The pace of consumption in our societies is accelerating quickly, and this model is unsustainable for our planet. We need a more sustainable model in which raw materials are kept longer in production cycles and can be used repeatedly, thus generating much less waste.
The solution is the circular economy, a model that ensures sustainable growth over time by applying three basic principles: reduce, reuse, and recycle. As the name indicates, the essence of this model is to make the most of the material resources available to us; by optimizing the use of raw materials and recovering waste by recycling or giving it a second life as a new product, instead of incinerating or depositing it in landfills.
In 2019, Repsol was the first company in its sector globally to set the target of becoming a net zero emissions company by 2050, and it relies on the circular economy as one of the strategic pillars to reach this goal. It has a circular economy strategy in place since 2016, which it applies throughout the value chain.
The company is transforming its industrial facilities into multi-energy hubs, and they can already use waste from different sources and convert them into raw materials to produce fuels and materials with low, zero, or even negative carbon footprints. Furthermore, at the Repsol Technology Lab, scientists are analyzing more than 40 types of waste and technologies to make it possible to produce more advanced biofuels and circular chemical materials in the future.