By Ditte Lysgaard Vind for The Ellen Macarthur Foundation

Luxurious, high-quality, handcrafted design, built to last, and made to be made again — created using scrap from your local landfill. Doesn’t exactly sound like your traditional premium-product description, does it? Yet, in the not-too-distant future, it might be just that.

One of the core goals of a circular economy is to eliminate waste generation and stop materials from ending up in landfill or being incinerated. This is a task carried out in two different ways. In the medium to long term, we need to, and will, design our way out…

By James Woolven, Editor, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Measuring financial results, customer retention, productivity, and inventory are all commonplace, but these measurements alone are no longer enough to tell a business whether it will stand the test of time. To be successful, it is becoming increasingly clear that businesses need to consider their social and environmental impact — or else be caught out by changing legislation or left behind by customers. What once could be simply written off as a ‘negative externality’ now has financial implications and has to be central to business strategies. …

What is circular design and why is it at the heart of a regenerative future?

By Simon Widmer, Design Network and Creative Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Look around you. Almost everything you see has been designed by someone. Your chair. The building you are in. Your clothes. And not just physical things, but also all of the services you use and the experiences that make up day to day life. How you order and get your food. The mobility and communication systems that connect you with your loved ones.

There are many definitions of and perspectives on design. Many agree that designing is about creating with intent, about addressing needs, and about moving towards preferred…

Why renewable energy and efficiency alone won’t cut it

By James Woolven, Editor, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

In the five years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, commitments have been made to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy. But this is only part of the equation. To achieve net-zero by 2050, we need to address the way we make and use products, materials, and food. We need a circular economy.

Five years ago, the world’s nations gathered in Le Bourget, near Paris, to discuss, draft, and adopt what has since become known as the Paris Agreement. The document, which has been signed by 196 countries to date, became the first global consensus on the need to address the devastating impacts of climate change. It commits its signatories to containing global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a feat that requires tremendous collaboration.

So where are we now, five years down the line?

Some 192 countries around the world, the emitters of 96%…

By Tansy Robertson-Fall, Senior Editor, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

As the renewable energy sector grows, high-capacity long-life battery storage is fundamental to its success. How these batteries are designed and made will define their environmental impact for generations to come. Creating a circular economy for batteries is crucial to prevent one of the solutions to the current environmental crisis becoming the cause of another.

The renewable energy sector is growing at an exponential rate. In 2020, for the first time, renewables have generated more electricity in the UK than fossil fuels and according to the International Energy Agency solar energy is now the “cheapest electricity in history”. Yet while the capacity of the renewable energy sector is strengthening, renewables still only account for 11% of the world’s primary energy. …

By James Woolven, Editor, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The problem of plastic pollution is well documented. If you type it into Google, you get about 180 million results in less than a second. This article is not about plastic pollution. It is about solutions.

It is obvious now that we are not going to recycle our way out of this problem and we cannot pull plastic out of the ocean at the rate we are putting it in. Burying it in the ground is not a long-term solution and burning it is just plain wasteful — not to mention highly polluting…

Addressing climate change and biodiversity loss while

By Tansy Robertson-Fall, Senior Editor, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Climate, biodiversity, human health. These pressing global challenges are all connected by one vital sector of the economy: food. More than a third of the world’s land is currently dedicated to food production. How we manage that land impacts levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, whether plants, insects, and animals can thrive, and if people have access to a nutritious diet.

While the current food system has supported a fast-growing population and fuelled economic development, productivity gains have come at a cost. Deforestation for…

By Janez Potočnik

The author was European Commissioner for Environment from 2009 until 2014, and during his tenure initiated the European Resource Efficiency Platform, which resulted in the adoption of the first European Circular Economy Package. A former Minister for European Affairs of Slovenia, Potočnik is today co-chair of the International Resource Panel (IRP), and Partner at SYSTEMIQ, he serves as a special advisor on sustainability to European Commissioner for the Environment & Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius.

There is almost complete consensus that we want an economy which better serves people’s needs, creates better resilience and, in so doing…