Google has become the latest major company to partner with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in order to accelerate the planet's transition to a circular economy.

The tech-giant joins Cisco, Kingfisher, Philips, Renault and Unilever as a ‘Global Partner’ of the Foundation.

These businesses work closely with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation team to identify circular business opportunities and to implement tangible programmes within their sectors.

A statement from the Foundation said: “Google is ideally placed to play a key enabling role in bringing about the system-level change needed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. 

“Google will build on an already impressive track record in energy efficiency and resource effectiveness to become a pioneer and global reference point for many aspects of the circular economy.

Google was recently profiled as part of edie’s Green Giant series, thanks to its renewable energy commitments and energy efficiency innovations.

Bold ambition

Over the coming months, the Foundation and Google will create a series of initiatives to "embed circular economic principles into the fabric of Google’s infrastructure, operations, and device programmes".

Dame Ellen MacArthur said: “Google’s ambition to lead the way on the circular economy represents a step-change opportunity – we are thrilled to be working closely together with such a visionary, innovative and transformational partner on this journey”.

Earlier this year, the Foundation released a report claiming that a pan-European transition to a circular economy would generate around €1.8trn of benefit for European economies every year.