Transcript 0:00 There are certainly some companies getting this right, and I believe they're doing amazing things, but we have to want to design it from the beginning. 0:12 If the security hacks we are seeing is telling us anything, it's proving that we have a lot to improve on. 0:22 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:41 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. Are we moving to the circular economy fast enough? 0:52 That is the question I'm going to answer here on segment one today. A new report gives us some good data to dig into, and I uncover some other interesting findings that I want to share with you. 1:08 I will also give you my thoughts on if we are moving fast enough and what needs to happen next. 1:15 But first, later on in the show, I will be interviewing a couple of women who have been named technology winners of Women In Technology. 1:24 First up, I will be talking to Alisa Beyer-Lens, co-founder and COO of Kintra Fibers. And then I'm gonna wrap up the show with Gemma Barberis, COO of Life Brands. So let's get started. 1:40 Is the circular economy happening fast enough? Now, that's the question. First, let me quickly define a circular economy for those of you who might not know the definition. 1:53 The traditional linear economy of take, make, waste is when we see material flow directly from resource extraction through manufacturing processes to landfills. This method has reached its capacity. 2:10 A circular economy is being more restorative by design. Its objective is to reduce the load by reusing and redeveloping resources through a more renewable process. 2:25 If your company is going to embark on this journey, it is important to know the basics. These building blocks are critical to getting this right. 2:36 Now, let's kind of dig into that, uh, idea in the report I mentioned earlier. 2:42 A survey, a recent one, by DNV, a world business council for sustainable development, shows that the circular economy is rising on corporate agendas across geographies. 2:55 Roughly three in four companies are either analyzing or discussing the circular economy. Now, this is actually really good news, certainly, but going even deeper tells kind of a different story. 3:11 Only 12% have made it a core to current business strategies, and only 12.1% see digital technologies as a key driver of circular economy transformation. 3:28 Now, in my opinion, that's the word yikes. I will get back to that in just a minute. The report does show many companies are focused more on process and production innovation. 3:41 Things such as resource recovery and product-like extension rank high. I mean, think about that, you know, products extension only rank high. I want you to think about that just for a minute again. 3:57 However, few have moved into a more advanced business models, innovation such as product as a service and sharing platforms. Many companies are considering a circular approach for one key reason: cost savings. 4:15 Obviously, but I have some concerns about that. If the objective is to save money rather than to improve circularity, I think we might miss some of the big pieces along the way. 4:29 The report shows only 24.7% determine initial level baseline of circularity before implementing initiatives. 4:40 Another 26.7% set specific goals and targets, while again, now I'm giving you a lot of percentages here, 19.8% have identified performance indicators that pose a significant barrier to progress. 4:59 Now, here is really what's scary to me. Roughly 65.6% use their own circular measurement framework rather than a benchmarked frameworks. But think about that. 5:14 That just isn't going to cut it if you want to achieve anything. So here's my takeaway from this report. The majority of companies are looking to the circular economy. But let's get real here, folks. 5:30 Very few, and I mean very few, have actually taken the necessary steps to truly get there. This is echoed in the Circularity Gap Report. 5:43 If we continue on the path we are on, we will emit 65 billion, did you hear what I said? 65 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and that's just around the corner. But let me say this. 5:59 We can fix this.If we are willing to make some big changes, we can fix it and we can reverse the damage we have done if we reduce global emissions by thirty-nine percent by 2030. Now, we can do it. 6:18 We also need to reduce our total material footprint by twenty-eight percent by twen- 2030. The Circular Gap Report shows we need to double global circularity from eight point six percent to seventeen percent. 6:35 In order to get there, companies need the right goals. They need the right goals. They need to focus on reducing waste. They need to be using technology, and yes, it will impact both the bottom line as well. 6:51 Some reports predict a restorative and regenerative economy has the potential to generate as much as four point five trillion by as early as 2030. 7:03 Yeah, we've talked about the big T word, trillion, but that shouldn't be our only motivating factor. If we are only seeing dollars, then we might not see the ultimate results that we need. 7:17 So let's revisit that question I posed at the onset of this episode. Are we moving to the circular economy fast enough? So here's my opinion. Straight out, no. 7:32 We are not moving fast enough, and I believe some companies might be moving actually in the wrong direction. This is why I wrote the book Sustainable in a Circular World. 7:46 My objective was to educate companies on how to design and restore natural ecosystems through innovation. I identify the forces shaping sustainability, including generational differences and social connections. 8:02 I give an inside peek into the technological revolution and how that is essential to moving to a circular economy. 8:11 There are certainly some companies getting this right, and I believe they're doing amazing things, but we have to want to design it from the beginning. 8:23 If the security hacks we are seeing is telling us anything, it's proving that we have a lot to improve on. 8:32 That is why in the book, I share case studies that demonstrate key industries like mining, and elevators, and concrete, and construction, and cities, and agriculture, and food have a lot of improvement, but are improving and are showing us that you can do things right. 8:49 There are absolutely companies that are getting it right, and they're showing us that they can get it right. 8:56 Earlier this month, more than fifty organizations called for inclusion of stable, long-term clean energy and transportation tax ins- incentives in a budget reconci- reconciliation package. 9:12 The coalition noted the robust set of clean energy and transportation initiatives 9:20 are not just a critical piece of addressing the climate crisis, but what's more critical could also drive significant economic growth as the clean energy sector becomes increasingly important. 9:37 We also see government making significant moves, really big moves here. Consider the example from Egypt. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi 9:49 has called upon the international community, financial institutions, and the private sector to come together to spark a green recovery to help meet the UN's 2030 sustainable development goals. 10:06 You gotta love what he is saying about the environment. The good news here is that our drumbeat now is getting louder since he is walking the talk that I've been espousing. 10:21 We're seeing more companies and countries stepping up. He is stressing that the environment is a main pillar of development that will preserve resources and safeguard the rights of future generations. 10:34 He sees the need to save future generations. There are absolutely some companies, and I just said governments, and individuals who get it, and that's what we need. 10:44 We need more of unity here, but there are also some others that are taking a very long time and even shortcuts here. You can't take shortcuts when we're talking about sustainability. So here's my tip. 11:00 Do your research on the circular economy. Use benchmarked frameworks to measure your progress, not just your own. Benchmark, benchmarks, benchmark frameworks. Collaborate with partners. Oh, partners are so essential. 11:18 Use technology here. I'm not sure how we are going to make progress without partners, without technology. We need the next generation of skilled innovators to help restore our ecosystem through technology. 11:33 If we're going to create a sustainable future, we need digital transformation and innovation collaboratively working together, and again, together, together, together, quickly. And you know what? 11:47 We need to understand the time is now. Don't wait until it's too late. We hear that all the time, but we have to work together. 11:54 And it's interesting because sometimes we think we have a lot of time, and we can wait till the future, but we don't have the future because you know what? We d- we don't want another Easter Island. 12:05 And you might say, "Well, you know, when you've heard about Easter Island, why does that matter?"What really matters is we have to understand the generational differences. 12:14 I wrote about this and I talk about it often that we, we have to look at things right now. We just celebrated 20 years since 9/11, and we saw what happened when the greatest generation, you know, fought for us. 12:30 And now we have, since then, we look at now what's happened since we've had others who have fought for and lost lives since 9/11. We have to understand each other's commitments to this country and other countries. 12:46 We have to understand that each generation comes and looks at things differently, and we have to respect our differences. 12:53 But we have to understand together for the first time in our history, as I've said this so many times, each generation is walking a different plight. But together, when we walk together, we can make great things happen. 13:10 So we have to understand climate, we have to understand sustainability, and circularity is a thing that we can all do together. 13:19 Because if we work together, we can change the destruction that we've done since the Industrial Revolution, and it's time that we think about it, and we need to put those benchmarks together to make those changes. 13:31 So I'm saying right now we're out of time, but here's what I want you to do. I want to know what you think. I ask yous many times to go up and tweet at me @ConnectedWMag, or I want you to post something on LinkedIn. 13:43 When you post something, that's when we have these great communications, and we can talk about it, and we can hear what you all think and post those conversations because we need to have a great dialogue for everything that we're having. 13:54 But if you haven't been up on our website, I want you to go up to our website at connectedworld.com or our show website at thepeggysmedley show.com. 14:02 But most importantly, if you haven't read my book, Sustainable in a Circular World, I want you to go up and get the book. 14:09 I want you to get the book, and I want you to tell me what you think, because most importantly, I want you to read that book, because there you can learn a lot of things, and maybe you know what? 14:19 That's the takeaway today, is get the book, read the book, and let's make some change. See how you can contribute to what's happening, because only together when we work together can we make a difference. 14:30 All right, I'm out of time for this segment, but what I want you to do is I want you to come back, go get a quick cup of coffee, because this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 14:42 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. We'll be right back. [upbeat music]
