Benin Launches Its National Circular Economy Action Plan (2025–2035)

Benin has adopted its National Action Plan for the Circular Economy – Plan d’Action National pour l’Économie Circulaire (PAEC) 2025–2035, a strategic framework intended to guide the country’s transition to a more resource-efficient, inclusive and resilient model. Africa Circular provided technical assistance for the development of this plan under the leadership of the Ministry of Living Environment and Transport (in charge of Sustainable Development).  

For more than a year, Africa Circular’s multidisciplinary team of national and international experts worked with key stakeholders by conducting 

• Rigorous multi-stakeholder consultations and co-construction workshops 

• In-depth sectoral diagnostics and 

• Critical analyses of data collected 

These strategic engagements resulted is a ten-year national roadmap, based on a shared vision of a just and sustainable transition, which positions Benin as one of the Francophone country’s taking deliberate action towards a circular economy. 

The Plan d’Action National pour l’Économie Circulaire (PAEC) 2025–2035 formalises four major ambitions: 

• Strengthen economic and climate resilience by reducing dependence on exported raw materials and developing local processing; 

• Developing resilient and inclusive value chains; 

• Improve resource productivity in strategic sectors; 

• Make Benin a circular economy reference in the French-speaking region. 

This transformation is hinged on five priority sectors: agriculture and forestry, household and similar solid waste, plastics, transport and mobility, and construction – with a cross-sectional analysis of the structural challenges and opportunities for innovation, green jobs and sustainable competitiveness. 

The roadmap is based on 34 objectives, 134 actions, a ten-year implementation timetable and a monitoring and evaluation system guaranteeing transparency and performance. The plan also includes a diversified financing model mobilising public resources, technical and financial partners, the private sector and regional cooperation. 

Finally, it recommends a two-stage governance: a Technical Team for the Circular Economy (2025–2027), then the creation of the future National Agency for the Circular Economy.