Circular vs Regenerative economy

So what is the difference between a circular and regenerative economy? Should they be used interchangeably? Is the circular economy movement the holy grail of human development?… I think not.

For me, the circular economy (CE) is only a baseline economy for the sustainability of our civilisation, it’s just how we should be functioning, and a transitional economy on the way towards a true reshaping of our perspective towards a globally coordinated regenerative (Latin Root: Regenerare-“create again”) economy (RE), which is focussed on recreating and terraforming this planet to maximise life, biodiversity, and a platform to build towards a multi-planetary species, to become true custodians of the earth.

It’s been annoying me for a while how we keep dropping RE into the CE narrative, I’m not normally this pedantic, I usually just want to get the job done, but what gets measured gets managed, and this is literally the biggest topic of our entire existence… how we function as a species on this planet.

Yes the CE has massive restorative and regenerative qualities and outcomes, but that's not the same thing, it’s not a regenerative focus above all else to its core function and metrics, from markets to redefining GDP

In my experience, psychologically, it’s easier to visualise and achieve a tough but necessary short-term goal, when you have a clear picture and understanding of the moonshot for the future.

It reduces the next massive thing into just the next necessary hurdle in the longer race.

But at the end of the day, and all thought leadership aside, here we are, at that hurdle, with many governments, businesses and organisation’s trying to figure out how they can greenwash their business-as-usual.

There is finally light at the end of the tunnel though, a growing network of CE organisations and professionals driving hard on the value proposition, and with the help of Industry 4.0 climate focussed deep tech, and the sector's funding and adopting it, we are well on our way to mapping the built environment for this transitional economy.

The CE has the framework, financial leavers, and outcomes that make it the perfect start on our road to a globally coordinated, regenerative economy.