Climate action pledges are in full swing as COP26 beckons this year, one of
the most significant being the joint
communique
drawn up last week between the G7 nations. But while the focus remains on
cutting emissions, those within the circular economy movement believe such an
energy transition will only get us so far.
At the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Summit
21 last week (watch video of
the event here), Christiana Figueres —
former executive secretary for the UN Convention on Climate Change and now
founding partner at Global Optimism — spoke with
Dame Ellen
MacArthur
about how the climate movement may be blindsiding itself by overlooking the
potential of circular
thinking.
“We are addressing climate and emissions very much from a linear perspective,”
Figueres said. “We are still caught in this linear thinking; and we haven’t
closed the loop yet to figure out then, what happens?”
Figueres was instrumental in delivering the historic 2015 Paris
Agreement;
but like MacArthur, she feels that much of the climate conversation is about
switching to renewables — while the issue of designing waste out of industrial
systems isn’t really being talked about.
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“If we look at where we are progressing on solutions to climate, we are
definitely focusing on
energy
and
transport,
but 30 percent of our emissions come from land use. We can’t blind ourselves to
this,” she said.
She added: “We’re beginning to see much more potential to capture carbon out of
the
air
and sequester it back into the soil. CO~2~ in the air is nothing but a location
problem,
but CO~2~ in the soil is our friend. We should be thinking about location,
location, location. That is the natural cycle of CO~2~.”
In many respects, regenerative
agriculture
may hold the key when it comes to fixing the land use carbon cycle as it can
also offer a number of additional benefits such as improved soil health and
biodiversity. The question is, how to scale such farming solutions?
Another summit speaker, reNature founder Felipe
Villela, is supporting farmers who are shifting towards more sustainable
agri-production models, linking them with multinational food companies who want
to create more resilient supply chains.
“We have seen a lot of interest from corporates in looking at these practices.
One factor is the willingness to transition, if they are willing to learn about
this,” he said.
Better prices for farmers to help them offset some of the risk is paramount.
Villela pointed to buying models and contracts that could help accelerate this,
such as offtake agreements set at around 20 percent higher than the market
value.
Following Villela, Nestlé CEO
Mark Schneider said it was important that the company used its commercial
leverage to get such initiatives off the ground. He said that addressing supply
chain agricultural practices were a “major cornerstone” of Nestlé’s net-zero
roadmap
and a big part of reducing the company’s overall footprint.
“The transition is not going to be easy,” he added. “Fresh investment is needed,
additional training is needed … the farming community for many crops is the
weakest link when it comes to the supply chain; financially
speaking,
they are the most exposed. We have to help those communities to go through that
change.”
Meanwhile Hanneke Faber,
Unilever’s president of foods &
refreshment, said it was important for brands to help build, rather than
deplete,
biodiversity
— and that biodiversity will ultimately be driven by more diverse consumption.
“If we as big food suppliers don’t change what people
eat,
we are not going to create the shift that the planet needs.”
Faber pointed to the 50
foods
we need to eat more of, and added that retailers also had a “giant role” to play
in influencing what consumers eat. Looking ahead, that likely means going more
plant-based
— but also cutting down on foods with high sugar and salt content.
Later in the afternoon, MacArthur reflected on the impact of the pandemic while
in conversation with Wolfgang Blau, former global COO at Condé Nast. She
said while there were “evident ways” the circular economy had been slowed down
by the virus — global demand for PPE and single-use
plastic
being a case in point — there had also something of a mindset shift.
“People have stopped and reflected,” she said. “There has been a real focus on —
when we build back after this pandemic, what do we focus on? The circular
economy gives that answer in its restorative, value-creating
agenda.”
MacArthur acknowledged that with every transitional shift there will be winners
and losers, but asserted: “Everybody loses if we continue with business as
usual.” Asked by Blau who bears the most financial risk of this transition, she
replied: “That’s a good question. It’s a conversation we have been having with
companies for the past decade.”
She added: “Without question, there is a cost of transitioning towards a
circular economy; but you have to weigh that up with the cost of staying within
a linear economy.”
Emphasizing the importance of policy, MacArthur said a level playing field in
this regard would make the transition easier for business. It was a view echoed
by speaker Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the economics of innovation &
public value at University College London, who said responsibility for such
shifts should not be isolated to a few
governments,
or indeed companies.
“It has to go to the centre of how we think about economic and societal change,”
she observed. She maintained that governments need to take an outcomes-oriented
approach to policy — so, rather than fixing market failures, co-shape them with
others to build in resilience from the start.
“If we think of the circular economy as not something that is peripheral to the
economy, but central to it, then that’s where we are going to have change,”
Mazzucato concluded.
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Maxine Perella is an environmental journalist working in the field of corporate sustainability, circular economy and resource risk.
Published Jun 15, 2021 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST