The Ellen MacArthur Foundation Announces Philips as a Global Partner
(Press release The Ellen MacArthur Foundation:) Cowes, Isle of Wight, 20 June 2013 - The Ellen MacArthur Foundation today announced that Philips will become a partner for the next three years to help accelerate the transition to the circular economy.
Following the Foundation’s successful founding partnerships with Renault, BT/Cisco (working together), Kingfisher and National Grid, Philips will join the ranks to trigger circular economy innovation within their own business and support the Foundation’s work in education.
The announcement was made at the Foundation’s Circular Economy 100 summit – the largest ever gathering of businesses, academics and entrepreneurs on the transition to the circular economy. As the Foundation and its founding partners work to build the new alliance of 100 corporations, emerging innovators and regions, news also came that Royal BAM Group, H&M, Unilever, Innoverne, and the Agency of Design are the latest members to join.
Dame Ellen MacArthur stated: ‘The circular economy provides a compelling framework for a regenerative economy, but the challenge still remains to transform the idea into action at scale. Philip’s commitment both to support the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and focus internally on circular economy innovation will add considerable momentum to the transition.’
Frans Van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips explained: ‘At Philips we strive to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation. Our goal is to improve the lives of 3 billion people a year by 2025. For a sustainable world, the transition from a linear to a circular economy is a necessary boundary condition. A circular economy requires innovation in the areas of material, component and product reuse, as well as related business models. By using materials more effectively economic growth will eventually be decoupled from the use of natural resources and ecosystems. In such an economy, the lower use of raw materials allows us to create more value.’
The summit hosted sessions from global leading business leaders and practitioners including Professor Dr. Michael Braungart & William McDonough (co-authors of Cradle to Cradle), Jeremy Oppenheim (Principal, McKinsey & Company), Walter Stahel (member of the Club of Rome and co-founder of Product life Institute) and Carlos Tavares (COO Renault Group).