South Australia’s clean energy transition is central to reaching net zero emissions, but a circular economy is equally critical.
Why it matters
With more than half of global emissions linked to material extraction and processing, rethinking how products, food and materials are designed, produced and used is essential to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Reducing use of virgin materials and avoiding waste generation are key strategies to avoid generating emissions.
Actions such as preventing food and organic waste from going to landfill, capturing landfill gases, and adopting regenerative agriculture help lower emissions while supporting healthy soils and resource efficiency.
Circular practices also prepare businesses for new sustainability reporting requirements, ensuring supply chain impacts and recovered resources are managed responsibly, accelerating SA’s net zero and circular economy goals.
Objectives for 2030
Contribute to a reduction in GHG emissions through:
- reducing the generation of waste
- reducing unnecessary production and consumption
- reducing demand to extract virgin resources by keeping materials circulating within the economy as long as possible and at their highest value use
- increasing material productivity
- avoiding sending organic waste to landfill
- maximising the capture of GHG at landfills.
How we’ll get there
Key actions
- Consider legislative measures to provide for consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in regulatory decisions relating to waste and resource recovery.
- Encourage the development of embodied carbon and circularity metrics for the built environment to measure the progress towards circularity and decarbonisation and monitor achievement and effectiveness of minimum standards.
- Continue to support producer awareness, knowledge and adoption of compost and other soil amendments to replenish soil carbon and nutrient stocks.
Learn more about Focus area 9: Contribute to net zero emissions.
