Welcome to the circular economy event of the year, World Circular Economy Forum 2021, on 13-15 September 2021!
Hosted for the first time in North America, WCEF 2021 will focus on the system level changes, or “game changers,” needed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
This model reinforces Wallonia's objective of renewing its industry and will ensure that the region is better able to cope with future crises.
The strategy will achieve this by fully integrating the alterations and adaptations required by climate change, and by making Wallonia more independent in terms of resources and global supply chains.
Wallonia’s vision is based on the following guidelines:
Moving towards a carbon-neutral economy;
Moving towards a resilient and inclusive economy;
Stimulating innovation as a catalyst with emphasis on the digital transition and nature-based solutions.
Particular attention is paid to the six value chains: Construction, Plastics, Food, Water, Textiles and Metallurgy.
Over the past decades concepts such as sustainability and industrial development have slowly come to the same operational logic, as demonstrated by a growing interest in exploring and describing the synergy between developments in the circular economy and industrial digitalisation. There is agreement on their complementarity evolution paths, but no outlook is available regarding the co-evolution staging and structuring. This paper based on desk and empirical research presents an approach to outline the likely path of evolution.
So far, the notion of transition to sustainability has been applied in single sector studies, while reality indicates that the systemic change required cuts across thematic technologies and sectors. The approach taken can be useful to enrich current analyses.
Complex product categories such as IT involve a considerable degree of social and environmental risks. TCO Development, the organisation behind the sustainability certification for IT products TCO Certified, has launched the new report Navigating the Sustainable IT Revolution – The critical role of independent verification.
Grover rents technological items such as smartphones, laptops, virtual reality (VR) gear and wearables to customers on a flexible basis and with full usage rights. Customers can choose how long they want to rent a given product.
SECONTRADE was the first European online market for secondary raw materials, launched in Austria in 2018. It digitalises waste management and enables the trade of recycled materials across Europe.
Niaga® and its partner future-proof everyday products by making sure materials don’t have to end up as waste. Ever. Niaga designs producted to be used again. It makes them healthier and recyclable.
Korp is a B2B platform which enables companies to exchange goods and services for goods and services.
The idea is that businesses can expand without having to lay out the cash first, and unwanted items are circulated rather than being disposed of as waste. Purchases and sales are settled via the in-house "currency" Korp credits, where I Korp credit is equal to 1 euro. Only verified businesses can join the network.
Services include marketing, communication and printing, while goods would include wine, furniture and advertising items. There have been 37 million swaps so far...
Korp is also a way for businesses to find new clients and show off their expertise.
