DELIVERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY A TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS

DELIVERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY – A TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS • 91
3 CASE STUDY – DENMARK
To make this toolkit as concrete and actionable as possible, it was tested in a
pilot country – Denmark. The pilot focused on five sectors: construction & real
estate, machinery, plastic packaging and hospitals. This part covers the core
findings for these sectors, as well as an integrated national perspective. While
these findings cannot be directly transposed to other countries, they might
serve as a source of inspiration for the identification of opportunities, barriers
and policy options.
The findings for Denmark resulted from an intense analytical phase, going through all
steps of the methodology as laid out in Part 2, and including consultations with more
than 25 businesses, a group of senior policymakers, and a series of international experts.
The findings therefore give a good directional view on circular economy opportunities
for Denmark. However, being the result of a pilot phase covering five major sectors in
just a few months, the findings below do not aim to be as detailed as a typical impact
assessment for one opportunity or policy. Similarly, the set of identified barriers would
likely need to be analysed further. The set of opportunities is not exhaustive – significant
opportunities may exist in addition to those identified here.
Each of the deep dives below covers the current state of the circular economy, the key
circular economy opportunities and related barriers, and potential policy options to
overcome these barriers.
3.1 National perspective
Even in a country with a starting position as advanced as Denmark, there are
significant opportunities to further transition towards the circular economy.
Ten circular economy opportunities in five focus sectors were identified as
most promising for Denmark. Modelling conducted in this study suggests
that, by 2035, these could unlock, relative to a ‘business as usual’ scenario:
• an increase in GDP by 0.8–1.4%;
• between 7,000 and 13,000 additional job equivalents; 104
• a reduction of the country’s carbon footprint by 3–7%; 105
• a reduction of consumption of selected resources 106 by 5–50%;
• an increase in net exports by 3–6%.
Each of these opportunities is limited, to varying degrees, by a number
of barriers. Potential policy options to overcome these barriers have been
identified. To enable a systemic transition towards the circular economy,
Danish policymakers might also consider setting economy-wide direction
for the circular economy, broader changes to the fiscal system, and a wider
knowledge-building and education effort. These potential policy options
should not be considered as recommendations; Danish policymakers would
need to assess in the necessary detail their expected costs, benefits and
feasibility.
104 Employment impact modelled through conversion of labour bill to job equivalents via a wage curve approach
(elasticity = 0.2). Percentage change is computed vs. 2013 total full-time employment.
105 Measured as change in global carbon emissions divided by ‘business as usual’ Denmark carbon emissions.
106 For steel and plastic, in selected sectors in Denmark. Includes resources embedded in imported products/
components.