Comparing South Africa’s Sustainability and Circular Economic Roadmap to The Rest of the World

Abstract

In 2015, the United Nations Member States developed a collective blueprint for sustainability and development. The 2030 Plan includes the 17 UN-SDGs, which are an immediate call for action from all countries in the form of a global collaboration. To date, a number of countries have made significant strides in achieving the goals. One solution is the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. Together with this, new 4IR innovative technologies has helped many countries in their transition to a circular economy as well as achieving the SDGs. Countries and organizations have also adopted environmental, social, and governance reporting as another technique, and have become mandatory in some regions and organizations. The economy of South Africa is beset by poverty and inequality, considerable unemployment, carbon-intensive, water insecurity and slow GDP growth. Furthermore, the COVID-19 epidemic has caused the economic crisis to worsen further and emphasizes the need for a new development strategy to spur economic recovery. In this paper, we will compare South Africa’s sustainability and circular economic road map to the rest of the world, and we suggest solutions and policies that can be put in place for the future benefit of the country.