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CIRCULARITY
ASSESSMENT
TOOL
Why do we need a circularity
assessment?
• 
Continued investment in a linear
economy results in long-term,
system-wide impacts and risks
that have adverse effects on the
economy, society and the
environment
• 
Moving to a circular economy is
increasingly recognized as an
opportunity to reduce risk and
uncover new opportunities
A global standard is needed to help investors and
companies assess where organizations can create
value from following circular economy principles by
understanding how resilient they are currently
against long-term systemic risks
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Current indicators are insufficient
Investors and companies currently use Environmental, Social, and
Governance (ESG) indicators to understand how resilient they are
against long-term systemic impacts and risks
However, these indicators are insufficient for investors and
companies to fully assess where they can capture the opportunities
present in a circular economy to promote growth and be more
resilient:
•  Do not focus on circular economy opportunities
•  Focus on policies and intentions rather than performance
•  Do not provide tangible insights into areas for improvement
•  Focus on relative vs. absolute performance
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What will the Circularity
Assessment Tool do?
• 
The Circularity Assessment Tool is a set of indicators and an
automated tool that aims to establish a global standard to
assess circularity of companies and investment portfolios
• 
The assessment tool will be able to comprehensively assess any
type of organization on their performance against circular
economy objectives
• 
Using the tool, investors and organizations gain insights on
areas to improve in order to reduce portfolio and business
risks, identify new opportunities, and enable long-term growth
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Benefit to Financial
Institutions
• 
Using the Circularity Assessment Tool, the financial sector can
reduce the exposure of their portfolios to long-term risk, while
supporting organizations that create the greatest impact on the
economy, society, and environment
• 
Investors and lenders will be better able to efficiently analyze their
portfolios to identify best-in-class clients with potential for long-term
growth
• 
Financial institutions will be able to use the tool to engage and
stimulate their clients to become more circular and to innovate,
helping them make the right strategic decisions
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Benefit to Companies and
Organizations
• 
Companies and organizations evaluated by the Circularity
Assessment will have a greater understanding of their
performance against circularity principles and exposure to
systematic risk
• 
Using the tool, companies gain insights into areas of
improvement to bring their organization closer to circularity
and identify new business opportunities
• 
With the assessment, companies and organizations will be
able to show their customers and investors how well they are
translating circularity principles into clear and measurable
progress over time
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Framework for assessing circularity
Circular Governance Circular Sourcing Circular Value Preserva4on 30/06/15
Circular Business Four key areas assessed
Circular Sourcing Assesses the circularity of the organiza4on’s materials, energy, labor, and asset inputs Circular Business Assesses the circularity of the business model and design of the organiza4on’s products and services Circular Value Preserva4on Assesses the circularity of the organiza4on’s product end-­‐of-­‐use scenarios and waste flows Circular Governance Assesses the transparency, leadership, and vision of the organiza4on in adop4ng circular principles 30/06/15
Circularity Score and insights for
improvement
The tool will provide scores for
circularity across the four key
areas
From the scores, companies can
understand the areas of risk
within the company
These results aim to provide
insights into improvement
opportunities within the
organization
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Vision to create a dashboard to
highlight circularity amongst peers
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As well as highlight the value
creation potential of circularity
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Roadmap for development of the
Circularity Assessment Tool
Online
Tool
Prototype
2015-2016
Prototype that can
comprehensively
assess the circularity
of organizations
2016-2017
Digitized tool that
allows ease of
assessment
Pilot program to test
and refine prototype
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Trusted
Entity
2017-2018
A trusted brand and
organization for
conducting and
assessing the
circularity of
companies
Global
Standard
2018 and beyond
A global standard to
help investors and
companies assess
where they can create
value by understanding
their resilience to risks
Pilot program to test prototype tool
and refine assessment methodology
• 
Goal of the pilot program:
–  Test and refine the questions and structure of the prototype
tool to ensure it captures all aspects of circularity
–  Test and refine the approach for collecting and gathering
data to be more time and resource efficient
–  Get feedback from companies on the relevance of the tool
to provide insights for decision-making
–  Get feedback from investors on the relevance of the tool to
provide insights for decision-making
Any information or data gathered during the
assessment are for pilot purposes only – the
information will NOT be shared publicly
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Approach and timeline for pilot
assessment of a company
Descrip4on Time Involves PUBLIC DATA ANALYSIS 3 days use publicly available data (annual reports, company website, marke4ng materials, etc.) to answer tool ques4ons Circle Economy INITIAL MEETING WITH COMPANY -­‐  share CAT framework and get feedback -­‐  show results of assessment using public data -­‐  iden4fy contacts in company to answer tool 1 days Circle Economy, Company COMPANY DATA AND INTERVIEWS -­‐  send tool ques4ons to contacts in company -­‐  interview contacts to fill in data 5 -­‐ 15 days Circle Economy, Company FINAL MEETING WITH COMPANY 1 day -­‐  share final tool results and scores -­‐  get feedback on the assessment tool and process Circle Economy, Company MAXIMUM TOTAL TIME FOR ASSESSMENT 30/06/15
20 days Structure of pilot program to
further develop tool
Pilot Program: Assess up to 5 companies
Time Period:
6 months starting in June 2015
Partners:
Investors with a company to assess
Companies who want to be assessed
Outcome:
Insights on measuring circularity
Feedback from companies and partners on tool
Key learnings and improvements to the process
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How to get involved with the CAT
pilot program
Companies and investors wishing to support and collaborate on
the long-term development of the Circularity Assessment Tool are
encouraged to become a member of the Circle Economy platform
Companies and investors not wishing to be members can
participate in the pilot program by having their company or a
portfolio company assessed during the pilot phase
If you are interested in learning more about the Circularity
Assessment Tool and discussing how to get involved, please
contact Shyaam Ramkumar at shyaam@circle-economy.com
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