Circular Economy Podcast 166 Circularity Gap Report 2025: insights
Global Circularity Is Declining
- The global circularity metric fell from 9.1% in 2018 to 6.9% in 2025, showing a steady decline.
- Circle Economy added 11 headline indicators to diagnose root causes and guide action.
Circularity Boosts Resilience And Value
- There is a clear opportunity to raise global circularity to around 25% within the existing fossil-fuel economy.
- Circularity increases business resilience and de-risks supply chains amid import and tariff volatility.
Frame Business Cases Holistically
- Build circular business cases that include supply chain resilience, regulatory and environmental value.
- Use policy shifts that internalize externalities to tip economics toward circular solutions.
Matthew Fraser of Circle Economy and David Rakowski of Deloitte are two of the team behind the Circularity Gap Report, and we discuss some of the key insights from the 2025 report, published in early summer.
The Circularity Gap Report aims to provide a comprehensive ‘report card’ for the global circular economy, and shows that we are still a long way from achieving good grades.
Although the circular economy concept has gained traction—and more policies have emerged to support it—progress has stalled. You might remember the headline numbers from the first report in 2018, that the world was only 9.1% circular, described as a massive Circularity Gap. The gap has grown bigger, with the latest global circularity metric at just 6.9%.
Circle Economy sees a need for urgency: to expand access to its data and insights, dig deeper into what’s driving the decline, and to scale support for those in a position to make change happen.
Matthew Fraser is a recognised expert in the circular economy, with over a decade of experience advising governments on measurement and strategy. Matthew specialises in translating complex resource flows into actionable strategies, supporting governments in integrating circular principles into policy and investment decisions.
David Rakowski is a partner in Deloitte’s Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain business with a focus on circular economy and sustainability. He began his career in sustainability over 10 years ago, and as a systems engineer by trade, he brings together product, business, supply chain and digital design to develop sustainable solutions.
We’ll start with a quick intro to the report’s origins and purpose, and the partnership between Circle Economy and Deloitte.
Matthew talks us through the key findings from the 2025 report, the challenges for policymakers, and the barriers and opportunities for businesses.
David unpacks some of the challenges for startups and big corporates, and the importance of making circular economy strategies both actionable and exciting.
And, we discuss how the shifting sands of resource availability, supply chain disruption and geo-economics are helping businesses see that circularity can boost resilience and reduce risks.
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Read on for more on our guest and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.
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Links we mention in the episode:
Links for our guest:
- Circularity Gap report 2025
- David Rakowski on LinkedIn
- Matthew Fraser on LinkedIn
- Circle Economy website
- Circle Economy’s social links: X; LinkedIn; Medium; Instagram
- Deloitte website
- Deloitte’s social links: Facebook; LinkedIn; X; Instagram; YouTube
Books, people and organisations we mentioned
- UN Human Development Index https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI
- IKEA and Globescan report – Ingka Group (IKEA) report: people are taking more climate action but feel it’s not enough: https://www.ingka.com/newsroom/ingka-group-ikea-report-people-are-taking-more-climate-action-but-feel-its-not-enough/
Catherine’s work:
- Circular Economy Podcast on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/circular-economy-podcast/
- Circular Economy Podcast website: circulareconomypodcast.com
- Catherine Weetman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-weetman-9419107/
- A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business – buy from any good bookseller, or direct from the publisher Kogan Page, which ships worldwide (free shipping to UK and US) https://www.koganpage.com/CircEcon2
- Interactive podcast index https://www.rethinkglobal.info/circular-economy-podcast-index/
- Rethink Global www.rethinkglobal.info
- Sign up to get the podcast player and shownotes for each new episode emailed to your inbox
Guest bio
Matthew Fraser is a recognised expert in the circular economy, with over a decade of experience advising governments on measurement and strategy. At Circle Economy, he leads initiatives that provide policymakers with data-driven insights to assess circularity performance and identify high-impact opportunities for sustainable resource management. Matthew specialises in translating complex resource flows into actionable strategies, supporting governments in integrating circular principles into policy and investment decisions.
David Rakowski is a partner in Deloitte’s Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain business with a focus on circular economy and sustainability. He began his career in sustainability over 10 years ago, and has led transformational projects across multiple sectors. As a systems engineer by trade, he brings together product, business, supply chain and digital design to develop sustainable solutions.
Circle Economy: We are a global impact organisation founded in 2011 as a cooperative. Today, we have grown into a team of 60+ experts who have worked with over 150 businesses, 55 cities and 27 nations around the world. It is our goal to double global circularity by 2032 to avoid climate breakdown. Together, we work toward this goal from the heart of Amsterdam. We believe that mainstreaming circular solutions is essential to live within the safe limits of the planet—for everyone, everywhere.
Deloitte provides leading professional services to nearly 90% of the Fortune Global 500® and thousands of private companies. Our people deliver measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in capital markets and enable clients to transform and thrive. Building on its 180-year history, Deloitte spans more than 150 countries and territories.
Playlist: getting started with the circular economy…
Want to know more about the what the circular economy really is, and how it can help your business? Here’s a playlist to help you get to grips with the concept, how it creates value, and the common myths (spoiler alert – it’s much more than recycling!)
- #1 What is the circular economy: A quick intro to explain what the circular economy is and why it’s important. We explore how it helps create better products and services, and at the same time helps to make a better world. I break it down into my 5 circular economy components, helping you think about each part of your business.
- #2 The linear economy and your risk checklist: We dig a bit deeper into the way we do business now, the linear economy, and why that’s creating problems for business, society and our living planet. Also, we’ll look at the risks that emerge from those big-picture issues, and how they might affect your organisation.
- #90 Does circular mean it’s sustainable? Catherine Weetman is worried that companies are using circular economy solutions to grow their business (and their footprints).
- #101 Circular is better for people, planet and profit! How three simple strategies can help you get started with circular and regenerative solutions that are better for people, planet and profit.
- #120 Priorities are changing: people find life is better when we care for and share things – circular economy strategies make that better for business, too.
And here’s Catherine’s guide: What is the circular economy?
Want to dig deeper?
Why not buy Catherine’s award-winning book, A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business. This comprehensive guide uses a bottom-up, practical approach, and includes hundreds of real examples from around the world, to help you really ‘get’ the circular economy. Even better, you’ll be inspired with ideas to make your own business more competitive, resilient and sustainable.
Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. Or send us an email…
Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. Or send us an email…
Podcast music
Thanks to Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow, otherwise known as the brilliant, inventive and generous folk duo, O’Hooley & Tidow for allowing me to use the instrumentals from the live version of Summat’s Brewin’ as music for the podcast. You can find the whole track (inspired by the Copper Family song “Oh Good Ale”) on their album, also called Summat’s Brewin’. Or, follow them on Twitter.