COP30: Ragn-Sells promotes circularity in national climate plans 

For the fourth year running, the environmental company Ragn-Sells will be part of the Swedish delegation to the UN Climate Conference COP30 alongside corporations such as IKEA, Tetra Pak and Alfa Laval. This year, all nations are set to deliver updated Nationally Determined Contributions, national climate plans which would greatly benefit from the introduction of circularity measures. 
 
“According to the UN, 55 per cent of global climate emissions stem from accelerating extraction of virgin raw materials. If we are to meet the Paris Agreement emission targets and mitigate climate change, it is vital to increase the proportion of recycled materials. This requires action in every country’s national plan,” says Pär Larshans, Chief Sustainability Officer at Ragn-Sells Group, who is scheduled to attend COP30. 

This year’s annual climate conference will be held in Belém, Brazil, between November 10 and 21. This year, importantly, all parties to the Paris Agreement are to present and discuss their updated climate plans (NDCs, Nationally Determined Contributions). 

It is expected that the updated plans show increased ambitions for emission reduction, as well as significantly improved implementation strategies compared to previous plans. 

“If we are serious about building a sustainable society, we must use the raw materials we already have, over and over again. I look forward to dialogue with governments as well as companies attending COP30 on how we can remove barriers to the transition to a more circular society,” says Mr. Larshans. 
 
The NDCs should also take into account the conclusions of the Global Stocktake which regularly evaluates progress towards the Paris Agreement targets. At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, the Global Stocktake highlighted for the first time the key role of increased circularity in mitigating climate change. 

“We know what needs to be done: The global economy must become more circular, and time is of the essence. It is up to world leaders to change laws, regulations, and taxes to make it profitable to choose circular solutions, and it is up to businesses to demonstrate that these solutions are possible,” says Mr. Larshans. 
 
In the run-up to Belém, Ragn-Sells already participated in the climate week organized by the secretariat for UNFCCC, the framework resolution governing UN climate negotiations. In his speech, Mr. Larshans pointed to five circular, globally scalable solutions to exemplify how new technology can lower climate emissions while helping finance the transition to a less emissions-intensive society:  

• Ash2Phos: Technology developed by Ragn-Sells’s innovation subsidiary EasyMining for recovering the nutrient phosphorus from incinerated sewage sludge. Ash2Phos makes it possible for agriculture to replace mined phosphate with a clean, circular product from a neglected source.  

• Aqua2N: Another EasyMining patent, designed to capture nitrogen in sewage in a form applicable in fertiliser. Production of nitrogen fertilizer by traditional methods is responsible for nearly one per cent of all global emissions today.  

• AQUAPHOENIX: A collaborative project for collecting sludge from aquaculture. The sludge, which today is washed into the sea at fish farms, yields energy in the form of biogas as well as the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus which otherwise would have contributed to coastal eutrophication.  

• Oil Shale Ash Project: A method for producing calcium carbonate by combining ash from the incineration of oil shale for energy purposes with captured carbon dioxide. The result is a product which binds more carbon than is released in production, while making use of Estonia’s enormous stockpiles of such ash.  

• Solvent Recovery Solutions: Recycling of used industrial solvents. The first facility was inaugurated near Stockholm, Sweden, as recently as September. Compared to incinerating the dirty fluids and producing new solvents from fossil raw materials, climate impact is reduced by nearly 90 per cent. 

Ragn-Sells is part of the Swedish delegation at COP30, organised by Business Sweden. In Belém Ragn-Sells, together with the delegation, will organise and take part in high-level meetings, round tables, panel discussions and other activities. The purpose is to encourage innovations which accelerate climate transition. 

For more information, interviews, and comments before, during, and after COP30, please contact: 
Pär Larshans, Chief Sustainability Officer, Ragn-Sells Group, +46 (0)70-927 29 63, par.larshans@ragnsells.com  
Jan Svärd, CEO EasyMining, +46 (0)70-978 64 74, jan.svard@easymining.com 
Debby Porter Laffitte, Press Officer, Ragn-Sells Group, +46 (0)10-723 24 16, press@ragnsells.com

Fact box: COP30 

• COP30 is the 30th annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where governments meet to negotiate and discuss actions to tackle climate change, with a focus on achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.  

• This year’s summit will take place in Belém in Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. 

• COP30 brings together global leaders, policymakers, businesses, scientists and civil society from nearly the whole world.