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  1. Global challenges
  2. Circular Economy

Circular Economy

Our vision for the circular economy goes beyond recycling: it requires an organisation to radically rethink its relationships with suppliers and end-users too, accessing new skills and developing new incentives, so that value is retained and regenerated as waste is avoided as much as possible and materials are re-circulated within the system.

For example, consumer furore around plastics has sparked a frenzy of activity in this space: improvements to recycling, inventing compostable alternatives, creating models for monetising and reusing plastic items like cups and bottles, spurring activism, such as the ‘plastic attacks’ rejecting packaging in-store, and cleaning up existing pollution, as well as a spate of business and government pledges.  Yet, our failure thus far to translate the attention into meaningful, widespread change shows the importance of taking a step back, looking at the root of the problem, and asking how we can restructure the whole system.

What are our goals?

  • To help you understand the full set of risks and opportunities that a transition to the circular economy will pose to your business
  • To help you develop targets and strategies that not enable your business to capitalise on these circular opportunities, while concurrently mitigating the associated risks
  • To help you to imagine and then prototype new products, new businesses models, and broader innovations that allow you to transition to a more circular business
  • Build ‘unusual’ yet powerful coalitions to conceive, develop, implement and scale-up the transformative solutions and interventions we need to reconfigure systems towards circularity

If you would like any further information on our work on the circular economy please don’t hesitate to contact Principal Project Manager, Martin Hunt. His recent article on the built environment can be read here.

We're tracking this challenge live on the Futures Centre, head over to see what #signalsofchange we're spotting.

Tackling Microfibres at Source

Tackling Microfibres at Source

Tackling Microfibres at Source offers textile manufacturers, brands and fashion retailers an opportunity to design intervention strategies. Learnings and insights from this project will be shared across the fashion industry pre-competitively in order to accelerate change. Read more

Published: 20th December, 2021

Updated: 19th January, 2022

Author: Fern Yu

A Compass for Just and Regenerative Business

A Compass for Just and Regenerative Business

In partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Forum sets out a working definition of what it means for a business to be ‘just and regenerative’ and provides practical guidance on how to get there. The report, ‘A Compass for Just and Regenerative Business’, launched in November 2021, and provides a ‘Business Transformation Compass’ to support you in navigating change - and putting theory into practice. Read more

Published: 15th November, 2021

Updated: 29th July, 2022

Author: Ulrike Stein

Circular Leap Asia

Circular Leap Asia

A new Forum report shines a light on the huge untapped potential of fashion manufacturers to contribute to the fashion sector’s circular transformation and highlights the opportunity to recalibrate industry power dynamics as the industry emerges from the COVID-19 crisis. Read more

Published: 1st September, 2020

Updated: 15th July, 2022

Author: Madeleine Wild

Re-usable Buildings Pathfinder

Re-usable Buildings Pathfinder

“The future of the building marketplace is one where traditional construction is a thing of the past, where reconstruction and redeployment are commonplace. A world where buildings can be flexibly changed, adapted, expanded and reduced according to demand or use. Read more

Published: 9th April, 2019

Author: Madeleine Wild

Auto Loop: How to close the automotive loop

Auto Loop: How to close the automotive loop

We undertook an investigation to understand how the automotive industry is exploring closed loop models, where are the opportunities, barriers and recommendations for a more sustainable automotive industry. Read more

Published: 12th March, 2019

Updated: 9th April, 2019

Author: Madeleine Wild

Eliminating single-use plastics with Asian food delivery companies

Eliminating single-use plastics with Asian food delivery companies

Promising convenience, affordability and choice for busy consumers, food delivery services have burgeoned in recent years, particularly in Asia. In 2015, the Asia Pacific region accounted for nearly half the total value of global home food delivery, and it’s expected to be the industry’s fastest growing region in the next 2 years. Read more

Published: 25th September, 2018

Updated: 15th June, 2020

Author: Madeleine Wild

#OneLess

#OneLess

The #OneLess campaign has been leading the charge against ocean plastic pollution since 2016, focusing on the pervasive single-use plastic water bottle. Because everything we do touches the ocean. Read more

Published: 18th April, 2018

Updated: 15th March, 2021

Author: Madeleine Wild

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Showing 10 of 7

Latest

  • Reuters Events: Energy Transition Asia Pacific 2022

    Reuters Events: Energy Transition Asia Pacific 2022

    Reuters Events: Energy Transition Asia Pacific 2022 (30 November-1st December, Online) unites public and private sector leaders to establish the region's net zero strategy. Define the future energy system, map out business and governance pathways and explore leading technologies and solutions to accelerate and secure an equitable transition.

  • Framing the future as ‘just and regenerative’: why and how

    Framing the future as ‘just and regenerative’: why and how

    At Forum for the Future we have set our vision as a just and regenerative future, and our mission is to accelerate the transition towards it. A just and regenerative approach means strengthening the capacity of all living systems to adapt, replenish and regenerate; respecting everyone’s human rights and potential to thrive; and rewiring our economies and societies to serve both people and the planet.

  • New Coalition formed to mobilise private sector on climate and health

    New Coalition formed to mobilise private sector on climate and health

    International sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future and leading healthcare businesses Bupa, Haleon, Reckitt and Walgreens Boots Alliance have joined forces to mobilise and equip the private sector to accelerate the integrated transformation of health and climate systems, delivering benefits for both people and planet.

  • Re-imagining Future Value Chains

    Re-imagining Future Value Chains

    A futures and innovation process to drive development of resilient, regenerative and just agricultural value chains in an increasingly disrupted world

Most read

  • The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability

    The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability

    The Five Capitals Model provides a basis for understanding sustainability in terms of the economic concept of wealth creation or ‘capital’. Any organisation will use five types of capital to deliver its products or services. A sustainable organisation will maintain and where possible enhance these stocks of capital assets, rather than deplete or degrade them.

  • Reinventing the way the world works.

    Reinventing the way the world works.

    Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability non-profit. We specialise in addressing critical global challenges by catalysing change in key systems, from food to apparel, energy to shipping. We do this by convening transformational collaborations to drive change, by partnering with organisations to help them lead by example, and by building a global community of pioneers and change makers.

  • Jobs

    We are a growing organisation and we are regularly on the look out for new recruits to join our teams around the world.

  • Become a system change agent

    Become a system change agent

    Learn more about upcoming system change programmes and express your interest.

  • Sustainability and system change

    Sustainability and system change

    Climate change, malnutrition, inequality, poverty, ecological degradation. The global challenges we face are so urgent and tricky that we need a solution to match their scale and complexity. This is where system change comes in. We use systems thinking to understand the web of interrelations that create complex problems, anticipate unintended consequences, and identify how and where to take action to meet the SDG goals.

  • What is Net Positive?

    What is Net Positive?

    We reinvent strategies for a 1.5°C world. Our Net Positive approach helps business put back more into society and environment than it takes out. Unilever’s pioneering commitment to eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and directly support the generation of more renewable energy than they consume was driven behind the scenes by Forum.

  • Growing our Future USA

    Growing our Future USA

    Working together to accelerate the transition to a just and regenerative agriculture system in the United States.

  • Trailblazing sustainability strategies

    Trailblazing sustainability strategies

    Leadership in the 2020s is about your organisation’s ability to positively influence its operating context. We help you to understand the opportunities, and then how to unlock them.

  • Cotton 2040

    Cotton 2040

    Cotton 2040 aims to create a resilient cotton industry in an increasingly climate-disrupted world by bringing together stakeholders across the value chain.

  • 6 ways Unilever has achieved success through sustainability - and how your business can too

    6 ways Unilever has achieved success through sustainability - and how your business can too

    A year ago this week, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), one of the most ambitious strategies that a global company has ever embarked on. Pioneering a bold new business model, the company pledged to double in size at the same time as halving its environmental footprint.

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Forum for the Future is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 22-26 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4QE, UK. Charity No. 1040519. Company No. 2959712. VAT Reg. No. GB 186 2230 12.