Circular transition framework enhanced with new metrics for water, financial performance and bioeconomy guidance

The World Business council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) framework version 2.0 and the accompanying online tool that was jointly developed with more than 30 companies. The use of common indicators for circularity performance is essential to accelerating the transition to the circular economy and the CTI process helps companies’ scope and prepare their assessment and interpret the results, understand risks and opportunities, prioritize actions and establish SMART targets to monitor progress.

CTI gives companies a common language to use both for internal decision-making and for communicating with external key stakeholders in the supply chain. A year after its initial launch, the CTI methodology is already widely adopted by over 600 companies and organizations with 35 of them being multinationals from a variety of industrial sectors and provides a universal and consistent way of measuring circularity.

Building on the version launched last year, CTI v 2.0 features three new water circularity indicators with calculations to measure progress in lowering freshwater demand and ensuring availability for all users and the environment. Acknowledging growing investor interest for circularity, a new indicator, CTI Revenue, links circular and financial performance, providing a consistent way to credibly respond to investor inquiries. Finally, the report includes extensive instruction and interpretation on the bioeconomy across all indicators and process steps.

The CTI framework is completed by an online tool, a software specifically developed in partnership with Circular IQ, for companies to measure and improve their circular performance by anchoring CTI within their organization. It allows them to run multiple assessments and track their performance over time, building a solid circularity baseline.

First launched in January 2020 at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, CTI is a comprehensive framework that complements a company’s existing sustainability efforts and it is applicable to all companies, regardless of their industry, value chain position or geography. It represents 16 industries, across 16 countries and USD $1.7 trillion in annual turnover, making it truly built for business, by business. We invite companies of all sizes and industries worldwide to demonstrate their commitment to the circular economy by measuring their circular baseline with the launch of this updated version of CTI.

Federico Merlo, Managing Director of Circular Economy at WBCSD said: “Circular performance measurement is an evaluation of the resilience of a business, not just a sustainability assessment. The response from business to the introduction of Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) over the last year has exceeded our expectations. As investors, customers and regulators increasingly request information on circular performance, those companies equipped to measure, monitor and improve their circularity can now understand how to enhance business continuity, effectiveness and showcase their true leadership. We invite companies of all sizes and industries to demonstrate their commitment to the circular economy by completing their assessments through CTI.”

“KPMG is proud of our continuous involvement in the development of the CTI Framework v2.0. As an implementation partner we see the added value that this framework brings to our clients to help assess circular performance, identify risks and opportunities and steer towards resilient and future-proof business practices” Richard Threlfall – Global Head of KPMG IMPACT, Partner, and Global Head of Infrastructure, KPMG. KPMG in the Netherlands is a development partner in the CTI framework.

“With the Circular Transition Indicators, businesses now have a clear and common language for circularity; a set of quantitative metrics for companies to consistently measure their circularity performance and understand the associated linear risks and circular opportunities. Built by business for business, the framework itself is simple and comprehensive, complementing a company’s existing sustainability efforts”, Helen Mets, Executive-Vice President Materials, ROYAL DSM, lead company of the Circular Metrics workstream at WBCSD.