The circular economy ‒ reusing materials and reducing waste ‒ is a critical strategy for delivering a lower-emission, more sustainable future. It’s the goal of countless regulatory initiatives, not least the United Nations Plastic Treaty currently under negotiation and has been adopted as a key part of the business vernacular. However, despite this rising tide of corporate commitments and regulatory targets, the global economy remains wedded to an extractive, rather than circular, model.
Businesses have been slow to fully embrace circularity for multiple reasons, not least economics. Corporate targets today remain stubbornly focused on individual companies, rather than on measures that would enable the entire circular value chain to thrive. Companies need to explore different ways of building relationships across industries for circularity to flourish.
In this Horizons Live, our panel focus on three key initiatives across different industries – electronics, plastics and biofuels ‒ where companies have come together in precisely this manner, pointing a way forward for other sectors too. Through joined-up thinking, a pathway to increased circularity remains open. Our panel includes:
- Simon Flowers, Chairman and Chief Analyst
- Guy Bailey, Head of Oils and Chemicals Markets
- Husam Taha, Principal Analyst, Plastics Sustainability
- Gordon McManus, Research Director, EMEARC Oils and Refining