Day: July 19, 2021

In 2016, under the leadership of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, Finland was the first country in the world to prepare a national circular economy roadmap. This roadmap provided a plan to move the country away from a ‘make-take-waste’ linear economy model to one that protects resources and eliminates waste along value chains. The roadmap has proven a strong tool in starting a circular change and creating a strong commitment throughout the Finnish society. Thanks to the roadmap, the country could take clear steps for a circular transition and compile key stakeholders’ views on the essential changes and actions required for the circular transformation. Today, Finland has a variety of ongoing circular economy activities in several sectors, a governmental program for advancing circular economy, and the highest number of circular economy higher education courses in the world.

The Sustainable Inclusive Business (SIB) Kenya is calling on government and businesses to embrace circular economy noting that Kenya’s economy cannot thrive in the long run without a deliberate shift to a system that restores and regenerates natural resources. A circular economy is an economic system that eliminates waste by promoting better designs, reuse, take-back schemes  and recycling. “Circular economy won’t just happen; it will wait till everyone takes individual and corporate responsibility and it requires intention and design,” said Ms. Karin Boomsma, the Centre’s Project Director.

The Biden administration has wholeheartedly embraced electric vehicles in its proposed infrastructure plan and other areas of the government. But the president also wants the US supply chain to better compete with China’s dominance in battery assembly and resource refining. According to a Reuters report this past Friday, Biden’s plan targets a boost to battery recycling to walk a fine line between helping the environment and increasing competitiveness. Reuters reported on various government reports submitted to the White House as a 100-day review of important supply chains wraps up. This review is mostly meant to address the constricted supply of semiconductor chips. The chip shortage continues to plague numerous industries, including the auto industry. However, the review extends to the EV supply chain and the government aims to position the US to better compete with China’s abilities to build batteries and to refine the materials needed to make them.

Unless we make some major adjustments to the way the planet is run, many observers believe that business as usual puts us on a path to catastrophe. Around 90 per cent of global biodiversity loss and water stress (when the demand for water is greater than the available amount), and a significant proportion of the harmful emissions that are driving climate change, is caused by the way we use and process natural resources. Over the past three decades, the amount of raw materials extracted from the earth, worldwide, has more than doubled. At the current rate of extraction, we’re on course to double the amount again, by 2060.

ReLondon is set to convene leaders and innovators from across the capital and beyond for the fourth Circular Economy Week (#CEweekLDN), taking place this week between 14-18 June. The week will showcase some of London’s most promising circular economy approaches to inspire action and encourage organisations and individuals to waste less and reuse, repair, share and recycle more. The aim is to promote polices, practices and behaviours that can accelerate the growth of the circular economy and place it firmly on the agenda for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November. Almost half (45%) of climate-changing emissions currently come from the global management of land and the production of goods and food. Tackling these emissions requires a shift to a circular economy, which keeps materials and resources in use for as long as possible.