Circular Economy

For its report “Circular economy for a sustainable future: How organizations can empower consumers and transition to a circular economy”, Capgemini surveyed nearly 8,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K., the EU, and APAC for major consumer-facing industries and spoke with academics, industry experts, startups, and think tanks active in the field of circular economy.

It found that while consumers are aware of the problem of waste and resource depletion and interested in participating in circular economy initiatives and mindful consumption practices, they face significant roadblocks, especially in terms of convenience, access, cost, and information. Moreover, even though they are clearly on board when it comes to closing the loop on food and plastic waste for example, they remain reticent in other areas, especially sharing/renting/leasing or buying second-hand. This leads to the consensus, from both consumers and organizations themselves, that organizations simply aren’t doing enough.

To scale their circular economy practices, organizations have to embrace circular design principles and identify business models that aren’t just driven by product sales. By rethinking their value and supply chains and collaborating more within their ecosystems and with governments, lawmakers, academics, think tanks, suppliers, vendors, clients, and innovative startups, organizations can push their circular initiatives forward.

SAP Responsible Design

SAP is trying to do just that by making SAP Responsible Design and Production, a solution for designing products sustainably and transitioning to a circular economy, available.

As sustainable business regulations, such as plastic taxes, are put in place, the SAP Responsible Design and Production solution enables brands to accelerate their transition to circular-economy business practices. It helps companies gain better visibility of material flows through their processes including tracking and complying with rapidly changing regulations, especially those concerning product packaging and plastics. As businesses increasingly develop sustainable products, managing materials and regulatory data is becoming one of the most complex challenges across the consumer industry today.

The cloud-native solution co-developed with Accenture on SAP Business Technology Platform provides tailored intelligence that enables businesses to keep pace with EPR regulations and plastic taxes, embed circularity principles into core business processes and optimize design for sustainable business.