The state and outlook report on circular economy from the European Environment Agency states that Europe is far from reaching the 2030 targets and the current circularity rate is only 11.5 percent. The transition to a circular economy will most likely influence product life phases such as manufacturing, product design, maintenance, end-of-life treatment and business models.

This transition is expected to influence most part of the economy and thereby also domestic heat pumps as a heating solution for the future. Studying the implications of this transition is the basis for the IEA HPT Annex 65 ‘Heat pumps in a circular economy’. Visit Annex 65

The key messages from the report are:

• Considering the inherent impact of resource extraction and processing, and the impossibility of 100% circularity, it is crucial to prioritise the reduction of resource use and move towards a less material-intensive European economy.
• Maximising the utility of existing products requires significantly more intensity of use per product and much longer product lifetimes.
• Large-scale success of a circular economy relies heavily on returning substantial quantities of
  high-quality secondary raw materials to productive use.
• Europe alone cannot curb unsustainable resource use at planetary scale, therefore, a robust global
  governance framework on resource use and circular economy will be essential.

The report can be found here: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/accelerating-the-circular-economy