DAVOS, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The World Economic Forum’s Community of Young Global Leaders, in collaboration with Accenture (NYSE:ACN), has awarded the Circulars at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that have made notable contributions to the circular economy.
The second annual Circulars awards ceremony showcased advances from the private sector, public sector and civil society that drive innovation and growth while reducing dependence on scarce natural resources. The eight Circulars were awarded as follows:
The Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership (joint award): Feike Sijbesma, CEO, Royal DSM, who has led DSM’s circular economy strategy. DSM has spearheaded research into fossil fuel substitutes. Also awarded to Professor Dajian Zhu, Director of Institute Governance for Sustainable Development, Tongji University, Shanghai, for shifting the attitudes of business and policy leaders on circular economy eco-design models throughout China.
The Accenture Award for Circular Economy Multinational (joint award): Royal Philips, for pursuit of circular economy models in healthcare and lighting and for developing a circular sales criteria that is due to start in 2020. Also awarded to Veolia: for using circular strategies for re-manufacturing, prolonging product lifecycles, wastewater recycling and energy efficiency.
The Ecolab Award for Circular Economy Enterprise: Optoro, for designing high quality reverse logistics solution which changes the way retailers view their distressed inventory; rather than seeing it as waste or a liability, the company’s circular-focused software helps present it as a source of value.
The Young Global Leaders Award for Circular Economy Entrepreneur: LanzaTech, the clean tech solutions provider produces commercially successful durable materials from low-carbon fuels and chemical recycling.
The Award for Circular Economy Government, Cities and Regions: OVAM Flanders’ Materials Programme, describing itself as a ‘network of networks’, has conducted intensive research and created circular economy packages to help public and private organizations adopt circular procurement models.
The Alliance Trust Award for Circular Economy Investor: DLL Financial Solutions, provides equipment financing and leasing to extend the lifecycle of technical assets.
The BT Award for Digital Disruptor: Materials Marketplace, a collaboration led by the US Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Corporate Eco Forum, created a cloud based collaborative platform with global partners to track and exchange undervalued materials among multinationals and large SMEs.
The People’s Choice Circular Economy Award: Canon. The first company to implement a closed loop recycling system for printer cartridges in 1992. Canon has extended its global toner recycling program to 24 countries.
The Circular Economy will also feature heavily on this year’s official Davos program. World leaders will come together in various sessions to discuss how they can collaborate to bring about the quantum economic shift necessary to transition to a circular economy. The sessions include: The Transformation of Production, Leading the Clean Revolution, Decarbonizing Economies, The Future of Industrial Design and Doing Business in a New Climate Context among others.
“With the Paris climate change agreement fresh in our minds, now is the time for practical and tangible solutions that can be scaled to transform business models in ways that reduce carbon emissions and the strain on scarce natural resources,” said Peter Lacy, managing director, Accenture Strategy. “The circular economy could unlock $4.5 trillion of growth by 2030 and these important awards demonstrate that breaking with today’s ‘take, make, waste’ business models also creates a swift path to innovation, growth and competitiveness.”
The Circulars awards program attracted 212 entries from 36 countries. The judging panel was drawn from the Young Global Leader community of the World Economic Forum and leading experts across business and civil society. In addition to Accenture Strategy, The Circulars are sponsored by BT, Ecolab, Alliance Trust and SABMiller. The media partner is Fortune Magazine.
“The circular economy is a game changer in defining the search for those transformational businesses models driven by the revolution in digital connectivity, industrial design and advanced materials innovation that can have a significant and positive impact on the environment and economic productivity,” said Dominic Waughray Head of Pubic Private Partnership at the World Economic Forum. “As we seek to encourage greater adoption, The Circulars have become an important initiative of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders to recognize and celebrate such cutting edge innovation and impact.”
About Accenture
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About the Forum of Young Global Leaders
Established in 2004 by Professor Klaus Schwab, The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multi-stakeholder community of the world’s most extraordinary young leaders who dedicate a part of their time to jointly address global challenges and who are committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy to collectively work towards a better future. Together the Young Global Leaders work to discover innovative solutions to today’s most pressing problems through various initiatives and workstreams, as well as catalyzing the next generation of leaders. Find out more at: http://www.weforum.org/community/forum-young-global-leaders