Climate Change

What is next for the circular economy?

The world has seen a huge change with an accelerating digital leap that transformed the way we live and do business. With the urgency of climate change now upon us, the next leap is coming into focus: a shift from a linear economy to a circular one. What can we expect this to mean in our everyday lives, for our infrastructures, and business models?

Markets and the Future of the Circular Economy

This paper offers a unique critique of the circular economy: we argue that the circular economy is set up for failure precisely because it is required to conform to our current socio-econo-political system—that is, a market system. We identify four core characteristics of market systems: private property, competition, a market for labor, and value determined by price.

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900. Since 1970, CO2 emissions have increased by about 90%, with emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes contributing about 78% of the total greenhouse gas emissions increase from 1970 to 2011. Agriculture, deforestation, and other land-use changes have been the second-largest contributors.

Status Quo Isn’t A Strategy: Why A Circular Economy Is The Future Of Business

A circular economy doesn’t represent a threat to business success. It simply redefines our relationship with profit and growth. In truth, it presents a large number of economic business opportunities.

The trends and trailblazers creating a circular economy for fashion

Shopping today has never been easier. Simply going online means being ambushed by endless targeted ads and emails, telling you to buy now or risk missing out. You step outside and last week’s collection has already been refreshed. When you check your phone, you can’t avoid the army of influencers showing-off the latest Insta-trends. The fashion industry makes clothes that no one wants to keep, to support a culture that trashes what is no longer in trend.

5 Opportunities of a Circular Economy

This rampant consumption has devastating effects for humans, wildlife and the planet. It is more urgent than ever to shift from linear, use-it-up-and-throw-it-away models to a circular economy: where waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use for longer, and natural systems can regenerate.

The Climate Crisis – A Race We Can Win

According to a September 2019 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report, we are at least one degree Celsius above preindustrial levels and close to what scientists warn would be “an unacceptable risk”. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change calls for holding eventual warming “well below” two degrees Celsius, and for the pursuit of efforts to limit the increase even further, to 1.5 degrees. But if we don’t slow global emissions, temperatures could rise to above three degrees Celsius by 2100, causing further irreversible damage to our ecosystems.