''Circular Economy likely to generate 1.4 crore jobs in 5-7 years,'' says Amitabh Kant

| IOP Desk - 18 Jun 2019

Academia should include Circular Economy in mainstream formal education
22 million vehicles to be off-road by 2021 if End of Life Vehicle Policy implemented

NEW DELHI, June 18, 2019: Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog today said that Circular Economy has the potential to generate 1.4 crore jobs in next 5-7 years and create lakhs of new entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the ‘3^rd Edition of Circular Economy Symposium 2019’ organised by FICCI, Mr Kant said that sustainable development and resource circularity is the need of the hour to implement Circular Economy.

Mr Kant further highlighted that by 2050, world population would reach 9.7 billion of which 3 billion people would prosper to middleclass consumption level. This would require 71 per cent more resources per capita, thereby raising total mineral and material demand from 50 billion tonnes in 2014 to 130 billion tonnes in 2050.

Mr Kant added that if the ‘End of Life Vehicle’ policy was implemented with dated emission standards then by 2021, over 22 million vehicles will be off the road. This would include 80 per cent two-wheelers, 14 per cent cars, and 3 per cent each of three-wheelers and commercial vehicles. “End of Life Vehicles present huge business opportunity for growth, wealth creation and jobs,” he added.

He stressed upon the need for promoting non-government organizations to spread awareness and developing Circular Economy as a national agenda. “This initiative should be firmly supported as these non-government organisations operate at grass-root level and can be useful agents of change,” said Mr Kant.

Dr Harry Lehmann, Federeal Environment Agency, Germany said that developing Circular Economy is not just looking into the whole circle, but also treating each part as equally important. He further added that without a proper design in the beginning, nothing can be achieved in Circular Economy.

Mr Anirban Ghosh, Chair – FICCI Working Group on Circular Economy said that we should expect to see our pollution control board enabling Circular Economy in times to come.

Ms Mridula Ramesh, Member of Jury – FICCI India Circular Economy Awards and Executive Director, Sundaram Textiles and Mr Yogesh Bedi, Chief, Tata Steel Recycling Business also shared their perspective on Circular Economy.

FICCI – Accenture Strategy Knowledge paper on ‘Making Plastics Circular: Moving from Insights to Action’ was also released during the inaugural session.