Widespread adoption of circular economy principles could have a hugely beneficial impact on the automotive industry and its environmental impact. That’s according to Natalia Dziergwa, Circular Cars Initiative Specialist at the World Economic Forum (WEF). To encourage adoption, policy makers must work together and establish cohesive regulations that have a global influence, drastically improving the current patchwork of guidelines that are hindering progress.
“The automotive industry, which currently contributes over 10% of industrial emissions, must embrace lifecycle decarbonisation to meet net-zero targets,” Dziergwa tells Automotive World. “Mobility electrification alone will not answer to the decarbonisation challenge. The growing market share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and the greener energy mix required to power them, will increase life cycle emissions of materials in both relative and absolute terms. Therefore, the time to shift to circularity in automotive is now, when huge investments into emerging electric mobility ecosystems are being taken.”
The Circular Cars Initiative (CCI), led by Dziergwa, was officially launched at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in 2020. Its primary aim is to create the biggest circular economy multi-stakeholder coalition in the mobility sector, fostering low-carbon and circular manufacturing business models while increasing the full life cycle value of vehicles. There are currently around 30 stakeholders involved in the coalition, and Dziergwa hopes to see this figure grow as companies turn to the adoption of circular economy principles as they look to reduce their environmental footprint and shape the future of mobility.
