Circular economy is central to achieving India's climate and sustainable development commitments. Elaborate with examples of recent international forums.

A circular economy replaces the "take–make–dispose" model with designing out waste, keeping materials in use and regenerating nature. For a resource-hungry, emissions-constrained India targeting Net Zero by 2070, circularity is not an environmental add-on but the operating principle of its climate and SDG commitments.

Why circularity is central to India's commitments

• Emissions and extraction: mining and primary material processing drive greenhouse gases, pollution and biodiversity loss; extraction remains an economic driver in 81 countries, making material efficiency — not only clean energy — essential to decarbonisation [1].
• Growth and jobs: India's circular economy could generate market value of over $2 trillion and nearly 10 million jobs by 2050 (Union Environment Minister) [2]; globally UNEP places the prize at $4.5 trillion in growth and 6 million jobs [1].
• SDG linkages: it directly advances SDG 12 (responsible consumption), SDG 11 (sustainable cities) and SDG 8 (decent work).
• Domestic instruments: Extended Producer Responsibility rules, the National Resource Efficiency Policy and Swachh Bharat's waste-to-wealth push operationalise it [2].

Evidence from recent international forums

• World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2026, Gandhinagar — its 10th edition and first in South Asia, themed on transition "for people and prosperity", jointly organised by MoEFCC, CPCB, Gujarat and Finland's Sitra, drawing participants from over 65 countries [3][2].
• 12th Regional 3R and Circular Economy Forum in Asia-Pacific, which adopted the Jaipur Declaration, embedding reduce-reuse-recycle in regional cooperation [2].
• G20 Environment and Climate Ministers' Meet, Chennai, which carried resource efficiency into India's G20 presidency agenda [2].

Challenges to address

• Recycled material often costs more than virgin material, capping uptake; a published circular material use rate, as the OECD tracks, would make progress measurable [4].
• India's recycling runs largely on informal waste pickers, whose formalisation the ILO is supporting in Pune and Ahmedabad — the test of "inclusive" circularity [5].

India's forum leadership has established credibility; converting it into verifiable outcomes — transparent EPR compliance, recycled-content procurement and protected waste workers — will make circularity the engine of a truly sustainable, developed India.