3 - The GCC and the Circular Carbon Economy

Summary

The circular carbon economy (CCE) concept aims to provide a holistic, technology-agnostic, and cost-effective framework for assessing climate change mitigation options and pathways at a global, national, or organisational level with the ultimate goal of full carbon circularity or net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. To help policy discussions around the CCE, we developed the CCE Index, which covers 30 major economies and oil-producing countries on 47 quantitative indicators in its first edition in 2021. Using the 2021 Edition index results, this chapter compares the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to their relevant peers. While GCC countries outperform their non-OECD and African peers, there is still room for improvement compared to high-income countries. Our findings suggest that underutilised technologies, such as renewable energy and nuclear energy, have great potential to improve CCE performance in the region. Increased access to sustainable finance and a more ambitious transition investment agenda can better position the region in accelerating the CCE transition. More broadly, the GCC countries should undertake further efforts to increase emissions circularity if they wish to maintain their competitiveness amidst the global transition to net-zero in many performance and enablers areas of the CCE transition.