The Global Circularity Protocol: Filling a gap to enable rapid adoption of the circular economy in business

Businesses today find themselves at the edge of a defining decade. Climate impacts are intensifying, supply chains are strained, and global material use continues to rise at unsustainable rates. As emphasised in the Foreword of the Global Circularity Protocol for Business (GCP), material extraction and processing now account for over 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, pushing economies beyond planetary limits. Yet the message threaded throughout the Protocol is equally clear: these pressures are not just risks—they are opportunities.

Circular strategies can help businesses cut costs, strengthen resilience, unlock innovation, and build long-term competitiveness. But until now, one essential ingredient has been missing: a globally aligned, science-based methodology to measure, manage, and disclose circular performance.

The Global Circularity Protocol  fills that gap. It provides organisations with a unified system that has measurement of material flows at the core - tracking flows that enter, move through and exit an organisation’s operational boundaries. Through doing so, it allows organisations to understand impacts, and translate circular ambition into credible, actionable change.

Why Business Needed a Global Circularity Protocol

For years, circularity lacked standardisation. Even as companies experimented with reuse, recycling, low-carbon materials, and circular business models, there was no common language or agreed metrics. Investors struggled to evaluate performance, policymakers lacked consistent data, and companies could not benchmark progress across value chains.

According to the GCP’s Executive Summary:

The Protocol provides a standardised approach for organisations of all sizes to measure, manage, and communicate circular impacts.

By aligning with frameworks like the GHG Protocol, ISO, GRI, and IFRS sustainability standards, the GCP integrates circularity into the mainstream architecture of corporate performance.

A Systems-Based View of Circularity

The Protocol’s strength lies in its systems thinking approach. It asks organisations to look beyond internal operations and understand how materials move across entire value chains—where they originate, how they are transformed, and how they circulate or dissipate as outputs.

Circularity becomes a story not just of recycling, but of closing, slowing, narrowing, and regenerating resource loops. This lens connects environmental health, social equity, and economic resilience into a single coherent narrative.

The Protocol proposes two categories and four modules of indicators to measure circularity:

• Circular performance assessment which is the category of indicators showing the degree of circularity of material flows. It differentiates between indicators that are for:

  • Closing the Loop; and

  • Narrowing and Slowing the Loop.

• Circular value and impact assessment, which is the category of indicators assessing the value and impact of circular economy initiatives. It differentiates between indicators that are for:

  • Value the Loop - looking at productivity and value generation of the business model

  • Impact the Loop - looking at GHG impact, Land-use Impact and Social Impact etc.

Equations and case studies are provided within the Protocol to help companies understand the usage and calculations better.

A Short Walkthrough of the Five Steps

The Protocol’s five-stage journey is designed to take organisations from intention to action in a clear, structured way. Across the following five steps, the Protocol turns circularity from an idea into a credible, measurable practice:

1. Frame - where a company defines why it is conducting a circularity assessment and what system or boundary it will examine.

2. Prepare - a stage focused on understanding material use: mapping value chains, identifying priority materials, and compiling the inventory that shows how resources flow in, through, and out of the system.

With this foundation, the organisation enters:

3. Measure - where standardised indicators turn the mapped flows into quantifiable circularity results. These metrics reveal where value is being created, and where it is being lost.

4. Manage - uses those insights from measured metrics to guide action—developing governance structures, prioritising interventions, and shaping strategies that improve circular performance over time.

5. Communicate - ensures these efforts are shared transparently with investors, regulators, customers, and other stakeholders.

What can happen with rapid adoption of circular strategies?

The Protocol’s impact analysis shows the scale of transformation possible if businesses adopt circular strategies at speed:

• 100–120 billion metric tons of avoided material extraction by 2050

• 67–76 gigatons of CO₂e greenhouse gas emissions avoided

• Significant reductions in air pollution and waste

• A doubling of circularity maturity rates across sectors

These outcomes reinforce a central message: circularity is both an environmental imperative and a strategic business opportunity.

Built Through Global Collaboration

The Protocol is the product of a two-year collaboration involving more than 80 organisations and 150 experts across science, policy, and industry. It is jointly governed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the One Planet Network under UNEP, ensuring scientific rigor, global relevance, and transparent stewardship.

Conclusion: Circularity is getting serious

The Global Circularity Protocol fill in a gap needed for adoption and implementation of the circular economy. It's still the first version and refinements are likely to be needed as more implementation is undertaken.

Coupled with the latest releases of the ISO Standards on Circular Economy and the Harmonised Guidelines for Circular Economy Finance by the International Finance Corporation, one message is clear - Circularity is getting serious.

Businesses who take advantage of this short window to set the benchmark of what good looks like will be the ones who first tap into circularity to capture and boost their ESG Strategic Advantage.