Chatham House has launched an online tool to facilitate the analysis of circular economy trade flows and trends. The circular economy trade data explorer uses the available data from UN Comtrade, and focuses on resources which are of particular significance to the circular economy.

The data explorer organizes over 900 individual commodities into primary and secondary material categories. Primary materials include raw and intermediate bioeconomy products, including renewable resources from land and sea used for food, feed, construction, and bioenergy generation. Secondary materials covered are derived from both renewable and non-renewable resources, and include waste, scrap, and residue, secondary raw materials, and used goods.

The tool is hosted by circulareconomy.earth – an online portal developed by Chatham House to enable users to “explore the policy and trade dynamics associated with transitioning from linear to circular economic models.” The website provides “analyses of the opportunities and trade-offs associated with such transitions.” The website is part of a Chatham House project, Building Transformative Alliances for an Inclusive Global Circular Economy, funded by the MAVA Foundation. In addition to the circular economy trade data explorer, the website includes a map of existing policies on circular economy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Africa, and South Asia, and publications by experts.

circulareconomy.earth is the sister website of Chatham House’s resourcetrade.earth, which allows users to “explore the international trade in natural resources and the sustainability and interdependency implications of such trade.”

circulareconomy.earth expects the circular economy trade dataset to evolve over time as data availability improves, and welcomes feedback via circulareconomy-earth@chathamhouse.org. [Circular Economy Trade Data Explorer]