The UN defines sustainability as 'meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.' At CSTEP, sustainability is all about striking a delicate balance between economic development and environmental concerns. The needs of today should not compromise the demands of tomorrow. Our approach is guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we strive to create a platform that promotes knowledge exchange between interdisciplinary stakeholders and shares best practices to ensure capacity building. We work on developing scientific frameworks to generate evidence-based policy interventions in circular economy, rural economy regeneration, and other initiatives to ensure a sustainable and secure future.
India Plans to Develop Top Grade Bioeconomy
The bioeconomy sector is gaining significant momentum globally. The World Bioeconomy Forum values the sector at approximately $4 trillion with the potential to grow to $30 trillion by 2050. Several economies worldwide increasingly invest in bio-based innovations to address their energy, food security, health, and climate mitigation and adaptation issues. India is one of the front runners in its global bioeconomy growth, with a projected bioeconomy worth $300 billion by 2030.
India’s textile and apparel sector: Understanding the ecosystem and readiness for implementation of extended producer responsibility
The textile and apparel industry, although a major contributor to global trade, is now becoming one of the most polluting industries worldwide. The rise of fast fashion, characterised by high consumption of low-cost, low-quality clothing, has aggravated the sector’s environmental footprint. Globally, around 92 million tonnes of textile waste end up in landfills annually, resulting in the leaching of harmful materials and leaking of valuable resources from the value chain. Alarmingly, only 12%–15% of this waste goes to recycling facilities, of which only 1% is recycled into new clothing.
Talking Circular Economy: World Circular Economy Forum 2024 Unveiled
The first blog delved into the principles and relevance of circular economy (CE) in reducing the overconsumption of finite resources. In this concluding blog, the authors share their experiences from the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2024, held during the beginning of the financial year 2024−25 in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and a hub of policymaking in Europe.
Talking Circular Economy: Optimising Global Resource Consumption
In this two-part blog series, the authors share some of their research learning on circular economy (CE) and revisit their experiences from the recently concluded World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2024.
Press Release: Growing the circular bioeconomy, with a focus on the Global South
Bengaluru, 16 April 2024: The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a research-based think tank, in collaboration with the International Council for Circular Economy (ICCE), published a White Paper titled ‘Growing the circular bioeconomy, with a focus on the Global South’ and presented the findings at the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2024, held at Brussels, Belgium.
A state of migration
Karnataka—the seventh most urbanised state in India—has witnessed significant urbanisation in recent decades. From 2001 to 2011, the proportion of the rural population shifted from 66% to 61%, and that of the urban population shifted from 34% to 39%.
Growing the circular bioeconomy, with a focus on the Global South
Growing the bioeconomy in the Global South in a circular, sustainable way offers direct economic and environmental benefits, with the potential to capture the economic opportunity of bio-based products of bio-based products for food, feed waste products and energy estimated at USD 7.7 trillion (WBCSD 2020).
Advancing Circular Economy in India: Sustainable Resource Efficiency and Policy Imperatives in Solar Photovoltaics and Telecommunication
In an era of escalating environmental concerns and the pursuit of sustainable development, the circular economy emerges as a transformative solution. This paper examines India's Solar Photovoltaics and Telecommunication sectors, assessing their potential for circular economy practices, resource efficiency, and waste management. While solar photovoltaics contribute to a greener energy mix, the mounting concern of PV waste persists. Similarly, the telecommunications industry faces a surge in electronic waste due to rapid advancements.