How Circular Economy Principles can impact carbon and value

‘How Circular Economy Principles can impact carbon and value’, seeks to increase understanding within the built environment industry of how circularity can support reductions in whole life carbon. It also seeks to enable project decision-makers and key built environment stakeholders to strengthen the business case for implementing circularity. It  demonstrates that circularity benefits not just carbon, but delivers against a much broader set of organisational, social, environmental, and financial aims. The research also offers a library of case studies which evidence the positive impact circularity is already delivering across new and existing projects within the UK.

A key conclusion of the report finds that many new and existing building projects have already used circular economy principles and are able to set out the resulting carbon reductions. Most notable is the level of carbon savings occurring through the reuse of existing assets and materials. For example, the case studies illustrate how significant upfront embodied carbon savings are being delivered through the reuse of existing structures, facades and steel.