Petter Palander

1 strange thing about the circular economy: There are 200+ definitions of what it is. The variety is good. But no unified criteria also means that we keep reinventing the wheel, and greenwash. So me and Anna Kolback from her design Studio Berget teamed up to create the ABCs of Circular Economy. Your quick reference guide to the key terms and concepts we see on the ground. Because circularity is so much more than recycling. It's full of fascinating strategies, that can help us solve climate change, and provide tons of value at the same time. I gotta admit we had to make some tough choices! Which one is your favorite? PS: I will expand on this visual in my free newsletter tomorrow at 9 am CET. Subscribe for actionable insights on the circular economy at circualreconomist(dot)org #circulareconomy #wastemanagement #sustainability

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Summer Science Update! Our friends from TED Countdown just released an update talk from Johan Rockström on the latest climate data. Make sure to take a look - it gives a powerful case for what business innovation is crucial and why the next years are decisive - for competitiveness and planet alike. The DO https://lnkd.in/dHpQ9Kba

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How dare you use AI in sustainability projects!? Don't you see the contradiction?! ... is the gist of many comments that I get on our work, such as the Sustainable Design AI Lab that we offer. Well, let's start with the facts. In a paper from 2023, AI was shown to use about 0.04% of the world's energy. That's not negligible, but American TV's alone used about *7* times as much, as shown in this post by Amy Luers. https://lnkd.in/ej7QY7rs According to renowned energy strategist Michael Barnard, a ChatGPT search will spew out about 0.03 grams of CO2, and a DallE image 0.365 grams. Making a cup of tea could produce10's or 100's of times that. https://lnkd.in/eA2UrFdu Similarly, the water use of data centers may present local pressures, but completely pales to something as mundane as leaky pipes, or eating hamburgers. https://lnkd.in/eZ9zBAVy And let's not forget that the power needed for data centers is electrical, which has excellent decarbonisation options. Very likely much of the new energy needs will be fulfilled with renewable energy, simply because it is the cheapest. These new investments in clean energy might even have second order positive benefits for local grids and power production, making renewable energy even cheaper. A word of caution though: the use of AI (and cloud-computing in general) is experiencing something like exponential growth, and we all know how deceptive that can be. Even though I'm not worried about resource use on a per-project basis, on a global scale it is definitely something to keep a close eye on. So, contrary to what you might think, I believe that sustainability and regeneration are some of the very best uses of AI. Instead of staying away from them, sustainability professionals have a responsibility to embrace these new tools and make them work for us in the most positive way possible. #aienergy #sustainability #ai #regeneration #sustainabledesign

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Bikeep and Kristjan Lind are working for a better tomorrow. They help everyone to have a better biking experience. The more we use bikes in urban transportation less pollution everywhere. If using your bike would be easier, would you use it more? A simple question with a huge impact. What if it was easy to park your bike safely? -- I've lived in few places around Europe. In my home town of Lahti, bike theft was a huge issue as it was seen as an invitation if you had left your bike outside. It wasn't really seen as stealing but as borrowing someones bike to get back home after a too long night. In a small city of Järvenpää, bike theft was a daily topic. I was always told to never leave my bike anywhere outside and to only park it with way too complex locking mechanisms. -- Now living in Murcia city in Spain. Still keeping our ebikes behind closed doors in our parking basement. We do have a parking spot right next to our storage room (where the bikes are kept). Some residents are using their parking places to store their bikes but no one keeps them outside. It might be beneficial to have your bike available where you might want to use it. Few locked doors, no way to easily charge your ebike, and needing to avoid cars in tight places might negatively impact your willingness to use your bike. Luckily there are more and more solutions for it. -- Bikeep offers solutions to make it easier for everyone to use their bike. Easy to use bike parking with charging possibilities is a huge change, or so I've heard. As mentioned we are not having all of the luxuries of modern biking infrastructure here in Murcia city. Would we bike more often if it was easier? Probably not as we do not own a car. Would others bike more if it was easier, very likely. If you could store your bike outside and park it safely where ever you go - who wouldn't bike more? Bikeep helps the environment but also the health of their customers. We know that biking has a huge impact on our health not just due exercise but also by reducing noise and air pollution. -- What is preventing these modern solutions from being more available? Usually it is more about not knowing than money. Western culture is highly car focused and even those who might not want to be do not know what is available on the market. If companies knew, that they could get more customers by offering easy bike parking, they would do it. Would I sometimes personally do shopping (instead of homedelivery) with my bike if I could park it safely and maybe even charge at the same time? Yeah. I would. Would I choose the store because of it - yeah. Would I even buy with delivery from places supporting biking? Yup. Yet there are only few companies offering these enhanced systems. Why? Because we are not asking for them. Not enough companies are offering them. -- Thank you Bikeep and Kristjan - you are making the world a better place and I'm trying to help with that. #arkikehu

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We need a new definition of success based on the ability to provide value for people while staying within the planetary boundaries. Talked about that, my privilege of growing up among female role models and my journey with Asha Dahya & Girltalk HQ here. https://lnkd.in/e8FZmfCe

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The window of slowing climate change is narrowing fast! Before industrialization in the 19th century, carbon sources and sinks were balanced with CO2 levels below 300 ppm. This stable climate allowed humans and nature to flourish. Over the last century, human activities have become the primary source of carbon emissions, while natural carbon sinks like forests and mangroves struggle to keep up. A recent report from Finland, a country with ambitious climate goals, revealed a 90% decline in forest carbon sink capacity over the past 20 years. This is alarming! Deteriorating forests release more carbon through decomposition and wildfires than they absorb, accelerating global warming. With CO2 levels exceeding 420 ppm and global temperatures hitting record highs, we're approaching a tipping point. If we fail to limit warming to 1.5°C, we risk a vicious cycle of accelerating emissions and collapsing natural carbon sinks. This would have devastating consequences for biodiversity and human societies. We cannot give up! We need urgent action to: 1. Reduce emissions aggressively: Measure your direct and indirect emissions of both your households and organisations regularly and take informed actions! 2. Protect existing forests: Implement sustainable forestry practices and prevent deforestation. 3. Expand forest cover: Invest in afforestation and reforestation projects. 4. Partner with non-profit organisations and governments in protecting the environment We've successfully tackled environmental challenges before (remember the ozone layer?). We can win this climate fight too! Let's not wait anymore. Everyone must act now, including small and medium size enterprises. PlanetWise Pte. Ltd. can help you. https://lnkd.in/gYG_vTae #climatechange #climateaction #forests #carbonemissions #sustainability #carbonaccounting #carbonmanagement

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Knowledge about climate change? Ticked off. Green technical solutions? Available. Green politics? Within reach. So why is so little happening? For decades, we've understood climate change. 🌍 We've invented electric vehicles and solar panels. Green tech is here, ready to transform our world. Even green politics is within our grasp. Policies are shifting, and sustainable practices are becoming mainstream. The future looks bright. But one thing is missing: pressure from the street. Voters and buyers decide how quickly things move forward. We need to put pressure on climate policy and companies and demand change. This is where communicators are needed. Effective communication is key. What has gone wrong so far and what can we change to convince more people? The tools are here. The knowledge is here. All that's left is collective action. 💪 #greentech #climatechange #communication

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What can sustainable places look like? It's sometimes hard to imagine how an office building, or university campus, might be designed to achieve an optimal balance between functional needs, human-centred design, and an almost organic connection to nature. But examples do exist. Take 'Basecamp Lyngby', designed by Lars Gitz Architects, in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. As the post from Biophilic Design describes (below), this structure not only maximises its positive biodiversity and emissions reduction footprint, it also creates a porous built environment in which students, PhDs and senior citizens can interact, exercise, study and live. It is designed, in short, for environmental as well as social sustainability. And, via an innovative modular construction approach, the site was delivered without exceeding ordinary construction costs. Well worth a look at in greater detail. Check out the post below, or the architect's page (https://lnkd.in/gpVCT6w6) for more details. (And follow Biophilic Design for more inspiring posts on sustainable places!)

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Fun take on the ABC's. These words are so familiar to me, many being used daily to relate to circular economy principles or other sustainability topics. Although, I had to look up "X-efficiency". Were any new to you? #circulareconomy #sdgs #sustainability

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🚨 Warning! Less than a month ahead until the unforgettable masterclass experience in Stockholm!  Are you still collaborating in projects that deliver almost no results? What if you could turn your projects into thriving ecosystems for success? Unlock the power 💪 of collaboration: Join our masterclass "Building Innovation Ecosystem for more success & results!” Discover how to create successful projects in innovation ecosystems during the masterclass by Wim Vanhaverbeke (leading academic) & Piet Verhoeve (ecosystem builder). Learn strategies, how not to compromise goals & guarantee results.🏆 When: June 19, 2024 right after the R&D Management conference. More details on my website or the featured section on my profile. #openinnovation #ecosystems #masterclass #stockholm #rnd

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Part II: Welcome to Copenhagen, Denmark! Danes Diary Days 1 and 2 FOCAL POINT: Copenhagen’s Ecosystem & City Design Ranked #12 in the world 🌎 as one of the top countries, Copenhagen, Denmark is an epicenter, model, and leading incubator of sustainability. #modelforall Copenhagen is small and like most cities has encountered a number of significant challenges including the oil crisis and death fish crisis in the 1970s that lead to Copenhagen’s reality check to change its approach to tackling nature and environmental issues. #Awakening Copenhagen’s ability to create an ecosystem that thrives on access to housing, healthcare, transportation, food, and community socialization is rooted in a holistic, interdisciplinary, and codified strategy that brings all stakeholders together to play the integral roles necessary to drive a circular economy through every aspect of daily life for Danes. #SystemsCircle The House of Green is a collective of public and private partnerships that help facilitate discussions and innovation around sustainability. Not only did they provide a 50,000 feet view of Copenhagen’s history, a blueprint for its approach, but also a glimpse into the issues and areas where Denmark isn’t as innovative or behind in terms of thinking and overall preparedness to pivot for an unknown future. #TheBigPicture So, this brings up the questions: What makes a good life and who responsible? What makes cities work? How are cities connecting people? What is possible when we focus on life in between the buildings? What does time say? What is timing doing? Tough questions to answer especially when citizens are faced with financial uncertainty and stalled wages not matching the costs. #IntoPerspective BLOX HUB is the hub for sustainable urbanization that is simply a coworking space that is a city within the city that connects the city of Copenhagen. #ConnectedCity BLOX HUB has four key elements - impact, leadership, collaboration, and solutions that focus on governance, transformation, design process, circularity and more. They specialize in match and validation with its members, partners, and networks that facilitate collaboration and design. #Curation During our time at BLOX HUB we workshopped a list of serious challenges of US cities and created and presented solutions leveraging the European Approach on affordable housing, urban sprawl, and transportation. #ApplytoPractice To continue ideation and understand the landscape better we completed a 4-hour bicycle tour around the city, observed a building materials dataflow analysis from Circue, experienced the slide 🛝, exhibition, and full functionality of BLOX Hub and Danish Architecture Centre, and most importantly explore Christiania the self-governing town in Denmark. Next stop: Waste-Management systems and Special Projects #copenhagendelegation #circularsanantonio #sustainableliving #houseofgreen #bloxhub #christianiafreetown #whatmakesagoodlife

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Good news #designers this workshop could help you on the path to designing for #circularity. Run by very credible people and very practical. If you want to get into circular design - do it. If you’re not considering circularity - do it. If you have no idea what circular means - wake up then do it. 👇👇👇

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Great article from pV magazine covering what we do here at Shiney.ai

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Only 5 circular biz models?🤔 There're at least 10. A sneak peak👇🏽 I am presenting today at #techarenan in Stockholm: "The business side of circularity - and how it will shape our lives". I want to expand the 'usual list' of 5 circular biz models - and focus more on 'design'. What you think of this Top 10-list? 1. Product as a service: Businesses provide products as services, allowing consumers to rent or lease products instead of buying them, encouraging long-term use (F.ex. Bugaboo Flex for stroller leasing). 2. Product life extension: Prolonging the life of products through repair, upgrades, or refurbishment (F.ex. EnviroTech Services for office furniture remanufacturing). 3. Resource recovery: Maximising resource usage through recycling, repurposing, or reclaiming by-products (f.ex. Vodafone: is implementing a large a successful resource recovery model through its trade-in service with Closing the Loop. 4. Circular supplies: Using renewable, recyclable, or biodegradable materials in production processes (F.ex. Interface for second-life materials). 5. Sharing platforms: Enabling shared access to products or services through collaborative consumption, such as car-sharing or tool libraries (F.ex. Hygglo for tool sharing). 6. Upcycling and repurposing: Taking used products or materials and transforming them into higher-value items (F.ex. Gamle Mursten ApS for repurposing bricks). 7. Design for durability: Designing products that last longer and have increased utility over time (F.ex. Patagonia for durable outdoor clothing). 8. Modular design: Creating products that can easily be upgraded or repaired through interchangeable parts, reducing waste (F.ex. Fairphone for modular phones). 9. Closed-loop production: Establishing processes where waste or byproducts are used as raw materials for new production (F.ex. Tarkett for flooring solutions). 10. Industrial Symbiosis: Creating partnerships between industries where waste from one company becomes the input for another (F.ex. Danish companies in the Aalborg project). Feel free to add to this list? ♻️ Leave a comment if you are at Techarenan @Stockholm today. Love an in-person 'meeting'👋🏽 ♻️ Courtney Savie Lawrence Le Panier de Jean-Louis - see you later! #circulareconomy #zerowaste

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What COULD be possible? How might we as people and society mitigate climate change, resolve conflicts and bring people closer together? For decades futurists have asked these questions - and foreseen great (considered crazy at the time) solutions. What crazy idea might be the answer to today's issues? Think out of box, dream big, question what if - you might define the next big thing! #innovation #future #change #leadership

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Making one person, and one person only, accountable for a project is a giant leap towards clarity. https://buff.ly/3VRLyfD #scaleup #scalingup

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8 Smart, Low-Risk Strategies to Test-Drive Your Climate Career Move If you have an area you think might be right for your career transition into climate, sustainability or greenwork then you obviously you need to explore if it is right for you But LOOKING at job boards will not move you forward. THINKING about what it might be like in a new role will not improve your confidence in making a switch either. It is the DOING that will truly give you the feedback you need to decide to continue exploring a particular sector in the quest to find your niche. But, jumping into an expensive training course, or taking a secondment for six months comes with a risk. What if you are wrong? Better to incrementally climb the “Commitment Ladder” A series of exploratory steps that increase in effort and contribute to your knowledge of the area of choice Each investigative step should meet the following criteria and build on the step before it. ✅ It should take no more time, effort or cost than is necessary to give you the information to decide to persevere or pivot ✅ It will make clear to you whether your idea has some viability as future work ✅ It must be based in the real world – or in other words, involve the principle of ‘Genchi Genbutsu’ (Google that for the nuanced version but the Japanese translates broadly as ‘go see for yourself’ ✅ Ideally it will build your network, result in a tangible output that will support your future credibility or enable you to help someone in the field of interest ✅ It MUST be time-bound, remember you are seeking to accelerate your search and avoid procrastination along the way. At the end of the project, reflect on what you’ve learned and use your criteria to decide if this is an area you want to persevere with or pivot from. Wait you don’t know your criteria??!! Put this down and go and figure those out first. (How can you know if you’ve found what you’re looking for if you don’t know what you want!) Curious - what have you done as part of your research and where would you place it on the Commitment Ladder? Answer in comments below #climatecareer #sustainabilityjobs #greenjobs #careerchange #careercoach --- I'm Andy Nelson ThePositiveCareerCoach I help talented midcareer professionals like you navigate the climate and sustainability landscape to find their niche. I provide structured, action based approaches to help you overcome obstacles and make the switch to work that is impactful for you and our planet. Let’s take 30 minutes to talk about you. Grab a virtual coffee - link in bio Like 👍 | Comment ✍ | Repost ♻️

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