Andrea Brown is currently the Circular Economy Director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and will soon become the Director of Impact Management at Quadia Impact Finance, focused on financing to companies that are creating a circular economy and driving global sustainability priorities. She is a sustainability leader with more than 15 years’ experience developing solutions that meet business needs and create impact with cross-cultural experience in Switzerland, Canada, the U.S., Netherlands, Belgium, China, and Japan.
Over the last 40 years, worldwide annual extraction of materials has more than tripled. As the global population grows and more consumers enter the middle class, the total demand for resources is expected to reach 130 billion tons by 2050, up from 50 billion in 2014. That’s an overuse of the Earth’s total capacity by more than 400%.
In recent years, the circular economy has increasingly appeared as the new model to pursue sustainable economic growth. In order to reach Vision 2050 in which 9 billion people live well within the limits of the planet, the eco-efficiency of materials must improve by on average, a factor of 10. The circular economy moves away from the traditional “take-make-waste” economic model to one that is regenerative by design. The goal is to retain as much value from resources, products, parts, and materials to create a system that allows for long life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling.
The private sector has started its transition to a more circular economy. Although individual companies are in various stages of this transformation, most are still in the early phase. Companies need to know how to implement circular economy principles across their operations, products, and business models. They must first make the business case for specific circular strategies, understand the implication of policy barriers, and the environmental and social benefits and potential unintended consequences of their circular products, among others.
When considering a circular economy implementation, companies can anticipate significant challenges, including economic factors, data quality and availability, regulations, and social dimensions.
- Economic: Volatile commodity and import prices, inconsistent supply and demand quantities, lack of demonstrated business case
- Regulatory: Definitions and end-of-life criteria for waste, classification of hazardous materials, transportation across borders
- Data & Technical: Information access, quality control standards, contamination of secondary material streams
- Social: consumer perception of secondary materials, fair and sustainable working conditions, establishing trust in new relationships
To transition from a linear to a circular economy is uncertain, and requires new educational initiatives, at the undergraduate, graduate and MBA level.
The Pentland Centre’s Honorary Teaching Fellow in Circular Economy will facilitate LU’s educational innovation in this area and evaluate Exec Ed opportunities in this space. She will guest lecture in:
- Responsible Management and Ethics Module for the Lancaster University Management School MBA
- Management and Sustainability: World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Student Bootcamp (Dr Alison Stowell – Convenor)
- Leverhulme’s Doctoral Scholarship Programme in Material Social Futures (coordinated by LU’s MSI and ISF, with Pentland Centre involvement)
Andrea Brown said “Circular Economy is a hugely dynamic topic for business leaders today and one where there is real opportunity to drive new innovation, business models, finance, and ultimately create sustainable value. I am excited to share these insights to new business leaders and to help shape educational innovation in Lancaster University's programs.”