5 years accelerating the transition to a Circular Economy in Latin America

Five years ago, in October 2015, Latin America welcomed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's first non-European office as a significant first step in taking the circular economy to a global stage. Over this period, we have played a significant role in taking the circular economy from vision to concrete action across geographies and sectors of the economy. 

We have seen several local businesses and governments sign up to ambitious targets to build a circular economy for plastics; leading countries such as Chile and Colombia are developing national circular economy strategies and roadmaps.

Cities are taking action to promote the uptake of the circular economy. The city of S?o Paulo, for instance, is one of our Strategic Partners and, through the Food Initiative, is working along with several local food system players to stimulate a shift towards a regenerative food system based on circular economy principles. Other Latin American cities, such as Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador are also part of this initiative.

Besides that, circular economy research has grown significantly, and leading higher education institutions such as the University of S?o Paulo and the University of Chile are incorporating circular economy teaching across disciplines.

But that's just the beginning. This year brought major disruption to the world economy and reinforced the relevance and urgency of a circular economy transition, which offers new and better growth opportunities.

For Latin America, it offers an opportunity to reconcile environmental and economic interests, while benefiting human health and creating more qualified jobs. This is an opportunity to redefine the development path towards greater resilience and long term prosperity

What next? We can expect to see more and more of the enabling conditions come into play, allowing the circular economy to truly scale and more integration. 

We are happy to celebrate this 5 year anniversary and eager to achieve even higher goals for the next 5 years and beyond! 

written by Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Latin America team