Closed Loop Partners have launched a report that explores the sea change underway as four key drivers – market forces, recent innovations, changing policy and ground-breaking partnerships – push circularity forward.
Closed Loop Partners’ innovation centre, the Centre for the Circular Economy, announced the release of its report, The Circular Shift: Four Key Drivers of Circularity in North America (NA). The report highlights critical trends driving circularity in the region, putting circular economy solutions at the centre of business strategy, innovation development, policy changes, and new institutional partnerships.
The firm explained that events of 2020 have shed light on the importance of strong, stable, transparent systems, exposing the risks of overcomplicated, opaque supply chains and the limitations of continually extracting finite resources. In North America and around the world, supply chain disruptions, growing amounts of waste, and health and safety risks have called attention to the flaws of business-as-usual. Closed Loop Partners explains that as these challenges come to the fore, the urgency of rethinking systems that throw $10 billion (€8.54 billion) worth of resources into US landfills has increased. With growing investments and interest in less wasteful systems, the circular economy in North America is in the midst of a sea change.
Since 2014, Closed Loop Partners has been operating and investing in the circular economy, finding opportunities in the space and supporting its rapid growth across the US. Drawing from the firm’s investment intelligence and its Centre’s research, the report delves into the Four Key Drivers of the Circular Economy in North America, exploring how innovation, investment, policy and partnership act as key enablers of the emerging economic model.
According to Closed Loop Partners, these factors shape and strengthen the landscape for circularity as investable opportunities have noticeably advanced, with momentum and innovation in the space growing rapidly. Capitalising on the circular economy ultimately promises to recapture business value, offering a $4.5 trillion (€3.84 trillion) global opportunity by 2030, according to Accenture. Unexpected partnerships and visionary policy will be essential to accelerate the shift toward an economic model that is enduring, and able to withstand future shocks.
Closed Loop Partners added that the circular economy is not a singular solution, nor a short-term fix. To achieve circularity goals, such as decarbonisation and dematerialisation, change must be sweeping and collaboration must be far-reaching. Much like environmental solutions must include every stakeholder in the path forward, so must the circular economy.
“The clock is ticking on our current linear economic system and the circular economy offers a path forward: a robust framework that aligns the interests of shareholders, corporations, local communities and the environment,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Centre for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. Closed Loop Partners’ report builds on the achievements to date and the necessary actions to move forward, underscoring the urgency of focused investment, innovation opportunities, policy change and unexpected collaborations to achieve system-wide change.
To download the full report, click here.
