Circular economy in focus as Chamber campaign reaches halfway point

Business across the West Midlands have been learning more about the circular economy and its potential benefits as a Chamber campaign reaches its halfway stage.

The Sustainable Business Series: Net Zero campaign - a joint initiative between the Greater Birmingham and Coventry & Warwickshire Chambers of Commerce - is in its third week.

The Sustainable Business Series aims to support business progress to net zero through sharing best practice, guidance and knowledge.

In a month 's time, the UK will host COP26, an international event where further climate action will be discussed.

As the impacts from climate change worsen annually, outcomes expected from COP26 are enhanced legislation, and increased stakeholder expectations to improve environmental performance

Last week, speakers on the Chamber 's 'Progressing to a Net Zero Business through the Circular Economy ' webinar included Tim Danson (associate director, WSP), Ellen Peacock (senior policy advisor, GBSLEP), Ian Humphreys (director, International Synergies) and Dr Luciano Batista (senior lecturer in Operations Management Aston Business School)

Speakers covered simple models for navigating circular economy principles that focus on waste and resource efficiency as well as key best practice examples across different industries.

The regional support was also detailed for businesses looking to enhance their waste and resource efficiency, such as the BASIS project (International Synergies) and Low Carbon Grant Fund (GBSLEP).

Will Hargreaves (pictured), environmental policy lead at the Chamber, said: “The concept of the circular economy may be foreign to many businesses.

“However, as we found it during this week, a simple key theme in this is waste and resource efficiency, which is critical for decarbonising businesses, especially manufacturing.

“Through the content shared in this week, businesses can understand how to reduce their carbon emissions through the circular economy and experience the benefits, such as saved costs, increased supply chain resilience and enhanced efficiency.

“This week we focus on transport decarbonisation for businesses, focussing on best practice examples and regional strategy. ”

A further series of events will follow, taking a more focussed approach on how businesses can decarbonise through transport and sustainable business management.

The campaign will close with a summit at Conference Aston.

Join our 'Progressing to a Net Zero Business through Transport ' webinar at 10am today, by registering here.

Find out more about the Sustainable Business Series: Net Zero campaign here.

The campaign is sponsored by Aston University, Arup, Morgan Sindall and the University of Birmingham.

All webinars are free to attend. Interested parties can find out more and register to attend the Sustainable Business Series: Net Zero events here.