Circular economy for a competitive and sustainable business community in Sweden - Report

Due to an increasing demand for a variety of goods and services globally, and thus on the natural resources required for their production, we need to handle our resources more efficiently to secure future needs. A more efficient utilisation of resources is also a necessity to reduce green house gas emissions and to fulfill the Paris agreement.

Switching from a linear to a circular flow of materials and products, where the value of products, materials and resources is kept as long as possible, is a tool that can help solve several problems facing the global society, including climate issues, shortfalls in natural resources, impact on ecosystems and growing volumes of waste. Sweden is particularly well-placed to take on a leading role in the development of a circular economy. Swedish industry is world class, and Swedish companies feature skilled innovators who enable production and delivery of resource-efficient goods, solutions and services.

The confederation of Swedish Enterprise has produced a series of documents to highlight the commitment to be found in the business community, as well as what the confederation considers to be key principles and focus areas for working successfully towards a more circular economy. The documents consist of three parts: a short version highlighting important principles, a longer report that describes a number of focus areas for the circular development and sector appendixes.

In this report important focus areas are described together with overaching goals and conditions for success.