The Circular Economy Has High Potential to Mitigate the Global Biodiversity Crisis

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets goals to conserve global biodiversity up to 2050. Concurrently, the principles of the Circular Economy (CE) have attracted significant interest for their potential to contribute to sustainability. A key unexplored question is the potential contribution of the CE to the realization of the GBF. To answer this question, we conducted a systematic literature review and a Delphi survey of experts. We find that, although most CE initiatives are expected to substantially benefit the GBF, some initiatives have weak implications for biodiversity. The Delphi survey demonstrates entirely positive views on the contribution of the CE towards the GBF, with ecosystem integrity and ecosystem services recognized to benefit most by CE principles. Scaling up CE is critical for achieving many GBF targets, and, for those CE practices that may have potentially negative effects on GBF, appropriate guidance and governance to prevent adverse effects is necessary.