Rasmus Lindqvist’s Post

🇪🇺 This week in EU circular economy policy… …has shown the fragile balance between competitiveness and sustainability ambition 👇 🟢 TotalEnergies and Siemens Energy urged the EU to abandon the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, arguing it would create excessive legal risks for global businesses. Weakening this law dilutes one of the few mechanisms connecting corporate accountability with circularity. Without strong supply-chain due diligence, companies face less pressure to trace materials, manage waste responsibly, or close product loops. 🟢 European carmakers renewed calls to delay the 2035 ban on new combustion engines, warning the shift to electric vehicles is moving too fast. The pace of this transition will shape how circular Europe’s mobility system becomes: too slow, and circular battery and reuse systems stall; too fast, and resource bottlenecks and waste risks multiply. 🟢 The European Commission’s 90% emissions reduction target for 2040 signals that material efficiency and reuse will become central to climate policy. Achieving such deep cuts requires reducing emissions embedded in products, making circularity a core industrial strategy rather than an environmental add-on. 🟢 The Commission also advanced its Common Charger initiative, requiring standardised USB-C ports across devices. This small but symbolic measure reduces electronic waste and shows how thoughtful design regulation can prevent waste at the source, embedding circularity in everyday products. My takeaway: Europe is moving toward a future where circularity underpins decisions across industries, energy systems, and product design.

The transition to a circular economy in the built environment is not just an environmental imperative but a strategic business opportunity. By prioritizing circular practices, companies can significantly reduce costs and carbon emissions while fostering innovation. Legislative support, like the EU's Circular Economy Act, is crucial in dismantling barriers and establishing clear standards. Furthermore, local initiatives, such as deposit schemes, can drive consumer engagement and recycling rates. Embracing circularity is essential for sustainable growth, ensuring that resources are used efficiently and responsibly.

🌍♻️ Circularity isn’t just about recycling — it’s about redesigning the entire economy. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) highlights a crucial shift: 👉 Circularity must become a core principle of economic and financial decision-making, not an afterthought. 💡 Moving from linear (“take-make-waste”) to circular systems means rethinking how we create value, manage resources, and measure growth. It’s about aligning business, finance, and policy to build economies that are resilient, regenerative, and inclusive. From sustainable production to green finance, UNEP’s work on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and Circularity shows how systemic transformation can turn ambition into action. 🔗 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/exa9Regi #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #UNEP #GreenFinance #EconomicTransformation #ClimateAction #SystemsChange #ESSECGlobalCircularEconomyChair

Excellent roundtable today organised by Sancroft Circularity the decisions and actions that drive value. Our Reconomy Chief Exec Guy Wakeley outlined circularity is fundamental to our business model. Our data indicates reuse and closed loop adds the most value for customers. We can visualise how materials flow through a business so importantly they can take action to become more circular.

From Jo's 4 things "Speaking at an event hosted by FranklinTill on Tuesday called Inspire Circular alongside Caroline Till, David Johnston and Adib Dada and I was struck by something the Sophie Thomas OBE said - “I’ve been working in circularity before it was called circularity, back then it was called resource efficiency”. Now I don’t know about you, but perhaps this is the problem with circularity. It tends to focus on bridging the gap, closing the loop. Selling this into a brand you are asking them to take more responsibility for the products and services they produce at the end of the life-cycle when they see very little value. This feels expensive and so ends up being driven solely by guilt or regulation. If we focused instead on the inputs - the resources in, and sought to find efficiencies by, say, reducing a companies reliance on raw materials, then a really logical place to ‘mine’ for value is the products they have already made. By getting companies to stay looking at the beginning of the circle where they see the value, maybe we can encourage them to reach back and pull the end of the loop towards them all in the name of efficiency. From this perspective circularity just has a language problem. Maybe that's really obvious, but it only just clicked into place for me this week. " Read all of Jo's 4 things in the link below

Circularity isn’t just the future – it’s needed now. Here’s how to take action 👇   Here’s the situation: Regulatory pressure is tightening, resource dependency is risky, and the costs of inaction are mounting. Still, global circularity rates are falling, not rising. So why aren’t more companies moving? 🤯 In our latest Finans column, partner Christian Engkrog explains why sticking to linear models has become a business risk in itself. The growing risks of supply chain disruption, price swings, and resource scarcity are reshaping the market. Add to this the growing requirements in EU regulations, with compliance failures leading to fines, product recalls, or outright bans 🚫. The case is clear: waiting is no longer an option. But here’s the good news 🌱: Circularity doesn’t just help with compliance – it cuts costs, reduces waste, and even opens up new revenue streams through reuse, repair, and remanufacturing. And with initiatives like the Global Circularity Protocol (GCP) in the works, companies will soon have a much clearer framework to measure, report, and scale their efforts in sync with climate targets. As Christian Engkrog points out, those who act now will not only avoid legal risk and reputational damage, but also gain resilience, efficiency, and competitive edge. Circularity isn’t just about being green – it’s about survival and success in a world of growing uncertainty. 👊 👉 Read the column here: https://lnkd.in/dq9PhmwS  

Is #circularity working. If not then what’s the reality ? The reality of the ‘#zero-#waste’, circular economy! According to the latest Circularity Gap report, the use of “secondary” materials like recycled plastic or reclaimed wood is declining, while reliance on virgin resources continues to rise. Read this article by Jonatan pinkse from Centre of Sustainable Business Kings college London. https://lnkd.in/dunnVBrV

𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄? Circularity is not just recycling: it’s rethinking the whole system. Recycling happens 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 waste exists. Circularity starts 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, when you design materials and products to use fewer resources, last longer, and stay in the loop. At MATERI’ACT, we combine renewable and recycled feedstocks to create high-performance compounds that are circular by design, not by accident. Sustainability isn’t only about giving materials a second life. It’s about making sure they never run out of one. 

By adopting circular approaches – i.e. by moving from a “take-make-dispose” to a closed loop of “make-use-return” – we could reduce sector emissions in the built environment by 75% by 2050, compared to constructing new buildings.   Doing so would not only significantly lower planet-warming emissions, but also improve strategic resource independence and make products more competitive on the global marketplace, argues our VELUX VP of External Relations and Sustainability, Fleming Voetmann, in this new World Economic Forum blog. Read what’s at stake and how VELUX is already concretely embracing circularity: https://lnkd.in/dUTMvHra

The future of the built environment is circular 🌍 At VELUX, we’re rethinking how materials are designed, used, and reused – cutting emissions and creating more sustainable solutions. Read how we’re embracing circularity in this new World Economic Forum blog 👇 #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #VELUX