Circular Transition Indicators v2.0
Metrics for business, by business
As the circular economy builds momentum, it is imperative for companies to prepare for their transition based on insights into their circular performance and associated risks and opportunities. To do this, business needs a universal and consistent way to measure its circularity.
The Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) shaped by 30 WBCSD member companies help answer questions like:
- How circular is my company?
- How do we set targets for improvement?
- And how do we monitor improvements resulting from our circular activities?
Central to CTI stands a self-assessment that determines a company’s circular performance. It focuses primarily on the circular and linear mass that flows through the company, in which design, procurement and recovery models are crucial levers to determine how well a company performs. In addition to the ability to close the loop, CTI provides insights into overall resource use optimization and the link between the company’s circular material flows and its business performance.
The framework does not evaluate the environmental and social impacts of the company’s circular activities. However, understanding mass flows is a major step to knowing their impacts.
Although the use of common indicators for circular performance is essential to accelerating the transition to the circular economy, the value of CTI for a company goes beyond the calculation in the guidance, analysis and explanation for how circularity drives company performance. The CTI process helps companies’ scope and prepare the assessment and interpret its results, understand its risks and opportunities, prioritize actions and establish SMART targets to monitor progress.