Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "Economic processes should no longer be predominantly linear, but cyclical".
7th International Cradle to Cradle Congress kicks off with nearly 300 participants at its first series in Freiburg, Germany
Freiburg, July 15, 2021
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On July 14, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented twelve legislative proposals and amendments aimed at achieving the climate goals of the European Green Deal. However, the climate and resource crisis must be thought of together in order to solve the problems of our time in the long term. This became clear at the kick-off of the 7th International Cradle to Cradle Congress in Freiburg, Germany, on July 14.
"As a society, we need to completely rethink the way we produce and consume and move towards a closed loop economy that starts with product design. Cradle to Cradle can drive this transformation. We heard today from representatives from politics and business associations that it is firmly in their minds that circular innovation is a good and concrete way forward," says Cradle to Cradle NGO Executive Director Nora Sophie Griefahn.
"We also saw many best practices today from companies that are already implementing Cradle to Cradle - we need a lot more of that! After the successful start in Freiburg, we are looking forward to showcasing many more examples at our upcoming events in our Congress series in September and November," says the Executive Director of Cradle to Cradle NGO, Tim Janßen.
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In front of around 300 participants on site at Messe Freiburg and in the digital livestream, representatives from politics, business and science discussed how Cradle to Cradle can be scaled up and the transformation towards a climate and resource-positive economy and society can be accelerated.
Svenja Schulze: Necessary transformation is an opportunity.
"Together, we are pursuing the goal of strengthening an economy that is based on the idea of the cycle. Economic processes should no longer run predominantly linear, but cyclical," said Federal Minister for the Environment, Svenja Schulze, in her welcoming address. She endorsed the event for the second year in a row as “Schirmherrin”. She emphasized that this transformation is urgently needed and must be implemented, but that such a transformation is not necessarily synonymous with reductions and renunciation. "It is the chance for a more environmentally friendly and also more socially just economy and society. And I know that this positive vision also shapes the Cradle to Cradle Congresses. And I think that's really great," Ms. Schulze said.
"We can no longer afford to waste raw materials at all," said Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, in an interview with Cradle to Cradle NGO. She also emphasized that the climate and resource crisis are interrelated and accordingly can only be solved together. "That's why we have to ask ourselves how we want to produce and do business. This applies to both climate and resource protection," she said.
"Environmental and climate protection are the most important issues of our time," said Freiburg's mayor Martin Horn. Although Freiburg is considered one of the greenest cities in Europe, he said, the city should not rest on its laurels and is always on the lookout for further bold approaches, including Cradle to Cradle. The important thing, he added, is not only to keep talking about transformation, but also to implement it at all levels. "There is so much knowledge available, but what is lacking is concrete and realistic implementation, more speed, and more courage," Mr. Horn said.
Fundamental change in products and production processes
The implementation of Cradle to Cradle in order to accelerate the transformation of our economy was also the focus of the discussion panel with the head of the energy department of the DIW, Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, the deputy managing director of the industry association BDI, Holger Lösch, the professor for resource strategies and founder of the sustainability consultancy SystemiQ, Prof. Dr. Martin Stuchtey, and the Green MEP Anna Cavazzini, who chairs the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.
Ms. Kemfert and Mr. Lösch stressed that the industry is aware that it must move from a linear to a circular economy, also in its own interest. We are still at the first step of avoiding and reducing emissions, Ms. Kemfert said. "Then, in the next step, it is important to take raw materials from the cradle back to the cradle, and in doing so, also obligate companies to establish this transparency," Claudia Kemfert continued. This is the only way to get on a climate-positive path, she added.
This path cannot be achieved through minor adjustments alone, according to BDI Vice President, Holger Lösch. "It's about changing production processes and products. We have to think about which path a product takes. And this path should ideally be as circular as possible," he said. "We, as an industry, will have to deal with many conflicting goals on this necessary path, but we have to get through it," Mr. Lösch added.
Longtime business and policy advisor, Prof. Dr. Martin Stuchtey, said it was a positive sign that the industry is looking at approaches such as Cradle to Cradle, given the magnitude of the challenge, and is thus willing to make sweeping changes. "The seriousness with which the topic is being taken up by politics and also the industry: We would not have expected this a few years ago," Martin Stuchtey said. And, "Now we have to create the systemic conditions for such a fundamental transformation."
"It is good that people are looking at the regional level and in companies how to implement Cradle to Cradle and such concepts. But this also needs strong European legislation," EU politician Anna Cavazzini said. All four panelists agreed that the European Green Deal is a good instrument for this. It is also clear that a closed loop economy, which starts with the design of products and processes, is the core of this legislative project, they concluded. This is one reason why Cradle to Cradle NGO is involved as an official partner organization in the EU Commission's New European Bauhaus project.
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From C2C product to innovative business models
In the second major panel of the day, Thomas Fuhr, Co-CEO of sanitary equipment manufacturer Grohe AG, Dr. Michael Karrer, Senior Vice President Sustainability & EHS at automotive supplier ZF Group, Arnaud Marquis, Group Sustainability Officer at flooring manufacturer Tarkett, and Wilhelm Mauß, Managing Director of Lorenz GmbH & Co, which produces water meters, spoke about the concrete implementation and scalability of Cradle to Cradle and Circular Economy.
All four companies already take C2C into account in their products and processes. Grohe has C2C-certified faucets and shower heads in its portfolio, at ZF it is brake and clutch parts for commercial vehicles, at Lorenz water meters, and at Tarkett and its Desso brand various recyclable floor coverings. All four companies have plans to expand their Cradle to Cradle activities. "We are still at the very beginning of our C2C journey, but we have started," said Grohe Co-CEO Thomas Fuhr. In addition to C2C at the product level, he said, the company is committed to industry-wide take-back systems for reusable and fully recyclable sanitary products. Grohe is also working on logistics for product-as-a-service models in the sanitary sector.
ZF also does not want to tread the path to new products and business models alone. "We need cooperative ventures along our entire value chain in order to tackle the challenges of the future," says ZF's sustainability manager, Michael Karrer. Refusing to embrace a completely new approach to resources and resource management is not an option in this regard, he said. "The automotive industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation. It is no longer a question of whether it will come, but how we deal with it. Because, if we do not, it will mean the end of some business models," Michael Karrer said. He added that ZF is currently working on the residue-free recovery and recycling of copper from electric motors. One reason for it is to secure the supply of this increasingly rare raw material, as it is becoming more and more important in the course of electromobility.
Arnaud Marquis brought the topic of material health into the discussion. After all, he said, for Tarkett this point had been a reason to change its business model and apply Cradle to Cradle. "People use our floors. And that's why we want to create floors that are good for those people and the environment," Arnaud Marquis said. By 2030, the company aims to make 30 percent of its carpet and wood flooring from its own reclaimed and recycled products. Today, the rate is 13 percent, he said. Thus, the percentage of primary resources is expected to keep decreasing.
In addition to a take-back system, Tarkett also has its own recycling facilities, where the various components of floor coverings are separated from each other without leaving any residue and fed back into the production process. For Wilhelm Mauß, the transformation of business models which go beyond the individual product is also a goal he is pursuing at Lorenz. "My favorite business model is products-as-a-service: We design new products for recycling, and we want them to be returned to us at the end of their life cycle. We need to think in modules to make products easily recyclable."
Transformation in the textile industry
Bringing an international perspective to the stage was Mansoor Bilal, Vice President of Marketing, Research & Innovation at Pakistani textile manufacturer Soorty. Soorty is the only company in the world with a fully C2C-certified denim product range, from yarn and fabric to garments. In 2018, Soorty said it began to completely redefine its own business model to make a difference in the textile industry. "We started in all parts of the business. We were not just about a different way of producing, but a comprehensive approach," Mr. Bilal said. For example, he added , Soorty introduced new water management and drastically reduced chemical waste.
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Construction, Urban Development and products-as-a-service
In three interactive fora in the afternoon, digital participants were also able to contribute to the discussion on site in Freiburg. In a forum hosted by the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) on the topic of circular construction, DIN President, Dr. Albert Dürr, pointed out the enormous consumption of resources by the construction industry. In order to be able to keep resources in circulation, transparency is needed in their use, including secondary raw materials and in shoring processes, he said. Digital product passports, in which material quality and value chains as well as processes can be recorded, are a good instrument for this, he added. For him, it is essential to define quality standards for products and processes. "Personally, I am convinced that norms and standards from DIN and Cradle to Cradle will make a significant contribution in the transformation to a circular construction industry," DIN President Albert Dürr affirmed.
The session, moderated by Benjamin Hein, Head of Business Development Circular Economy at DIN, continued with discussion and insights from Lars Baumgürtel, CEO of metal processor ZINQ, Dr. Patrick Bergmann, Managing Director of Building Information Modeling provider Madaster, Dr. Anne Braune, Head of Department Research and development at the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), and architect and associate of HPP Architekten, Antonino Vultaggio. The DGNB is currently in the recognition process to include Cradle to Cradle as a quality criterion in its building certification, Mrs. Braune said.
In the second panel, Prof. Dr. Iris Belle, Leading Consultant for Smart City Solutions at real estate company Drees & Sommer, Ashleigh McLennan, Sustainable Economy and Procurement Officer at the ICLEI European Secretariat, and Dr. Klaus von Zahn, Head of the Environmental Protection Office in Freiburg discussed how Cradle to Cradle as a component of urban development processes can lead to sustainable and resilient neighborhoods and regions. The panel was moderated by Gerald Babel-Sutter, CEO of the Urban Future Global Conference, and Lorena Zangl, who works for Cradle to Cradle NGO´s Urban Development section and is responsible for the C2C Regions network.
In the third forum, Marcel Gröpler, Head of Green Building at Lindner Group, and Stephan Ketterer, Head of Business Development at Deutsche Lichtmiete Vermietgesellschaft, spoke about innovative product service models and how they can help to completely close raw material cycles in a circular economy.
The contents of the three Interactive fora, the panel with Dr. Susanne Kadner from Acatech and Dr. Henning Wilts from the Wuppertal Institute, as well as the keynote of Cradle to Cradle pioneer, Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, will be provided in more detail in our German blog in the coming days.
Selection of press pictures from the C2CC21 | Freiburg series
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Please find further information about the upcoming C2CC21 series on September, 7 in Mainz and November, 4 in Mönchengladbach on our Congress website.
Contact us if you have any questions regarding C2C NGO and the C2CC21, or wish to interview our Executive Directors.
Best regards
Isabel Gomez
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Schirmherrin Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Bundesumweltministerin Svenja Schulze
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