Academia should include Circular Economy in mainstream formal education

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

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

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

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 organizations operate at the grass-root level and can be useful agents of change,” added Kant.

Dr. Harry Lehmann, Federal 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.

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.