Hello Reader,
Across the world, the Circular Economy (CE) is gaining impressive traction and momentum. At least 58 countries have circular policies, with CE development being “widespread in the Global North and developing in the Global South,” according to this recent study. The EU has led the way in policy and legislative development, adopting a Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) back in March 2020. You can also dive into Australia’s Circular Economy Framework, check out the Philippines’ proposed Circular Economy Program, and review Chile’s Circular Economy Roadmap for examples of how countries are actively participating in the circular transformation.
While there are many economic, political, and social factors to consider when developing a country or region’s CE strategy, the goals of doing so are the same: eliminate waste, make things last longer, and ensure that all extraction and production processes are regenerative.
In this edition of Interconnected, we’re highlighting the recent and exciting CE advancements—and examining why it’s not simply a growing movement, but also a business advantage that leaders are leveraging to reduce operating costs in this changing economy.
READ
ISO 59000: a game-changer for circular transformation
In May 2024, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released the first three standards in a new series for implementing and measuring the Circular Economy (CE), ISO 59000. As foundational tools for enacting business circularity, these standards are legitimate game-changers as we now have universal frameworks for defining, measuring, reporting, and enacting CE principles in business. Before this, organizations did not have a consolidated set of terms and processes to validate their CE initiatives.
The only thing with standards is that they are complicated and a bit dense, so we took the time to synthesize the main elements and create graphics that show the main processes within them. To learn more, read Leyla Acaroglu’s 3-part series:
As a leader in this space and someone who’s been on the forefront of helping organizations activate and advance their circular transformation, Leyla is about to kick off her fourth cohort of learners in her popular ISO 59000 Live Online Workshop. Register now—the first class is on April 22nd!
Doing more with less: decoupling economic impact from environmental degradation
One of the biggest myth-based hurdles businesses face for circular development is believing they can’t both grow economically and reduce their ecological impacts. Decoupling is when economic growth is disconnected from material and resource requirements. This means that money is made with less reliance on nature and a company grows, all whilst reducing costs associated with buying materials.
“Creating a circular economy is the business opportunity of our time. It strengthens local economies in a socially-inclusive way, creating far more jobs than taking the traditional linear approach to waste. The repairing and leasing economy creates even more jobs. Enhancing circularity is an efficient lever to help society reach net-zero and by bringing our economy more into line with the Earth’s boundaries, circularity is also clearly nature-positive.”
Source
The International Resource Panel (IRP), hosted by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), published this major report in 2011 on decoupling, which is about improving resource efficiency by doing more with less.
Open source strategies to accelerate the CE
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to circular business models, but did you know that there are loads and loads of circular design strategies to choose from? Circulardesign.it is an interactive website designed “to help companies and students to learn, explore, play and try to use a collaborative approach to accelerate the circular economy from the earliest phase of the design process.”
Click through the interactive wheel to explore various strategies and questions to ask when considering implementation.
LISTEN
"What should businesses do to scale a Circular Economy?"
Founded in 2010, the Ellen Macarthur Foundation has been pioneering the creation of a circular economy and shares a wealth of multimedia resources on how to get started, including The Circular Economy Show podcast.
In this episode, the CEO for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Lindsay Hooper joins Joe Murphy, Executive Lead of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s business network, to explore the questions: How do we move from pilots and beyond the ESG hype bubble to scale the implementation of the circular economy and how do businesses lead in this space?
REFLECT + ENGAGE
Assess your circularity + download the free Circular Business ReDesign Kit
Want to assess the circularity rate of your company or product? ISO 59020 shares guideline and the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) tool to help you do that! This self-assessment tool focuses on the circular and linear mass that flows through the company, providing insights into how to optimize resources and highlighting the connection between business performance and circular material flows.
Using the CTI tool for assessment is the perfect precursor to downloading and exploring the free Circular Business ReDesign Kit by our sister project, Circular Futures. Created by Leyla Acaroglu and Emma Segal, it guides you through a 3-step process for circular business transformation and includes 6 worksheets to support and facilitate your circular business redesign process.
Designed to help individuals and teams explore viable circular business alternatives, you’ll see that part of CE transformation is about exploring and identifying the best-fit solution for your business. Learn more and download it for free here: Circular Business ReDesign Kit