41632 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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