The technology of capturing CO2 emissions from large point sources like power plants or industrial facilities before they enter the atmosphere. The captured CO2 can then be stored underground or used in various applications, reducing the carbon footprint of these operations.
A natural or artificial reservoir that absorbs and stores more carbon than it releases, effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Examples include forests, oceans, soil, and engineered systems. Carbon sinks play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by sequestering greenhouse gases and are integral to carbon cycle management in circular economy strategies.
A scientific method that studies ecological changes over time by comparing sites of different ages but similar environmental conditions. Chronosequences help understand natural regeneration, biodiversity restoration, and long-term impacts of land management on ecosystems.
A method of evaluating both financial and non-financial performance to accurately capture the value, impact, and sustainability of circular business models.
These are innovative business approaches that prioritize circularity. Examples include product-as-a-service models, sharing platforms, and resource recovery systems.
Circular design is an approach that incorporates the principles of the circular economy into the design process to create products and systems aimed at minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency. Key elements of circular design include reuse, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling, ensuring that products have extended lifecycles and their materials are continually repurposed. By focusing on design for longevity, modularity, and the use of recyclable or biodegradable materials, circular design promotes sustainability and reduces the environmental impact of production and consumption.
Explore our 15 Principles of Circular Industrial Design.
The circular economy concept focuses on how value can be created and value loss reduced or avoided by addressing waste. This waste negatively impacts resource conservation, efficiency, and productivity.
This is integrating circularity principles into an organization's purchasing processes. It prioritizes acquiring recycled, reusable, and recyclable materials and products.
Circular sourcing refers to obtaining materials, components, or energy in a way that supports circularity, including sourcing secondary (recovered) or renewable resources, and prioritizing inputs with minimal environmental and social impact.
Examples:
- Using recycled plastics instead of virgin plastic in packaging.
- Choosing suppliers who provide remanufactured or refurbished components.
- Sourcing metals from e-waste recovery operations.
This involves integrating closed-loop processes across an entire product supply chain, from material sourcing to manufacturing, distribution, use, and end-of-life recovery.
Circularity lies at the heart of the circular economy. Our team members empower businesses to create practices and systems that minimize waste and keep materials circulating in loops.
Organized data that reflects critical metrics of circular performance for a product or organization—such as minimizing waste, reducing resource use, and enhancing closed-loop systems.
These are indicators used to measure an organization's circular performance. Standard metrics include recycling rates, material circularity, waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Intense worry or unease about global warming and its consequences. This distress often stems from perceived inadequate political action and society's apparent indifference to the looming environmental crisis.
The climate crisis encompasses the urgent and severe impacts of climate change, driven primarily by human activities, on the environment and societies worldwide. It involves the long-term alteration of Earth's average temperatures and weather patterns, largely caused by the emission of greenhouse gases from activities like burning fossil fuels. This process, known as global warming, has raised Earth's average surface temperature by approximately 1 degree Celsius since the pre-industrial era, accelerating in recent decades due to human-induced factors. We are in the middle of the climate crisis with leading researchers now talking about the 'climate endgame'.
A closed-loop system is a production system designed to be waste-free and self-sustaining. Materials circulate in a perpetual loop - being recovered, reused, and recycled repeatedly.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a recent European Union legislation mandating large companies to disclose comprehensive reports on their environmental and social impacts regularly.
Its primary goals are to enhance transparency and facilitate comparisons of sustainability data across businesses. The CSRD encompasses key aspects such as environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance practices, significantly broadening the scope of previous reporting obligations. Moreover, it introduces requirements for third-party audits to ensure the credibility and accuracy of sustainability disclosures.
Learn more about CSRD.
This term describes a biomimetic design approach modeling human production on nature's cycles. It focuses on creating systems that are waste-free and regenerative.