Circularity, the new center of European climate ambition

As the world gathers in Belém do Pará for COP30, in the heart of the Amazon, it is inevitable to feel the distance between the ideal and reality. The most recent scientific forecasts, such as those of the Climate Analytics study, warn that the world is likely to exceed the 1.5 °C limit as early as the 2030s, a clear sign that collective action has fallen short of what is needed. But, as the authors of the report point out, "1.5 °C is still the compass".

In a global context where commitments seem to be slowing down, Europe must not falter. Through the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) and the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), the European Union has placed the circular economy at the heart of its strategic autonomy and decarbonization strategy. Because limiting global warming doesn't just depend on climate targets, it depends on the way we produce, consume and manage our resources.

In Portugal, Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV) has been one of the faces of this transition. For almost three decades, SPV has been transforming packaging management into a true ecosystem of innovation and co-responsibility, challenging producers, consumers and municipalities to share the same mission: to value waste as a resource. Today, this model is a European benchmark, and a concrete contribution to reducing emissions and meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement, not only through environmental commitment, but also by advancing national targets for packaging collection and recycling.

Paper is one of the best examples of the transformative potential of the circular economy. It is renewable, recyclable and biodegradable, and demonstrates how circularity can combine economic efficiency and environmental benefit. Reaching and surpassing recycling targets for paper and cardboard, now among the most circular flows in the country, is one of the most direct ways of translating the spirit of the Paris Agreement into measurable results. Every ton of paper recycled means fewer trees cut down, less energy used and fewer emissions released into the atmosphere. In a world rapidly approaching the climate security threshold, every recycling cycle counts, and counts doubly, both for the planet and for the competitiveness of companies.

SPV has been investing in digitalization, traceability and technological innovation to strengthen the quality of recycled material and maximize its economic value. These advances are not just process improvements, they are concrete instruments for accelerating compliance with national circularity targets and contributing to European climate commitments. It is the basis of a new, regenerative growth model in which industrial development and climate action go hand in hand.

COP30 must be the moment to turn urgency into action. The Climate Analytics report is clear: exceeding the 1.5 °C limit would be a regrettable political failure, but it is still possible to get back on track if efforts are redoubled to phase out fossil fuels and expand low-carbon solutions. And it is precisely in this collective effort that circularity, with clear, measurable and proximate targets, takes on an essential role as an industrial policy, business commitment and everyday practice.

In Portugal, we have the conditions to show that the transition is possible: a robust paper and packaging sector, a mobilized civil society and companies that assume their role as climate leaders. Sociedade Ponto Verde believes that now is the time to strengthen the alignment between European ambition and local action, to prove that circularity is simultaneously an environmental, economic and civilizational response.

Because if the challenge of 1.5 °C is the limit of science, the goals of circularity and recycling are our concrete way of getting there. And it is on this political, entrepreneurial and collective will that the future we can still regenerate depends.

Spokesperson: Ana Trigo Morais, CEO of Sociedade Ponto Verde