Page 1 - Circular Economy - Andrew J. Minson

point of view

CirCular EConomy Andrew J. Minson

1. IntroductIon Circular economy brings together concepts such as reducing
resource depletion, recycling, waste reduction and reduction in
The climate and biodiversity topics are currently at the forefront landfill. It is an umbrella term and at times is a means to an end,
of the international sustainability agenda and the 17 UN unlike reduction in greenhouse gases and reversing biodiversity
Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) provide an underlying losses which are ends in themselves. Circular economy is widely
and more broad-based set of targets and communication used, for example:
framework for countries, cities and companies. In September
2019 the UN hosted their Climate Action Summit to boost • Moving from linear thinking to circular economy thinking
ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris has been an underpinning influence on European
Agreement on Climate Change. In September 2020 alongside Commission policy, and their policy implementation for
the UN General Assembly there will be the Biodiversity Leaders’ construction and industry more widely, for more than
Summit ahead of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity two decades. Most recently for example, the voluntary
event to finalise a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. And sustainable building assessment method that the
as for the UN SDGs, signed in 2015, these are goals for 2030 so commission hopes to launch in 2020, called LEVELs, is
with a decade to go, 2020 is the year for many “a decade to go” introduced in documentation in terms of circular economy
events. (European Commission 2019).

At the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), we are • Perhaps the most influential NGO in circular economy is
acting together with members and affiliates, on all these issues the Ellen Macarthur Foundation which was launched in
as would be expected of an organisation that has been founded 2010 and it has become a major global influencer with
by members from around the globe, to speak on behalf of the companies, governments and the UN. It has global reach.
industry to global audiences. For example, GCCA was at the For example, in 2016 it published “Circular Economy In
September 2019 UN Climate Action Summit hosting an industry India: Rethinking Growth For Long-Term Prosperity” (Ellen
event explaining commitments from the cement and concrete Macarthur Foundation, 2016).
industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; we are gearing
up to be part of international biodiversity events in 2020; and, • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
and at our annual conference in USA in October 2020 we are Development published a report on Circular Economy as
addressing the theme of SDGs. recently as April 2019, and I have more on that later.

So, whilst currently climate change, biodiversity and the UN
Sustainability Development Goals are perhaps pre-eminent we
do need to continue using the language of circular economy.
And through this lens we, as a cement and concrete industry,
have a great story to tell. But first, more from the OECD report
in April.

2. oEcd BusInEss ModEls for cIrcular
EconoMy
“Business Models for the Circular Economy: Opportunities
and Challenges for Policy” (OECD 2019) states “there is no
single definition of the circular economy” (p20) but does
offer: “Previous OECD work in this area highlights three main
mechanisms [to ultimately lower rates of natural resource
extraction]:

• closing resource loops (the diversion of waste from disposal
Benjamin Sporton CEO GCCA chairing cement industry panel at UN and subsequent transformation into secondary raw
Climate Action Summit New York, September 2019. materials).

The IndIan ConCreTe Journal | JanuarY 2020 19