Promoting Circular Economy in German Development Cooperation

Since the 1970s, the world's population has doubled and global economic output has quadrupled. These developments have led to a rapid increase in the demand for resources to support economic growth and the associated increase in human welfare. This economic model is causing massive ecological damage, mainly due to its linearity, from plastic pollution in the oceans to the destruction of ecosystems and high greenhouse gas emissions.

The transformation to a circular economy is increasingly seen as a way to promote an economically and environmentally sustainable economy, reducing the use of primary resources and increasing the use of secondary resources. Accordingly, circular economy is increasingly part of national and international laws, roadmaps and agreements, such as the EU's Circular Economy Action Plan 2020. In Germany, under the leadership of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUV), a National Circular Economy Strategy has been adopted for 2024, and a plastics agreement is being negotiated at international level.

Circular economy approaches can be described in terms of 'R-strategies'. The three best known and most commonly used are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Several ministries are implementing development cooperation interventions in the field of circular economy. Against this background, an evaluation was carried out across ministries with the participation of BMUV and BMZ. The focus was on the concept of circular economy, the portfolio and the coherence of the interventions of the BMZ and the BMUV.

The objective of the evaluation is to gain insights into the concept of circular economy and the cooperation of actors in the field of circular economy in German development cooperation. In doing so, it analyses the evidence with regard to the OECD-DAC criteria of relevance (appropriateness of the concept; alignment with the needs of partners and vulnerable groups) and coherence (within German development cooperation and with partners countries).

The purpose of the evaluation is to contribute to the further development of the topic in German development cooperation. While German development cooperation can draw on many years of experience in some areas of the circular economy (e.g. waste management), circular economy was included as a new field of action as part of the "BMZ 2030" reform process. Circular economy is an innovative and transformative economic model for which there is correspondingly little knowledge in German development cooperation. The knowledge gained should help to improve the implementation of interventions in this constantly growing field by enabling development cooperation actors to further develop the concept of circular economy and to manage the circular economy portfolio even better.

The evaluation adopted a mixed and multi-method approach, using both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. Accordingly, both primary data (country case studies, interviews, online survey, focus group discussions) and secondary data (portfolio data, policy and project documents, academic literature) were used.

The data was analysed using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, descriptive statistics and portfolio analysis based on artificial intelligence.