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Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire | 30 June – 2 July 2026

Scaling Africa’s Circular Transition: PAGE at the ACEA 2026 Annual Meeting in Abidjan

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From 30 June to 2 July 2026, the African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) held its annual meeting in Abidjan under the theme “Scaling Africa’s Circular Transition: From Policy to Sector-wide Action.” The meeting brought together member states, partners, financiers, and private-sector leaders to discuss the implementation, scaling, and financing of circular economy policies.

PAGE supported the meeting as a  strategic partner, bringing the expertise of its five UN agencies — ILO, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO and UNITAR.

“Scaling the circular economy in Africa requires integrated policies and investments, not only in technology and finance, but also in people, skills, productivity, sustainable enterprises, social dialogue and decent work to ensure a just transition for all.” - Moustapha Kamal Gueye, Director, ILO, Priority Action Programme on Just Transitions towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies

An alliance maturing from policy to action

Founded in 2016 by the Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa governments, ACEA has grown to 23 member countries, backed by partners including the African Development Bank (AfDB), UNDP, UNEP and PAGE. Over the past decade,  the African Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), have set the stage for circularity-driven industrial transformation.

However, implementation has lagged behind the ambition of its member countries. Financing gaps, thin capacity, limited market access, unharmonized standards and weak coordination keep promising pilot programmes from becoming bankable, scalable solutions. Addressing these challenges relies on supporting the enabling environment.

How PAGE supports the transition in Africa

PAGE champions a people-centered circular economy: formalizing informal activities, building skills for emerging jobs, strengthening MSMEs and entrepreneurs, and ensuring women and young people share in the gains. It grounds advocacy in data analysis that supports the case for circularity:

  • Employment. The ILO’s Employment in the Circular Economy analysis includes informal work that dominates low-income economies, exposing both the scale of circular livelihoods and the decent-work deficits that policy can fix.
  • Macroeconomics. UNEP’s Global Circular Economy Macroeconomic Model estimates that an ambitious circular pathway could lift global GDP by 8 percent above business-as-usual by 2050, approximately USD 156 trillion in added output. The increase is not attributed to producing more, but to producing smarter. It is a growth model that finance and planning ministries can use, and not only environment ministries.
  • Secondary materials. The Global Secondary Materials Market Study, led by UNIDO, examines e-waste, textiles and PET plastics: recycling technology alone is not enough — secondary materials markets need coordinated policy to create demand, mobilize finance and build infrastructure and data.

On the ground, PAGE backs circular action across the continent — from measuring green jobs in South Africa to supporting sustainable economic growth in Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Mauritius and Rwanda — and brings country-level experience to global forums such as the World Circular Economy Forum. Through UNDP, PAGE has also been strengthening a network of key stakeholders to advance circular solutions, including through South-South and Triangular Cooperation, providing a more coordinated approach to circular economy implementation on the continent.

Circularity is already being implemented

Africa does not need to invent circularity; it already exists in repair economies, second-hand trade, urban transit and local services. The first global baseline on circular employment — produced by the ILO, the World Bank Group and Circle Economy with PAGE support — finds that 121–142 million people worldwide already work in the circular economy, around 70 percent of them informally. In Africa, circular activities make up some 5.6 percent of employment, over 10 million of them informal, with urban transit alone accounting for almost a third of the region’s circular jobs.

PAGE is working to close the gap between current circular activities and potential circular transformation. Scaling activities requires more than policy, technology, and finance; it requires investment in people, skills, enterprises, and decent work.

"A successful circular economy is one that delivers decent work and a just transition for all” - Moustapha Kamal Gueye, Director, ILO, Priority Action Programme on Just Transitions towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies

Inside the meeting

Across three days, the programme moved from diagnosis to action. Day one focused on entrepreneurs hosting a roundtable of circular businesses that have reached scale and breakout groups on ACEA’s five thematic areas — packaging, food systems, the built environment, electronics, and fashion and textiles. Day two tackled the systems needed to scale, with panels on financing and on trade and regional markets and a plenary on the road to COP32 in Ethiopia. A site visit on the final day showed the circular economy in action.

Looking ahead, PAGE is committed to adapting its macroeconomic model for African contexts to help governments build their own investment case across finance, industry, trade, and environment ministries. Its modeling already points to substantial gains from an ambitious circular pathway — up to 11 million additional repair, recycling, and  jobs by 2050, a 43 percent cut in material intensity, and 37 percent lower energy demand. The message from Abidjan was that these are economic and industrial arguments as much as environmental ones — and that Africa can lead a circular economy that delivers environmental sustainability, economic opportunity and social inclusion.

Funding partners

  • AR 2025 EU Logo
  • Germany BMUV logo
  • Korea
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