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01 Opening Address: Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Masagos Zulki i, announcing a Regulatory Sandbox for the environmental services to spur circular innovations.
02 Panel Discussion on Innovating Policies and Business Models for Circular Economy: National Environment Agency CEO, Mr Tan Meng Dui, sharing Singapore’s efforts in enabling a circular economy.
03 Keynote address: Director-General of the EU Commission, Mr. Daniel Calleja Crespo, highlighting the urgency and opportunities of circular economy.
04 Panel Discussion on Success Stories of Sustainable Business.
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for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society” in 2003 (Japan released their 4th Fundamental Plan in 2018). South Korea was also taking steps to be more circular. At one of the CESG Catalyst dialogues, South Korea’s Vice Minister of Environment (Name) shared their mix of policy tools – regulations, incentives and outreach, to promote a circular economy in South Korea. Today, South Korea has one of the world’s highest recycling rate.
3. Circular business opportunities are everywhere
A resource-efficient and circular economy not only bring long-term environment benefits, it also generates short-term economic benefits. Mr Calleja underlined that in 2016, circular activities such as repair, reuse or recycling generated almost €147 billion in value added while accounting for around €17.5 billion worth of investments. Overall, it is estimated that the circular economy would generate €1.8 trillion of benefits to EU by 2030 and create 580,000 new jobs. This also increases the resilience of the economies by reducing their dependence on imported raw materials.
Businesses could succeed in a circular economy by first taking stock of the environmental burden of their manufacturing footprint and taking necessary steps to green their supply chains. In the CESG Catalyst breakout sessions, there were many active discussions examining circular solutions focusing on the three key waste streams of e-waste, packaging & food waste. Circular solutions were more than getting recycling right. Business models such as sharing and “Product-as-a-Service” were highlighted as key circular solutions to promote durability, repairability and recyclability. However, businesses cannot do this alone. Collective actions and partnerships are essential. Citing case studies on packaging and food reduction in UK, Dr Marcus Gover emphasised the effectiveness of voluntary agreements in galvanising stakeholders together for a common cause. For example, the Courtauld Commitment 2025 brings together organizations across the food system to make food & drink production more sustainable by reducing carbon, water and waste by at least 20%. This is estimated to save businesses over S$500 million per year.
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