International Partnerships for Circular Economy, Energy Transition, and Investment

A sustainable and inclusive global economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic faces significant unprecedented global challenges, unforeseen during COP26 and exacerbated by the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. They reduce already-constrained fiscal spaces available for post-pandemic recovery, threaten access to and affordability of clean energy, and impede multilateralism’s effectiveness. Said unprecedented challenges, coupled with difficulties in implementing non-binding international agreements, threaten to derail the energy transitions required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and hinder economic recovery. A sustainable global recovery needs universal access to clean energy, both energy security and affordability, as well as the low-carbon energy transition and a transition to a circular economy across the world, which in turn requires the transfer of appropriate technologies to the Global South and the mobilisation of private finance.  This Policy Brief calls on the 2022 Group of 7 to develop and support international partnerships and consistent domestic implementation to safeguard the energy transition and circular economy advancements to advance towards net-zero emissions targets, while advancing towards a sustainable economic recovery and global energy access. This partnership, consisting of public-private and bilateral/multilateral development organisations and national governments, should address three interdependent areas: circular economy; energy transition and decarbonization regulation and incentives; and investment and finance. Such partnership will be indispensable for achieving an environmentally sustainable economic recovery.