Industry: Circular economy is a tool to reduce carbon emissions, just ask Samsonite! The luggage manufacturer is ramping the use of recycled materials like plastic and aluminium to reduce scope 3 emissions by 52% by 2030. This target, based on a 2022 baseline, aligns with Samsonite's commitment to cut emissions through its value chain, which constitutes nearly 80% of its footprint.
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Research: What are the impacts on organisms of biobased materials? A pioneering study has found that higher concentrations of earthworms died after 72 hours exposed to polyester than natural materials, but this increased to 60% for lyocell and 80% for viscose. Earthworms exposed to viscose and lyocell also exhibited reduced reproduction and reduced growth. Perhaps it's time we focus reduction, reuse and repair instead of shifting the problem of overproduction and overconsumption to a different material? π€
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Policy: LA is sueing Pepsi and Coca-Cola for greenwashing. This lawsuit claims that Pepsi and Coca-Cola misled the public about the recyclability of their plastic bottles and downplayed the negative environmental and human health imapcts of plastic disposal. The top 2 companies have been named the world's top plastic polluters for the last five consectutive years, with Coca-Cola taking the number 1 spot for 6 years, according to Break Free From Plastic. The companies state their bottles are 100% recyclable and 100% recycled. However, in reality a lot of plastic bottles end up in the environment and can only be recycled a liminted number of times, not endlessly. Coca-Cola produces a huge 3.224 million metric tons of plastic and PepsiCo produces approx. 2.5 million metric tons of plastic and annually.
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Debunked!π€¦ββοΈ
Myth: Circular economy relies solely on consumer behaviour
Fact: Consumer habits and societal pressures can stimulate demand for circularity. However, collaboration between businesses, academia, the private sector and policymakers is crucial to achieve a successful transition. From developing circular infrastructure to financial mechanisms to make circularity more viable, collaboration is key!
Sustainability Trends for 2025
As we enter a new year, what sustainability trends should you look out for in 2025? Read on below!
Uncertain geopolitical landscape for climate change
We enter 2025 with the return of a Trump Presidency. President-Elect Trump is a known climate skeptic who has repeatedly called climate change a 'hoax'. In his last administration, Trump supported energy development on federal land, including gas and oil drilling in near national monuments and in national forests parks including the whole coastal eastern plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His administration also approved 2 new controversial oil pipes, allowed drilling in nearly all U.S. waters and oversaw the largest expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing ever proposed.
His new administration isn't poised to look much better. His pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, earned just a 5% rating by the League of Conservation Voters, a scorecard that tracks the voting records of members of Congress on environmental issues. Although he has said that he believes climate change is real, a low bar, but a depature from Trump's previous picks, he has voiced opinions that climate policies harm the economy. Despite the effects of climate change having proveneconomic costs through physical damages, health, agriculture and the slowdown of economic activity. In fact, the horrific ongoing LA fires are estimated to have caused over $250 billion in economic loss and damages!
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So what could this mean in 2025? Prepare to see the Trump Administration scrap as many pieces of environmental legislation as possible in the US, remove themselves from the Paris Agreement for the 2nd time and join the low ambition groups in multilateral agreements, such as INC5.2 for the Global Plastics Treaty. It's likely that this will bolster climate skepticism in other countries around the world. In fact a US-based climate denial group called Heartland recently opened their first regional office in London, with sitting MPs in attendance.
However, it is also likely we see governments around the world step up in their climate leadership in the US' absence!
Environmental disclosure isn't going anywhere
2025 will be the first year of CSRD reporting for publically listed companies that meet 2 out of the 3 criteria:
Total assets β¬20m
Net turnover of β¬40m
500 employees
These companies will submit their disclosures on their environmental impacts, risks and opportunities, strategy and metrics and targets. They'll also be preparing disclosures on their material topics including Climate Change, Pollution, Water/Marine Resources, Biodiversity and Ecosystems and Resource Use and Circular Economy.
In the following years, more and more companies will be required to disclose to the CSRD if they have operations in the EU, including SMEs and companies headquartered outside the EU.
We will also see harmonisation efforts to simplify the regulatory landscape (music to corporates ears I'm sure!) The EUβs proposed Omnibus simplification package aims to align regulations such as the CSRD, CSDDD, and EU Taxonomy to simplify compliance and enhance comparability without compromising on sustainability and social fairness.
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Circular economy reporting is a relatively new field. It's infancy has it's positives, as we're seeing international organizations such as the World Business Council of Sustainable Development and the International Standards Organization developing these in collaboration with stakeholders in the space. This should hopefully avoid a fractured landscape, as seen with climate, from the onset. I will be sitting on both these committees so will be sure to keep you updated!
Greenwashing is OUT!
Consumers and regulators are demanding greater transparency. Greenwashing just won't fly anymore.
We have seen multiple companies criticised and/or taken to court over greenwashing. From ExxonMobil being sued by California over recyclability claims of their plastic products and H&M in Norway being criticised for advertising their 'Conscious' line as sustainable without the credentials to back it up.
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So what could this mean in 2025? Expect to see increased enforcement through regulatory penalties of the EU Green Claims Directive and similar policies globally. More and more companies will work hard to position their green claims as credible, backed by science and third-party verification to avoid reputational damage and increase consumer trust.
Circular Digest recommends...
π¨Scarce Cityat the National Gallery Singapore. What does it mean to have enough in today's society, where resources are being depleted faster than we can replenish them? I went to this amazing exhibit, based off Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics theory. In a small group, we navigated a resource management game. I loved this thought experiment, exploring how many resources we actually needed, in an increasingly scarce world, and what it meant for our neighbours. Bringing to the forefront the issues of resource exploitation and use, this experience was set in a 3D-printed world made from over 4,000 pieces of recycled plastic!
Elizabeth Mak, Scarce City, 2025. Photography by CRISPI
What did you think of this edition of Circular Digest? If you have any thoughts, questions, or ideas for future content, reply to this email. π
β See you next month!
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Kayleigh
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