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This playbook builds on the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook, and is tailored to companies in the Nordic manufacturing industries. It provides examples on the following five sub-sectors:
This chapter will help you:
Additional material that can be found in the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook:
REGULATORS | B2B CUSTOMERS | INVESTORS |
New circular and sustainability regulations are proposed and entered into force at a record speed The scope of regulation is expanding – regulations cover the entire value chain (incl. material, design, production processes, and waste handling) The enforcement starts with prioritized industries, incl. energy, construction, transportation etc. | Companies are facing increased pressure from buyers’ supply chain sustainability targets There are accelerating requirements for upstream suppliers to report on ESG, and to showcase concrete actions towards circularity and carbon reduction B2B customers require greener products and services from their value chain partners to meet customer requirements and keep competitive position | Investors are adjusting their portfolios towards sustainability, encouraging portfolio companies to develop their ESG reporting and carbon data disclosure Investors are placing greater emphasis on companies’ ESG performance when making investment decisions Companies that are acting have priority to access financial resources |
Being both resource and carbon intensive, the manufacturing industry is at the forefront facing the challenges, as well as the massive business opportunities ahead when emerging on a circular transformation journey |
This chapter will help you to:
Additional material that can be found in the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook:
This chapter will help you to:
Additional material that can be found in the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook:
This chapter will help you to:
Additional material that can be found in the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook:
INTRODUCTION: CIRCULAR MATURITY SURVEY
Content | The circular maturity survey was conducted to understand the starting point of Nordic manufacturing companies in adopting the circular economy principles. |
Outcome | The survey included reflection of current inefficiency assessment focused on understanding the occurrence and level of the five inefficiencies of the linear model: - Unsustainable materials - Underutilised capacities - Premature product lives - Wasted end-of-life value - Unexploited customer engagements |
Outcome | In total, 24 Nordic manufacturing companies replied to the survey. The responses were collected in workshops in August – October 2022. Detailed results of the survey are presented in the following pages. |
RESULTS – CIRCULAR MATURITY SURVEY
1) Unsustainable materials
Material and energy that cannot be continually regenerated (e.g., direct and indirect material is not renewable or bio-based)
RESULTS – CIRCULAR MATURITY SURVEY
2) Underutilised capacity
Underutilised or unused products and assets (e.g., products are not operating full hours or full functionality is not used)
RESULTS – CIRCULAR MATURITY SURVEY
3) Premature product lives
Products are not used to the fullest possible working life (e.g., due to new models and features or lack of repair and maintenance)
RESULTS – CIRCULAR MATURITY SURVEY
4) Wasted end-of-life value
Valuable components, materials and energy is not recovered at disposal (e.g., not recycled or recovered at end of life)
RESULTS – CIRCULAR MATURITY SURVEY
5) Unexploited customer engagements
Material and energy that cannot be continually regenerated (e.g., direct and indirect material is not renewable or bio-based)
Content | Playbook pages | Source |
5 Circular business models | 14 | Accenture – Lacy, P. & Rutqvist, J. (2015). Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage. 1st ed. English: Palgrave Macmillan. Accenture – Lacy, P., Long, J. & Spindler, W. (2020). The Circular Economy Handbook: Realizing the Circular Advantage. 1st ed. English: Palgrave Macmillian. |
4 types of inefficiencies in the linear value chain | 12 | Accenture – Lacy, P. & Rutqvist, J. (2015). Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage. 1st ed. English: Palgrave Macmillan Accenture presentation, Circular Materials Conference (2018) Accenture – 3D Printing vs 3D-TV: https://www.accenture.com/no-en/insight-3d-printing-vs-3d-tv |
Development of resource demand | 24 | Accenture – Lacy, P. & Rutqvist, J. (2015). Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage. 1st ed. English: Palgrave Macmillan |
Circular technology descriptions | 93 - 101 | Adapted from Accenture – Lacy, P., Long, J. & Spindler, W. (2020). The Circular Economy Handbook: Realizing the Circular Advantage. 1st ed. English: Palgrave Macmillian. World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Accenture – Driving the Sustainability of Production Systems with Fourth Industrial Revolution Innovation (2018): http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_39558_White_Paper_Driving_the_Sustainability_of_Production_Systems_4IR.pdf |
Circular sub-models | 15, 18, 21, 24,27, 30 | Adapted from Accenture – Lacy, P., Long, J. & Spindler, W. (2020). The Circular Economy Handbook: Realizing the Circular Advantage. 1st ed. English: Palgrave Macmillian. Accenture presentation, Circular Materials Conference (2018) |
The wise pivot | 34, 35 | Accenture Point of View – Leading in the NEW: Harness the Power of Disruption (2017): https://www.accenture.com/t00010101T000000Z__w__/jp-ja/_acnmedia/PDF-62/Accenture-Leading-in-the-New-POV.pdf |
Circular data flow | 44 | Nordic Innovation, Data Sharing for a Circular Economy in the Nordics (2021): https://www.nordicinnovation.org/CEdatasharing |
© Nordic Innovation, 2022
Disclaimer: This playbook is part of the program Nordic Sustainable Business Transformation by Nordic Innovation. Accenture is responsible for all its content.
This Nordic Circular Economy Playbook 2.0 is a manual for change. It gives you the tools to build your sustainable business models and design the transformation journey from industrial value-chains to cross sectoral ecosystems. By taking a step towards a circular business, you take a step ahead of your competitors. The Nordic Circular Economy Playbook builds on the Circular economy business models for the manufacturing industry playbook by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.
One of the three main pillars in the Nordic Vision 2030 is a green Nordic region. This can be achieved through a sustainable circular and bio-based economy, and this playbook will give Nordic companies the tools to start the journey and involve their entire value chain.
For a more accessible version of this publication download the powerpoint here: https://pub.norden.org/us2022-468/us2022-468.pdf