Circular Economy Priorities for 2024
2023 marked a major milestone for SDG progress; the halfway point for implementation, as we move past that into 2024 we must increase our momentum. As stated in the 2023 Progress towards the SDGs report, ‘We cannot simply continue with more of the same and expect a different result. The global economy also needs to speed up the decoupling of economic growth from resource use by maximising the socio-economic benefits of resources while minimising their negative impacts.'
COP 28 signalled a need for urgency and also that businesses are best placed to invest and thereby deliver the change we need. When Oakdene Hollins started life in 1994, almost all of our clients were Governments or reliant on Government contracts. Not now. Every business can make a contribution to meeting Net Zero. And there is no Net Zero without a Circular Economy. This means businesses will be making decisions and developing new plans in 2024.
Our expectation is that European elections in June 2024 will signal that the current Parliament has been more ambitious than the electorate. The wave of commitment to environmental goals will likely sink back somewhat but the Commission work program beginning in November will have to reflect the many practical issues involved in implementing the many groundbreaking decisions taken since 2019. Whether ecodesign (espr), Green Deal, CBAM, Right to Repair, Green Claims, double materiality…the list is long.
We are advising our clients to push on with their plans but where policy change is expected or necessary, that they do not assume delivery of the policies intact and on schedule. In the meantime, collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society organisations is essential to drive progress. Increased dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and public-private partnerships can lead to the exchange of best practices and the scaling up of successful circular economy initiatives. Here is our 2024 to-do list for both Government and business.
Building supportive policy environments
Governments need to keep on building supportive policy environments that incentivise circular practices and ensure their effective implementation. This may involve the development of producer responsibility schemes or subsidies for some key supply chain infrastructure. It may involve fiscal incentives to accelerate the adoption of circular business models. There are now good practice models in many national and international jurisdictions…imitation is worth considering.
2. Harness the power of associations and collaboration
Building coalitions between businesses and civil society organizations is essential to drive progress. Harnessing the energy of NGO’s without undermining their credibility can accelerate progress and build new business opportunities for the new business models and products that we need. Trade Associations and NGO’s have an especially important role to play in 2024. We have worked with trade associations for decades and know how they can carefully raise the tempo of change in a sector.
3. Be open to Circular Economy opportunities
If you are not investigating the opportunities inside a more circular economy - your competitors certainly will be. There was a time when developing plans for Net Zero or the Circular Economy were a cost centre or a ‘nice to have’ but no longer. That idea is so 2020.
4. Acting for Nature
Whilst the world has begun to wake up to the importance of reducing GHG emissions to mitigate the most harmful impacts of climate change, there has been another crisis occuring- the biodiversity crisis. We can no longer just consider the impacts of our actions on carbon, companies must look to more holistic sustainability and circular economy strategies which consider impacts to biodiversity, land, water and natures contributions to people (NCPs).
We look forward to helping our clients during 2024 as Oakdene Hollins celebrates 30 years of helping clients. As always - we will offer our advice inside a robust, science-based framework. If it is time to start a conversation with external advisors and you have a budget - then do get in touch.