When British industrial revolution escalated in 1800, England's population was only 10 million; less than half of that in modern Shanghai and less than 1 percent of that in China.

But great threats come with great opportunities.

In China, authorities began to develop CE policy that would be broader and better integrated with national-level development planning and government agencies, which seek to link CE to the mainland's low-carbon strategy.

As CE studies arrived in higher education institutions and activities took off in clean tech production and eco-industrial parks, the National Development Reform Commission envisioned circularity as central to an alternative development model.

With the establishment of the 2009 Chinese CE law, circularity began to support national plans for safe urban municipal solid waste treatment, energy saving, and emissions reduction.

Shanghai as a frontrunner

As circularity is now seen as a possible platform to create a more sustainable future, substantial investment has been geared to CE-oriented pilot projects, including those in municipal and regional eco-industrial development.

In the early 2010s, many cities — particularly Beijing — met or exceeded the targets set. Other cities such as Dalian, Shanghai, and Tianjin attained more modest improvements. And that's why Shanghai's plan for anti-pollution projects matters.

However, as efforts toward circularity are about to accelerate in Europe and other advanced economies, more is needed in Shanghai as well. The city's budgeted anti-pollution plan is a great start. But it is not a systematic CE strategy.

If Shanghai is to become an international CE pioneer, it is time for the city to intensify thinking not just in terms of how to reduce the effects of pollution but how to drastically nullify the causes of pollution in the urban eco-system.

These lessons are vital for all metropolises in China and other emerging economies, as well as to cities in the advanced economies worldwide.

Such forward thinking would offer a handsome payoff to cutting-edge Shanghainese enterprises and extraordinary cost-efficiencies to the municipality itself. Most importantly, circularity would raise the quality of life in Shanghai with safer air, purer water, and fewer vehicular emissions.

Dan Steinbock is Research Director of International Business at India China and America Institute (USA) and Visiting Fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see www.differencegroup.net