Today, Circle Economy is proud to announce the first successful circularity scan of a nation state, our Circularity Gap Report Austria. Since no previous attempts have been made to measure the level of circularity within a nation state, this landmark report paves the way for state-led collaboration towards circularity. The document identifies for the Austrian political and business community the best interventions to improve circularity and how to monitor their implementation and impact.

Analysis performed for the Austrian economy leads to a circularity rate of 9.7%, slightly above the global average. To boost Austria’s circularity four action perspectives were explored:

1. Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable resources. 

2. Recycling of all recyclable waste.

3. Shifting to an economy that maintains its current building and infrastructure, rather than building new.

4. Ensuring imports with higher secondary content. 

Combined, these four action perspectives can boost Austria’s circularity rate from the current 9.7% to 37.4%.

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This report is the first of its kind using hybrid methodologies to assess the circularity of a country. The value of its outcomes therefore go beyond providing an action agenda for Austria alone. In the transition to a circular economy, Nation States have a pivotal role to play. They possess the power to set comprehensive national policies and support mechanisms, but also to drive global action on this topic through multilateral international fora. Recent success stories against climate change have seen individual states collaborating for international progress through bodies such as the United Nations.

The circular economy takes nature as its mentor. It provides us with a practical action map towards reaching the SDG's and the climate mitigation goals we have set for ourselves in our aim to create a prosperous world within our planetary boundaries. Momentum is building, and it’s time for the circular economy to go mainstream. Therefore, to kick-start it's implementation we need a uniform and framework for circularity that informs national strategy and policy development, and enables us to monitor progress. Circle Economy's Circularity Gap Reports aim to strengthen the global action agenda and accelerate the practical and scalable implementation of a circular economy. 

What do national scans mean for global circularity? 

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