Plastics management remains a challenge in India. India generates > 4.1 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, yet a large portion of mixed or contaminated waste is mismanaged, ending in landfills or leaching into natural systems. A circular economy will enable better use and management of plastics, across design and production, use and end-of-life stages, to ensure valuable materials are kept longer in circulation, and new markets create demand for recovered materials. The right policy settings can be a huge enabler for the systems transition needed for India’s circular economy. Current policies tackle waste management, recycling, and extended producer responsibility. Evidence suggests a comprehensive policy agenda for the circular economy in India is needed to address the insufficient implementation and uptake of existing initiatives. This study aims to conduct a timely investigation into the nature and effectiveness of current policies, and to identify factors that are driving positive outcomes and policy interventions needed. The research adopted a qualitative methodology, involving desktop research and document analysis, semi-structured interviews, expert consultation and thematic analysis of the strengths, gaps and opportunities for policy in India. The results identified extended producer responsibility legislation to be a strength, yet there are many opportunities to improve its implementation with relevant standards, labelling, and expansion in scope. Despite many community education and training programs underway, we found single-use plastic bans were largely ineffective in most states, and that online platforms could play an integral role in facilitating collaboration and market development with India’s waste and recycling sector.

The Global South faces unique sustainability challenges especially around the use and management of resources, providing a timely opportunity to understand and adapt Circular Economy (CE) approaches and initiatives, to chart a research agenda for these regions. During the 12th International Conference on Industrial Ecology (IE), ISIE Singapore 2025, we hosted the first special session to unpack the variety of research and key issues related to CE in the Global South. The session aimed to create shared learning and co-creation of a research agenda to prioritize the necessary elements for an effective, inclusive, and just CE transition. A total of 24 participants contributed to the session, representing 16 nationalities. In this paper, we discuss the key outcomes from the session, focusing on the most pressing research gaps, desirable characteristics of a comprehensive CE research agenda, and enablers needed to ensure alignment with both global priorities and local realities. Three core areas emerged as priorities for the IE community’s CE research agenda in the Global South: (1) improving data integrity and availability, especially addressing data collection methodologies for uncovering blind-spots such as those related to the informal economy; (2) combining quantitative IE tools with qualitative, transdisciplinary approaches to better address complex circular challenges; and (3) recognizing and integrating cultural practices and ancestral knowledge drawing on CE principles. By articulating these priorities, our IE society can support more grounded, context-sensitive, and inclusive CE research practices that respond to the specific needs and contributions of the Global South.

Depleting natural resource capital, issues with water supply and contamination, the electrification needs of a populous and fast-industrializing country, the realities of extreme weather events linked to climate change, as well as the uncertainties associated with a post-COVID economic recovery pose enormous risks to India’s developmental agenda. With the recent budget announcement re-affirming green growth as an instrumental pathway to support India’s development, this chapter provides a timely update of recent policy initiatives and drivers to support the greening of India’s growth, in addition to a review of progress by the industrial sector to enable a circular economy transition. We examine initiatives such as the PM-KUSUM Scheme which aims at providing energy security for farmers, India’s progress towards solar, wind, and hydro capacity and generation in pursuit of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and progress towards the Green Hydrogen Mission. Specifically, the path towards net zero is investigated for three critical sectors in the Indian economy: steel, chemical, and cement.

With renewables growing at an unprecedented pace and critical carbon budget deadlines approaching, research is shifting to the new frontier of Paris aligned 1.5 degrees C mitigation pathways for hard-to-abate sectors, including the chemical industry sector. This is a significant challenge with chemical products such as plastics, fertilizers and many more products intertwined with today's society and with CO2 emissions originating both from energy and from chemical conversions. This paper presents a detailed bottom-up production-based energy and emission calculation to make a 1.5 degrees C compatible scenario for the chemical industry based on three main measures compared to a business-as-usual scenario. This research found that the holistic combination of demand and supply measures is critical to reduce the different types of emissions in the sector (energy and non-energy process emissions). An overall reduction of 82% of CO2 emissions in 2050 is calculated with a decrease in base chemical production growth (- 21%), 100% renewable energy for heat and electricity (- 50%) and the introduction of novel electrical-based and biomass-based production technologies for ethylene, propylene, methanol and ammonia (- 10%). Critical system developments include slowing chemical demand growth with recycling and circularity best practices, advanced electrification of heat supply and the substantial market penetration of the current most advanced sustainable production technologies for methanol, ammonia, and ethylene based on their reasonable technology maturation trajectories. Here, green methanol and ammonia will require 381 TWh in 2030 and 3232 TWh in 2050 for green hydrogen electrolysis, which will represent 1% and 4% of global electricity demand. A holistic 1.5 degrees C chemical sector pathway requires both demand and supply measures.Far-reaching electrification is crucial for industrial heat. Synfuels, hydrogen and biomass fulfil remaining demand.Green production technologies are crucial to reduce non-energy CO2 emissions.

With renewables growing at an unprecedented pace and critical carbon budget deadlines approaching, research is shifting to the new frontier of Paris aligned 1.5 °C mitigation pathways for hard-to-abate sectors, including the chemical industry sector. This is a significant challenge with chemical products such as plastics, fertilizers and many more products intertwined with today’s society and with CO2 emissions originating both from energy and from chemical conversions. This paper presents a detailed bottom-up production-based energy and emission calculation to make a 1.5 °C compatible scenario for the chemical industry based on three main measures compared to a business-as-usual scenario. This research found that the holistic combination of demand and supply measures is critical to reduce the different types of emissions in the sector (energy and non-energy process emissions). An overall reduction of 82

This paper documents data for global, regional (EU-27), and country-specific (G20 member countries) energy and emission pathways required to achieve a defined carbon budget of between 400 GtCO 2 and 500 GtCO 2 , developed to limit the mean global temperature rise to 1.5 °C, over 50% likelihood. The data were calculated with the 1.5 °C sectorial pathways of the One Earth Climate Model—an integrated energy assessment model devised at the University of Technology Sydney. The data consist of the following six zip-folder datasets (refer to Sect. 2 for an explanation of the data): (1) Appendix folder: Each file contains one worksheet, which summarizes the overall 1.5 °C scenario. (2) Sector folder (XLSX): Each file contains one worksheet, which summarizes the industry sectors analysed. (3) Sector folder (CSV): The data contained are the same as those described in point 2. (4) Sector emissions folder: Each file contains one worksheet, which summarizes the total annual emissions for each industry sector. (5) Scope emissions folder (XLSX): Each file contains one worksheet, which summarizes the total annual emissions for each industry sector—with the additional specificity of emission scope. (6) Scope emissions folder (CSV): The data contained are the same as those described in point 5.

To achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, decarbonization targets and benchmarks for specific industry sectors are required. This opens up a whole new research area for energy modelling because although decarbonization pathways have been developed for countries, regions, or communities, few have been developed for industry sectors. In this research, we document the development of energy scenarios for industry sectors classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). A bottom-up energy demand analysis based on market projections for the chemical, aluminium, and steel industries forms the basis for scenario development, with the aim of completely decarbonizing the electricity and process heat supplies for these industries by 2050. We document the individual steps in the energy demand analyses based on industry-specific market projections and energy intensities. In the last step, the carbon budget is calculated.The complete decarbonization of the industries analysed seems possible based on the available technology.

AbstractThe Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions analysed in the OECM are defined and are presented for the 12 sectors analysed: (1) energy, (2) power and gas utilities, (3) transport, (4) steel industry, (5) cement industry, (6) farming, (7) agriculture and forestry, (8) chemical industry, (9) aluminium industry, (10) construction and buildings, (11) water utilities, and (12) textiles and leather industry. The interconnections between all energy-related CO2 emissions are summarized with a Sankey graph.

AbstractThis section summarizes the main findings of all parts of the research, with priority given to the most important findings to avoid the repetition of previous chapters. The key findings for the industry, services, buildings, and transport sectors, including the 12 sub-sectors analyzed, are provided and discussed. Policy recommendations for each sector and recommendations for the actions for governments, industries, the real economy, and financial institutions are offered.

AbstractThe decarbonisation pathways for the industry sectors are derived. The energy-intensive chemical industry, the steel and aluminium industries, and the cement industry are briefly outlined. The assumptions for future market development used for the scenario calculations are documented, and the assumed development of the energy intensities for product manufacture is presented. An overview of the calculated energy consumption and the resulting CO2 intensities is given, with the assumed generation mix. The textile and leather industry is also included in this chapter because of its strong ties to the chemical industry and meat production (part of the service sector).

Global material extraction has tripled since the 1970s, with more than 100 billion tonnes of materials entering the world economy each year. Only 8.6% of this is recycled, while 61% ends up as waste and emissions that is the leading cause of global warming, and large-scale pollution of land, rivers, and oceans. This paper introduces Socio-metabolic Research (SMR) and demonstrates its relevance for ecological economics scholarship in India. SMR is a research framework for studying the biophysical stocks and flows of material and energy associated with societal production and consumption. SMR is widely conducted in Europe, US, and China. In India, it is still at an infant stage. In this paper, we review pioneering efforts of SMR in India, and make the case for advancing the field in the sub-continent. The crucial question is whether India can source materials and energy necessary for human development in a sustainable manner.

Origins and dynamics of industrial symbiosis networks in India Author: Simran Talwar, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Australia Enrolment start: April 2017; Expected completion: March 2020 PhD Supervisor: Professor John A. Mathews, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Australia