PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Domestic material consumption (DMC) in the EU reached 8.2 billion tonnes in 2007, 13% of all materials extracted globally. The annual average per capita material consumption in the EU was some 65% above the global average. The supply of stable, secure resources, however, is now constrained, while the global population continues to grow and the ‘middle class’, with increased levels of consumption, expands rapidly.
Many businesses are not fully aware of the potential risks or advantages of this increasing scarcity of natural resources. Although the economic and environmental benefits of implementing circular business models are known, many businesses are locked in to the existing ‘take, make, use, dispose’ linear business models. This is particularly true for SMEs. Business leaders face very significant barriers to adopting new business models or in making significant organisational changes to tackle resource efficiency. Resource efficient business models (REBMs), however, can make a major contribution towards the EU’s target of reducing domestic material use by 30% by 2020 and greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE REBus project would demonstrate how businesses and their supply chains can implement REBMs. It would focus on four key markets: electrical and electronic products; clothing; furniture; and construction products. These have a total annual value of more than €350 billion across the EU.
The project aimed to:
- Implement 10 pilot REBMs in major organisations and 20 in SMEs with the aim of achieving 15% resource savings in the project lifetime;
- Measure and monitor the impact of each REBM pilot against the targets highlighted above to calculate its potential impact across the EU;
- Identify requirements for applying REBMs in public procurement by stimulating the demand side in order to motivate the production of resource-efficient products;
- Raise awareness of the outcomes amongst peer groups to promote a wider take-up; and Work with key organisations focused on this area to develop and disseminate information from the project across the EU.
RESULTS
The LIFE REBus project team delivered 10 Resource Efficient Business Model (REBM) pilots with major organisations and 20 with SMEs, to achieve resource savings in supply chains for electronic products, clothing, furniture, and construction products, in the UK and the Netherlands. They also delivering 34 pilot REBM procurement schemes for both supply and demand; developed metrics and a draft methodology to allow external use of those REBMs; and disseminated this information through a range of media to facilitate further uptake and replication.
Measurable environmental and climate benefits included:
- 63.0 k tonnes direct material savings per annum (well in excess of the 5 k tonne target to deliver 15% resource savings in the project lifetime);
- 2.9 k tonnes CO2 eq. emissions savings per annum;
- €5.7 million financial benefits.
The demonstrable impacts were based on monitoring data from 12 of 34 pilot schemes and therefore actual impact is expected to be higher.
The project team:
- Produced identification and documentation of the requirements for applying REBMs in circular procurement, which have been captured in 10 REBus procurement case studies, 34 additional factsheets (for organisations/contracts not making it through to pilot stage), 4 sector reports, 3 lesson learnt reports, and 3 procurement research reports.
- Provided an additional 21 case studies for supply REBMs in the UK.
- Provided extensive guidance on adopting REBMs across supply and demand, including a Methodology report, Supply leanings report, Extrapolation report and 4 policy reports, in addition to guidance provided directly on the LIFE REBus website.
- Collaborated with 10 other organisations leading on circular economy, and undertook work with the UK and Netherlands governments and DG Grow and DG Environment which resulted in a REBus reference provided in the EU guidance on circular procurement, a commitment made to the circular economy provided in the UK Industrial Strategy, and continued work in the Netherlands throughout the public sector and the Dutch Centre of Procurement Excellent (Pianoo).
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).
