DELIVERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY A TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS

50 • DELIVERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY – A TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS
2.1.3 Select focus sectors
Objective:
Focus assessment of sector opportunities (Chapter 2.2) on the most
relevant parts of the economy.
End product:
Set of focus sectors based on a prioritisation matrix that maps
sectors on ‘role in national economy’ and ‘circularity potential’.
The sector selection is a key tool in the methodology, as it determines the focus for
the rest of the project, not only in terms of analysis but also in terms of stakeholder
engagement. A large part of the analysis is sector-specific, as opportunities, barriers
and policy options typically differ significantly by sector. Stakeholders from the selected
sectors (and their broader value chains) need to be engaged extensively in the sectorspecific
analysis, as detailed in Chapter 2.2.
To select focus sectors in a circular economy initiative, both the role in the national
economy and the circularity potential can be assessed. Below, a framework to
analytically assess both dimensions is laid out. This analytical framework is not an end
in itself, but can serve as a facilitator for a structured debate with key stakeholders and
experts.
The two natural dimensions to prioritise sectors in a circular economy initiative are the
sectors’ role in the national economy and their resource profile. These can be divided in
a number of sub-dimensions, for example 53 :
i. Role in the national economy: size (and growth) measured by share of GVA
(gross value added), contribution to employment (and growth), international
competitiveness.
ii.
Circularity potential: material and energy intensity, volume of waste generated,
share of waste landfilled/incinerated, high-level estimate of scope for improved
circularity.
This list does not aim to be exhaustive, and can be adapted based on, among others,
data availability and national priorities. Other sub-dimensions, such as the environmental
impact of resource extraction and use, or the scarcity of required resources, could be
taken into account. An additional, pragmatic dimension could be the sectors’ relative
receptiveness to the circular economy.
A semi-quantitative approach to score these sub-dimensions and aggregate them into
overall scores for sectors’ role in the national economy and circularity potential was
used in the Denmark pilot, and can be useful for other countries. As the availability
of quantitative data for sub-dimensions may vary and it might be desired to use
sub-dimensions that cannot be evaluated quantitatively, it can be useful to express
each dimension as an aggregate, semi-quantitative ‘score’ of normalised scores from
each sub-dimension. Each sub-dimension is thus evaluated quantitatively or semiquantitatively,
54 based on the nature of the underlying data. The final result of the sector
evaluation for the Denmark pilot is visualised in Figure 11 where the top-right quadrant
guides the final selection.
A good starting point to conduct the sector selection is to consider the producing
sectors 55 , as they typically have the largest direct material footprint. This already narrows
down the scope of the exercise – the producing sectors in Denmark, for example,
represent 24% of the Danish economy. 56 It can also be useful to look at non-producing
53 More details on the sub-dimension and exact quantification methodology can be found in Appendix A.
54 This could for example be a numerical, ‘traffic-light’-based ranking, or a product of several numerical rankings.
55 Producing sectors include agriculture, forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying; construction; electricity
and gas; manufacturing.
56 Statistics Denmark, based on gross value added 2011.