Effective establishment of circularity is key to achieving net zero

While circularity has been emphasized as critical in realizing net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the necessary policies to achieve it are underrepresented worldwide. The cross-sectoral nature of circular design and challenges in quantifying impacts hamper political implementation. However, to render net zero feasible, socially focused circularity modeling, thus informed policy design and effective implementation are indispensable. We suggest a scheme of specific steps in a transdisciplinary research process to overcome this gap and evaluate respective policy implications across sustainability dimensions. We find that the integration across sectors and fields of action is needed to address the detailed material flow knowledge demands involved. Application of the scheme offers both practical insights on process details and core transition results. Enhancing circularity is found to increase value added, as a matter of (material) system efficiency, granting larger value shares in production to primary factors labor, capital and land. The favorable economic implication is even more relevant given that domestic renewable resources are limited.