stephenhinton

Multi capital scoring: how to measure what matters in the circular economy

As circular economy thinking takes hold among policy makers, civil servants and scientists, policy is tending towards circular as a strategy to reach environmental objectives. Hopes are that production systems will continue to deliver and indeed grow economically, but with far less material and fossil energy intensity. This article explains why that might not be so easy and offers a way forward.

Circular economy thinking is taking hold among policy makers, civil servants and scientists alike. For example, the Swedish Government formed its own Circular Economy Delegation last year and recently announced its national strategy for the Circular Economy. Facing reduced material availability and rapidly reducing use of fossil fuels to align with the Paris accord, Sweden hopes that its production system will continue to deliver and indeed grow economically, but with far less material and fossil energy intensity. This article explores some of the theoretical and practical challenges of measuring what matters in order to help frame policy and effectively pursue strategy.

Circular economy comes free

This article attempts to answer the question of “what would it cost for a nation to transition to the circular economy?” with “actually not a lot”. To explain this rather startling position you’ll need to bear with me while I explain the importance of a firm’s infrastructure for investment, what a circular business model is, where circular infrastructure fits and then where the money will come from to make new infrastructure and finally – what it will cost in terms of investment.

Circular city logistics

This article comes from the book “Inventing for the Sustainable Planet” a novel which asks the question “if you were to visit a city that was sustainable- what would it look like?” The novel about the city of Porena contains several far-reaching ideas including the idea of global design with local assembly. In this section the book’s hero, Max Wahlter, describes how circular manufacturing needs circular local city logistics to be sustainable.

Three hacks that could put capitalism back into its box

My recent article on how come capitalism is an extractive practice, and the later explainer of how it degrades real capital got, for me at least, a lot of interest. Very few, however, asked what could be done about it. Let’s do just that. We have described the problem, now we can get on and solve it. There are three ways to limit the destructive power of the capitalist form of production and its toxic side kick, free markets .They are surprisingly simple. Read on!

System description – where are the disconnects? #2

Three overwhelming global disasters are facing us – climate change, the Coronavirus pandemic, and unknown, transformative socio- economic changes in the Coronavirus aftermath. Some of these socio-economic changes, like the reduction in air travel, if sustained, will have positive effects in support of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Time to take a step back and look at what is not working before making any changes.

System description – where are the disconnects? #1

The COVID crisis is exposing many ways in which society isn’t working. We need to get to the root cause. What better way than to start by mapping the system as-is? My recent post system description gave a high-level description of the system we live in. We identified six entities and twenty-one flows. All but two of the entities are man-made, so if we can make something and it doesn’t work work well we can surely improve it? Once we have mapped the system we need to look for disconnects. Disconnects are where things don’t work as they should.

System description

In order to change something you need to see how it is from the start. We identify 21 vital flows in the system representing economic transactions and relationships to natural capital. The three main types of flow are:

Material flows, for example minerals, products, waste (in BLUE)
Flows of money representing economic transactions (in GREEN)
Work – selling of citizens’ time to firms and authorities (in RED)

Circular Economy manufacturing the Porena way

This article comes from the book “Inventing for the Sustainable Planet” a novel which asks the question “if you were to visit a city that was sustainable- what would it look like?” The novel about the city of Porena contains several far-reaching ideas including the idea of global design with local assembly. In this section we meet an article written by the book’s hero, Max Wahlter, after a visit to “the future” to investigate sustainable logistics and manufacturing.

Pivot Projects seeks to inform post-covid strategy for net zero carbon

Understanding that as a species humans cannot go on as we were, 140 experts, academics and volunteers across the world are coming together to engage with policy agenda of the G20, COP26, EU and UK Government. The group will provide post-COVID19 stimulus policies that are socially fair; stimulate economic growth; and accelerate our transformation to a sustainable planet.

Worryingly, the outlook as we emerge from the restrictions is bleak. If we are to reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 and have any hope of limiting the rise in global average temperatures to a level that will not cause a societal catastrophe, we have to achieve 15% of reduction in carbon emissions *every year*.

Stephen Hinton volunteered to work in the area of sustainable infrastructure. If you would like to join the project, please visit the Pivot Projects Website.

Citizen-centric circular business modelling

The EU from its perspective, and likewise many of its member countries with their own efforts, are backing the idea of the circular economy. The urgency of a looming materials shortage is getting a lot of policy makers into thinking materials should circulate rather than be used up. More bang for fewer materials is the idea. The strategy is to use all available means to educate, goad, tax, regulate and otherwise “nudge” companies into going circular. At the center of this is the idea of a circular business model.