research topics in circular economy

17 innovations accelerating the transition to a circular economy

London-based company Biohm creates building materials - like these panels - from mushrooms, orange peel, cocoa husks and other food waste. Image:  Biohm

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Emanuela Orsini

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Circular Economy is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:.

• The Circulars Accelerator Cohort 2021 is supporting innovators to scale their ideas for a more circular economy.
• The circular economy, which aims at reducing and eliminating waste and continuing to use safe resources, can help us create a more sustainable world.
• The Circulars Accelerator, led by Accenture, is collaborating with UpLink, the World Economic Forum's digital crowdsourcing platform to showcase their 17 innovators.

The world faces unprecedented challenges caused by our current approach to production and consumption. The resulting waste from plastic, textiles, food, electronics, and other industries has an enormous negative impact on the environment as well as on our overall health. In 2019, over 92 billion tonnes of materials were extracted and processed, contributing to almost half of global CO2 emissions. This underlines why the shift towards a circular economy, promoting the elimination of waste and the continual safe use of natural resources, is critical to forging a more sustainable future.

In an important move to catalyze ecosystem action on the circular economy, The Circulars Accelerator launched its very first cohort of circular innovators, Cohort ’21 in February. The Circulars Accelerator (an evolution of the highly successful Circulars Awards) is a bespoke, action-oriented program that supports trailblazing circular innovators across the globe to overcome their barriers to scale. It is led by Accenture, in partnership with Anglo American, Ecolab and Schneider Electric. The World Economic Forum and UpLink – a leading digital platform for scaling innovation and driving progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals – are key collaborators of this initiative.

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Big ideas that could save the world: uplink on this week's radio davos, want to hear about the ideas solving the world's biggest challenges follow uplink on twitter.

Over the next few months, Accenture, along with partners and supporters, will provide the Cohort with support to scale their impact through advisory sessions, innovation coaching and through brokering introductions to leading experts and investors to further accelerate growth.

This company is making construction materials from mushrooms and food waste

This company is using plants to make handbags, shoes and clothes, this simple solution will keep fruit fresh for longer - and help avoid food waste.

The 17 innovators constituting The Circulars Accelerator’s debut Cohort ’21 are driving sustainable innovation across geographies and industries:

• Algramo offers an omni-channel cross-brand platform technology which enables brands and retailers to sell consumer goods products for the most affordable prices.
• BanQu is a platform which closely follows raw materials and finished goods from source to shelf to the hands of the consumer, providing supply chain traceability and financial security to workers across the value chain.
• BIOHM is a biotechnology company revolutionizing the circular construction industry by creating building materials and manufacturing methods from sustainable and natural materials.
• Circularise has developed a blockchain technology solution to help stakeholders across supply chains trace raw materials from source to product, ensuring no sensitive data risk exposure.
• Deep Branch is a carbon-recycling platform that transforms carbon dioxide into high-protein animal feed ingredients.
• Eon offers a Connected Products Platform, Protocol and Network solution which powers circular commerce across fashion and retail by connecting products across their entire lifecycle to reduce waste.
• Excess Materials Exchange (EME) is a digital matching platform which finds high-value options to reuse or recycle different types of materials or waste for companies.
• Hello Tractor runs a tractor contracting platform in emerging markets by connecting farmers to fleet owners through an IoT-enabled software.
• Kiverdi uses NASA-inspired tech to convert CO2 into people and planet-friendly nutrients and bio-based materials.
• Maeko has developed composting solutions onsite for homes and businesses, reducing food waste from landfills.
• Mint Innovation has provided low-cost and sustainable processes to recover valuable precious metals from waste streams such as electronics or cars.
• Natural Fiber Welding (NFW) shapes and molds plant materials including waste into natural compounds, used across different industries.
• Recykal facilitates transactions for all stakeholders across India’s waste management and recycling value chain to promote more efficient recycling of plastic waste.
• S4S Technologies converts farm food waste to value added products using their patented solar-powered dehydration technology, so that farmers and rural women can preserve their produce for up to a year without chemicals.
• SokoFresh has created a scalable and replicable cold storage as a service solution to eliminating post-harvest food loss in smallholder farmer value chains.
• StixFresh has developed an easy peel and place sticker for fresh fruits which extends shelf life and reduces waste.
• Wasteless helps supermarkets and online grocery stores recapture the value of their perishable products and reduce food waste via AI-powered dynamic pricing.

Cohort ’21 have joined the growing community of UpLink innovators who are benefiting from collaborating through the platform. Beyond the Cohort’ 21, The Circulars is driving collaboration on circular economy across the ecosystem through the new Circulars Community Action Group on UpLink. Circular entrepreneurs are encouraged to join the Action Group and get involved in this dynamic community. This network enables innovators, experts and others to share solutions, ideas, and fresh perspectives to design for circularity, reduce waste, and transform production and consumption processes, to truly enable the creation of a regenerative global system over the coming decade, The Decade to Deliver.

Join the Circulars Community on UpLink today to access opportunities within the circular ecosystem and be a part of this critical conversation, at this crucial time.

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Recent Research Topics in Circular Economy

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Leveraging Education & Innovation for a Circular Economy

An article on GlobalDev Blog discusses how education and innovation can support sustainable management of resources.

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On 22 May 2024, GlobalDev Blog published an article by Anupam Khajuria (Research Fellow and Academic Associate, UNU-IAS) discussing how education and innovation can advance the transition to a circular economy. 

 The piece argues that while education can play a pivotal role in shaping attitudes and promoting sustainable behavior, technological innovation such as artificial intelligence can help us identify consumption and production areas that need improvement.  

Excerpt: 

Technological innovation is essential to a circular economy. And education helps us prepare a generation of educated and knowledgeable citizens who can create an eco-friendly future through innovations like Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can help identify gaps for improvement and increased efficiency, as well as optimization of supply chains, energy usage and production processes. 

GlobalDev Blog is an online platform aiming to bridge the gap between development research and policy. The piece is available in English , Spanish , and French on the GlobalDev Blog website. 

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Recycle and Reuse to Reduce Plastic Waste - A Perspective Study Comparing Petro- and Bioplastics

• Review paper
• Published: 23 May 2024

Cite this article

• Farah Mneimneh 1 ,
• Nour Haddad 2 &
• Seeram Ramakrishna 1 , 3  

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Especially in light of the growing demand for plastic products, the urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change has underscored the need for the plastics sector to embrace sustainable practices. Petroplastics are widely used polymers that may be recycled via mechanical, chemical, and reusability methods. They are mostly sourced from petrochemical sources. As an alternative that is more sustainable, bioplastics have gained popularity due to their lower carbon emissions during manufacture and decreased need on petroleum feedstocks. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics and uses of both petroplastics and bioplastics thoroughly. This is followed by an analysis of the benefits and downsides of many recycling methods, including solvent-based, mechanical, chemical, and energy recovery systems. Moreover, an evaluation of the quality of plastic after recycling is carried out in order to clarify the inherent difficulties and restrictions associated with each recovery method. Inquiry like this helps the plastics sector create strong standards that protect the environment and promote more sustainable operations. This research also includes factors on which depends the quality of the plastic products such as the degree of mixing, the degree of degradation, and the presence of low molecular weight compounds. It also includes challenges and limitations due to some properties of the manufactured plastics such as their quality, their flexibility, or the recycling process which formed them. Finally, this study suggests further research regarding material property deterioration, cost, and sorting issues in plastic recycling.

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Mneimneh, F., Haddad, N. & Ramakrishna, S. Recycle and Reuse to Reduce Plastic Waste - A Perspective Study Comparing Petro- and Bioplastics. Circ.Econ.Sust. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-024-00381-7

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A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future

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Fashion is a vibrant industry that employs hundreds of millions, generates significant revenues, and touches almost everyone, everywhere.

Since the 20th century, clothing has increasingly been considered as disposable, and the industry has become highly globalised, with garments often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold worldwide at an ever-increasing pace. This trend has been further accentuated over the past 15 years by rising demand from a growing middle class across the globe with higher disposable income, and the emergence of the ‘fast fashion’ phenomenon, leading to a doubling in production over the same period.

Beyond laudable ongoing efforts, a new system for the textiles economy is needed and this report proposes a vision aligned with circular economy principles. In such a model, clothes, fabric, and fibres re-enter the economy after use and never end up as waste. Achieving a new textiles economy will demand unprecedented levels of alignment. A system-level change approach is required and one which will capture the opportunities missed by the current linear textiles system.

A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future is available in: English

To quote this report, please use the following reference: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (2017).

Supporting material

A New Textiles Economy: Summary of findings

Published on 28th November 2017

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UT researches arduous transition to circular infrastructure sector

Circularity currently plays a crucial part in futureproofing the infrastructure sector in the Netherlands. The complexity, insecurity and contestation that go hand in hand with such transitions make it difficult to maintain a steady course towards a circular future. UT researcher Tom Coenen is obtaining his PhD on this subject today. In his thesis he describes various tools to support and drive the transition to a circular infrastructure sector in an effective and desirable way.

Coenen’s PhD thesis goes into the systemic barriers to mission-oriented transition and provides several ways of dealing with these, both for policy and organisations. The research shows that slow progress is mainly being caused by circularity being defined in many different ways. The transition is also hampered by the lack of focus in scaling circular initiatives and insufficient space for the market to devise radically circular solutions.

Mission-oriented transition assessment

In addition to the contested definition, it’s crucial for transition policy to embrace the complexity and insecurity that typify such transitions. This means governments have to take the lead in accomplishing the circularity mission, but they must to do so together with the sector to increase support and utilise the expertise and dynamics present in the sector. The PhD thesis introduces the ‘mission-oriented transition assessment’ (MOTA) framework, which can support policy makers in anticipating the upcoming transition steps in collaboration with the sector.

Organisational change for circularity

In addition to administration and policy, such a transition also has major consequences for individual organisations. The thesis shows that the introduction of circularity by commissioning parties in infrastructure causes internal tensions between regular processes and people striving for circularity implementation. Using ‘institutional logics’, the research shows that allowing organisations to function according to the circularity principles requires coordination between these logics. This means that people who advocate the logic needed for circularity must be involved more actively in the primary organisation processes.

Ecosystem perspective

The infrastructure sector is strongly project oriented. However, this doesn’t work for circularity, as this demands reconciling life cycles that last many decades and the mutual dependence of assets within the Dutch infrastructure network. The thesis shows that these challenges can be overcome by adopting an ecosystem perspective. Through a long term-oriented value proposition to which several parties can subscribe, circular solutions can be developed that transcend individual projects. This does require a radically different way of working, focusing more on relationships than on contracts and assigning more importance to the early involvement of expert parties. Although several initiatives already demonstrate this is possible, it does require a major culture shift in the sector. The content of the thesis has also been translated into Dutch in the form of a magazine , which details the most important results for practice. This magazine also contains reflections and columns by researchers and professionals from Dutch infrastructure practice. 

Tom Coenen’s CV

After completing his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering and his Master’s in Construction Management & Engineering at the University of Twente, Tom obtained an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) on circular design of bridges and flyovers from the same university. In 2020, Tom started a PhD with funding and support from the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management, the results of which lay before you now. Alongside his PhD research and education activities, he was involved in various other research projects on themes such as organisational transformation, mission-based governance, circular change programmes and platform ecosystems. In the course of his PhD, Tom presented his research findings to practice on multiple occasions, including a technical briefing in the House of Representatives. The next step in Tom’s academic career was the appointment to an assistant professorship at the University of Twente in February 2024, in which capacity he continues to work on circularity and transitions in the context of civil engineering and construction management.

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North Carolina Health News

News. Policy. Trends. North Carolina.

Read all of our joint coverage with The Charlotte Ledger here. 

Sustainability advocates look toward a ‘circular economy’ to address climate change.

By Will Atwater

North Carolina’s reliance on single-use plastics is a problem. 

Plastic shopping bags, utensils, straws, to-go trays and over-the-counter medicine packaging are staples of modern society, but these conveniences come with a steep cost.

Fossil fuels used in the production of these items contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, warm the planet and contribute to pollution, according to a recent study .

And all this plastic is ending up inside us too. A 2019 study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund found that humans digest roughly 5 grams, or a credit-card size amount, of microplastics weekly. While there is no consensus on whether there is a link between microplastic ingestion and human diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and hormone dysfunction , research is underway. 

Decisions made on the individual level, like purchasing a reusable water bottle, cloth shopping bag or an electric vehicle, can help reduce the plastic load, but some argue that we need bigger, macro-level changes at this point.

That’s why leaders of Don’t Waste Durham — an organization that describes itself as creating solutions that prevent trash — feel like it’s important to establish a so-called circular economy. 

“If you extract materials from the earth, use them for like 10 minutes on average and then throw them away— that’s not sustainable,” said Sydney Harris, policy director for Upstream , an organization working to eliminate waste by advocating for a transition from a single-use to a re-use system. “I don’t care what material it is.”

Crystal Dreisbach, former executive director of Don’t Waste Durham and current CEO of Upstream, said in a 2023 interview that “reuse and a reuse system infrastructure is the solution […] to our single-use plastic crisis and the global climate crisis.”

Hence the need for an economy that keeps “materials, products and services in circulation for as long as possible” to slow climate change, according to a definition created by the Environmental Protection Agency. If people produce fewer single-use materials, such as plastics, less CO2 emissions will enter the atmosphere.

Daunting logistics 

Before joining Upstream, Dreisbach spent more than a decade establishing initiatives in the City of Durham while leading her former organization. In 2017, Dreisbach helped launch GreenToGo , a reusable container system that customers of participating restaurants and food establishments can use to take home food instead of using a plastic or styrofoam container. Later, the reusable containers are dropped off at one of the return centers, where they are collected, washed and returned to food vendors by a member of the GreenToGo staff. Food vendors pay a fee for the service.

Dreisbach would like to see this system add more food vendors across the city, to include public schools and concessions at sports venues like the Durham Bulls’ stadium, which seats 10,000 fans. 

To serve that many clients, Don’t Waste Durham would need to establish a commercial wash center large enough to handle the increased volume of dishes. Finding funding for a commercial wash center has been daunting for the organization, said Dreisbach, who is now a senior advisor for her old organization. 

She argued that a commercial wash center would boost the local economy by adding jobs and would reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, like the one in Sampson County that has become a bone of contention for residents there. 

Campuses show closing the loop is possible

University groups in other parts of North Carolina are also working toward a sustainable future. 

Appalachian State University credits its Zero Waste initiative as the reason 28,000 pounds of waste collected during home football games was diverted from local landfills in 2023 “through compost and recycling efforts,” according to the university’s sustainability website .

Jennifer Maxwell, university sustainability program director, said getting to this point took a sustained commitment.

“Over the years, we’ve tried to transition to compostables … and also bring back more focus to reusables because that’s much more desired than disposables. But you’re not going to give 30,000 people china[ware] in a football stadium, so you’re gonna have disposables here and there.”

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Maxwell said her department has developed a partnership with campus dining. 

“They’re using reusables in our main takeout locations, and they’re purchasing compostables and transitioning away from single-use plastics altogether.” She also said that campus stores have moved away from plastic bags and transitioned to paper. Additionally, as part of the “skip the bag” program, money that would have gone to cover the cost of a bag used at checkout is donated to a charitable cause. 

Lanie Karstrom, sustainability outreach coordinator at the university, said diverting compostable and recyclable materials produced at football games from winding up in landfills is an ongoing challenge.

“We’ve had as high as 72 percent diversion, and we’ve also had as low as 53 percent,” Karstrom said. “Where the discrepancy comes from has a lot to do with the fan base […] and the athletic engagement teams, who are handing out giveaways like nonrecyclable cups and merchandise. It’s not something we have a lot of control over.”

Maxwell and Karstrom hope to forge a stronger relationship between the sustainability program and the athletic department, which is in charge of its own concessions and purchasing program. 

Universities leading the way

The Cleantech Summit , hosted in March at UNC Chapel Hill’s Friday Center , previewed what could become a standard conference offering: food served on washable dining ware and reusable placards for panelists’ names.

Melanie Elliott, sustainability analyst for Sustainable Carolina , a UNC Chapel Hill program focused on advancing the university’s sustainability goals, said there is one big reason why reusable wares were prominent at the summit. 

“The Friday Center has a full kitchen inside the facility, including a dishwasher, so they have the capability of using nondisposable flatware and dinnerware because they have that equipment in house,” Elliott said.

Though not all conferences take place in venues that have a full kitchen and dishwasher, Elliott said there’s another way for organizers to limit reliance on single-use dining ware.

“You can utilize … registration costs to cover not just the venue, but also the catering and any additional costs that might come up to make the event more sustainable.”

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What is the Relationship Between Circular Economy and Economic Growth?

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The aim of this Research Topic is to untangle the increasingly complex relationship between a circular economy and (implicit or explicit) ideas about growth. There are multiple understandings of what a circular economy is or should be achieving in sustainable development. Similarly, the concepts of post/degrowth are also contested in that the various approaches differ both in terms of the basic normative questions, the objectives, and the basic assumptions regarding the possibilities of decoupling economic growth and resource consumption. Regardless of the various definitions, circular economy and concepts of post/degrowth must respect and operate within our planetary boundaries to pursue a path towards a sustainable development. The challenge is to reflect how a circular economy can move toward the direction to sustainability while still considering the debates on growth. Given the urgency for action, we aim to analyse and detangle the current range of perspectives and look for useful ways moving forward. We invite communities of different research disciplines to reflect on the opportunities and challenges of the relationship between circular economy, growth, and planetary boundaries. Following a meeting initiated by European parliamentarians in Brussels at the end of May 2023, it has become clear that a movement on degrowth, post-growth or beyond growth has attracted the attention of mainstream policy circles. Several communities of research (sufficiency strategies, universal basic income etc.) have been investigating and pursuing non-growth strategies for some time, but these discussions seldom break into wider sustainability debates and are contrary to the almost universal search of policy makers for economic growth as the solution to social inequalities and (more paradoxically) environmental challenges. Degrowth or post-growth discourses have so far predominantly operated on a very abstract conceptual discourse level, while concrete and coherent strategies have not been developed. Recent research has systemized the different and diverse approaches and instruments which are discussed within the broad postgrowth discourses. These discussions touch on diverse strands of discourse (e.g., social innovations or also sufficiency strategies), with longer research traditions, but have been conducted in isolation from one another both scientifically and practically. Thus, for example sufficiency-oriented approaches were often developed either as independent action orientations or as an "add on" to overarching (mostly) growth strategies, such as green growth strategies. Therefore, to stay with this example, these ideas need to be examined in the context of new debate around (post) growth and post-capitalism to consider how they might be integrated into overarching transformation strategies. Meanwhile, the circular economy, an approach to increase resource efficiencies, is popular with governments and the UN as an environmental growth strategy and includes approaches that can be useful for decoupling from growth and is attracting attention from academics across the spectrum of approaches to growth. With regard to the field of action of the circular economy, we need to particularly consider a few things: on the one hand, the circular economy is interpreted as a pillar of green growth approaches with the aim of staying within planetary boundaries. On the other hand, the post-growth protagonists defy the possibility of decoupling, and with this, imply another socio-economic context for a (sustainable) circular economy. If the ultimate goal is that material orientation must be in compliance with planetary boundaries, to what extent can the proposed circular economy approaches achieve that? The focus of this Research Topic will be on the question of how circular economy concepts relate to degrowth, post-growth or green growth, and what specific approaches are demanded. We would like to explore two approaches: the notion of circular economy related to the different growth discourses and what requirements arise from the growth discourses for the form and nature of the circular economy. In this Research Topic, we are keen to explore themes related to but not limited to: • What role does circular economy play in the different (post-) growth discourses? • What is the scope of current circular economy strategies (do they refer to planetary boundaries and resource availability)? • How do the strategies and the circular economy concepts deal with the decoupling issue (as well as rebounds effects)? • How should a circular economy be designed to respect planetary boundaries? What does this mean in a multi-level system? Which transformation paths are conceivable? How can the planetary boundaries approach be reconciled with material and resource scarcities? • What does a circular economy mean for the development model of the countries of the global South and their previous comparative economic advantages and their path orientation towards growth? • How can cities and regions draw on circular concepts for development in a post/degrowth scenario? • Are different research methods and methodologies needed for post/degrowth scenarios? • What policy-relevant implementation strategies need to be further developed and applied? • Are there other fields of action affected? What cross-cutting and integrative strategies need to be advanced? How can instruments that are intrinsic to and cut across fields of action be developed and interlinked? • What are appropriate strategies for different actors? How should property rights and rights of disposal be designed in order to support a transformation into a circular economy? How do these relate to the growth discourse?

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Top 10 Growth Opportunities in ESG, Sustainability, and the Circular Economy, 2024

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The “polycrisis” that characterizes the current state of global affairs affects almost all areas of societal development, including but not limited to climate-related risks. Attempting to alleviate some of these symptoms, several standards and policies have been devised to facilitate an international convergence of practices that promote climate resiliency, focusing on three key metrics: environmental, social, and governance (ESG). These novel standards and policies are compelling the development of hardware and software solutions that ensure sustainable growth across the entire value chain, engaging all stakeholders. This analysis of the top 10 growth opportunities in the ESG, sustainability, and the circular economy explores new product developments as well as revamps and upgrades that are transforming the industry. Growth opportunities include: •     Green taxonomy and sustainable finance •     ESG climate risk and reporting platforms •     Water security and risk platforms •     Net zero cities •     Green hydrogen •     Farm-to-fork sustainability •     Product and material passports •     Supply chain sustainability •     Low-carbon and sustainable fuels •     Cybersecurity in water utilities

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Public’s Positive Economic Ratings Slip; Inflation Still Widely Viewed as Major Problem

2. top problems facing the u.s., table of contents.

• Views of top problems facing the nation
• Americans’ views of the state of the nation
• Similar shares in both parties view personal financial situation positively
• Americans’ views on the future of the economy and their financial situation
• Changes in views of the country’s top problems
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Inflation and the affordability of health care top the public’s list of the biggest problems facing the country, with 62% of Americans describing inflation as a very big problem and 60% saying this about health care costs.

Narrower majorities say that partisan cooperation (57%), drug addiction (55%) and gun violence (53%) are very big problems in the country today.

And roughly half say that violent crime (51%), the federal budget deficit (49%), the state of moral values (48%) and the quality of public K-12 schools (46%) are each very big problems.

Illegal immigration, climate change and racism each rate lower on the public’s list of the country’s top problems, though majorities rate these and several other issues included in the survey as at least moderately big problems.

Inflation ranked as the country’s top issue in Pew Research Center surveys from 2023 and 2022 , though its perceived importance is lower than it was in 2022. Today, 62% of Americans say inflation is a very big problem, down from 70% in 2022.

Partisan differences in views of inflation

• Eight-in-ten Republicans and independents who lean to the Republican Party say that inflation is a very big problem. A far smaller share of Democrats and Democratic leaners – 46% – say the same.
• The share of Republicans who see inflation as a big problem is up slightly over the past year (from 77% to 80%). In contrast, the share of Democrats seeing inflation as a very big problem for the country has decreased by 6 percentage points over this period.

Federal budget deficit

A narrow majority of the public (53%) says the federal budget deficit is a very big problem. This is little changed in recent years.

Since Joe Biden took office in 2021, Republicans have consistently been about twice as likely as Democrats to describe the federal budget deficit as a very big problem for the country. Roughly seven-in-ten Republicans (71%) say this, compared with 35% of Democrats. During the Trump administration, there was no partisan gap in these views.

Unemployment

Just a quarter of Americans – including similar shares of Republicans (27%) and Democrats (22%) – describe unemployment as a very big problem. The share who view unemployment as a very big problem is essentially unchanged since 2022.

Illegal immigration

The share of the public that views illegal immigration as a very big problem has increased slightly in the past year, to 51% from 47%.

Nearly eight-in-ten Republicans (78%) say illegal immigration is a very big problem, up from 70% a year ago. In contrast, just 27% of Democrats say this, almost unchanged from the 25% of Democrats who said illegal immigration was a very big problem a year ago.

Crime and gun violence

Americans are less likely to view both gun violence and violent crime as very big problems than they were a year ago. The shares of both Republicans and Democrats who describe each of these as a very big problem are down somewhat over this period.

Democrats are still far more likely than Republicans to see gun violence as a very big problem (68% of Democrats say this vs. 27% of Republicans). And it ranks as one of the top national problems seen by Democrats (as it did in 2023).

And Republicans continue to be more likely than Democrats (56% vs. 39%) to view violent crime as a very big problem for the country.

Climate change

About a third of Americans (36%) say climate change is a very big problem, down 11 points since 2021.

Democrats are 13 points less likely to say this than they were in 2021, when 71% of Democrats described climate change as a very big problem. Republicans’ views of the importance of climate change have declined by 7 points since 2021.

Overall, 29% of Americans say racism is a very big problem. This is a substantial decline since 2021, when 45% said this. Among Democrats, the decline is particularly steep: 42% of Democrats now say that racism is a very big problem in the country today, down from 67% in 2021.

(For Republicans’ and Democrats’ views of all problems asked about in this survey, please visit the overview of this report .)

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NICER ECR Summer School 2024

NICER Programme Early Career Researcher Summer School Registration for 1-day in person event Tuesday 24th September 2024

Date and time

Church House Publishing

About this event

This is opportunity for early career researchers working in the area of the Circular Economy to come together to share, network and collaborate! To celebrate the final year of the NICER Programme, this event is open to all ECRs working in circular economy, including those outside of the NICER Programme. As part of this application, we ask you to submit a 500 word abstract providing an overview of your research.  

Date : Tuesday 24th September 2024

Start Time: 10:00 am, Tuesday 24th September 2024

End Time: 15:00 pm, Tuesday 24th September 2024

Location: Church House Westminster (Great Smith St Westminster, London, England, SW1P 3NZ)

An opportunity for Early Career Researchers (PhD Students, Post Docs, Impact Fellows and Lecturers) to share your research, networking, training and socialising. Open to all ECRs with work relating to the circular economy, including those not affiliated with the NICER Programme. 

Outline Schedule

Tuesday 24th September (10:00 - 15:00)

0 9:15 Arrival & Registration

0 9:45 Welcome

1 0:00 Research Communication and Discussion

1 2:00 Lunch and Networking

1 3:00 Guest speakers on future career and funding opportunities

1 5:00 Finish

Registration

Please register using the ‘register’ link on this page. If you have any questions regarding the event please contact: [email protected].

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