SWITCH-Asia

WHEN:  27 February 2025     I    TIME:  18:00 - 19:30 (Bangkok Time) ; 8:00 - 9:30 (Brasilia); 12:00 - 13:30 (Brussels)  I  Watch the Recording  HERE

Background:

The Circular Economy Knowledge Hubs Webinar Series is part of an intervention co-implemented by the EU SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component on Sustainable Consumption and Production and the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP). This aims to contribute to a shared understanding on Circular Economy (CE) scope, aims, principles and practices with a practical knowledge taxonomy, by actively involving several regional and global circular economy knowledge and stakeholder platforms in Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America.

The transition to a circular economy is essential for addressing global challenges particularly the unsustainable use of natural resources and waste disposal and their impacts on local and global environment, including climate change and nature. While knowledge platforms are expected to contain knowledge that can support circular transitions, existing hubs have yet to fully get involved in facilitating circularity transitions. These hubs could play a critical role in fostering collaboration, sparking innovation, and enabling informed decision-making among diverse stakeholders. By bridging the gap between knowledge creation, dissemination, and practical application, knowledge hubs can support the development and implementation of impactful CE innovations and effective enabling policies.

These growing hubs are in principle well-  positioned to bridge between diverse streams of expertise. This includes research-based insights from academic and scientific studies, programmatic lessons learnedfrom CE initiatives and projects, and practical approaches pioneered by industry leaders and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, they can incorporate participatory and community-driven – tacit and traditional - knowledge, bringing grassroots perspectives and locally-driven solutions into CE dialogues. By synthesizing these streams, these platforms could support CE transitions while aligning subject expertise with policy priorities, economic needs, and stakeholder dynamics.

To fully realize their potential, knowledge hubs must evolve to equally engage with policy makers on policy and framework conditions and the business sector on scalable circular product, service and/or technology solutions. Through informed and evidence-based content curation, communications and policy and stakeholders’ advocacy, they could offer substantive guidance to governments for developing and refining CE policies, regulatory frameworks, and action plans. Facilitating the exchange of best practices and innovative solutions, alongside targeted capacity-building initiatives, can further empower decision- and policymakers to adopt effective strategies and foster cross-sectoral collaboration.

To the business community, knowledge hubs can showcase good circularity practices and innovative circular solutions and their business cases, inspiring widespread consideration and adoption of the circular economy. Furthermore, they could actively connect businesses and entrepreneurs through matchmaking opportunities.

Knowledge hubs could also address foundational challenges in management of knowledge sharing and utilization. By creating accessible, actionable resources, and supporting data collection and monitoring frameworks, they could enable stakeholders to track CE progress with harmonized metrics. Integrating research and empirical insights would further drive innovation and help overcome persistent barriers such as data gaps, fragmented collaboration, and limited frameworks for measuring impact. Moreover, digital connections between knowledge hubs could ensure seamless access to the latest knowledge and good practices, enabling them to better serve their target audiences.

Webinar Session

The EU SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component and the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP), are convening their third joint webinar series on knowledge hubs.

See previous events here.

Objective

This webinar seeks to explore how knowledge hubs can improve their impact and efficiency towards facilitating circular economy transitions. The discussion will emphasize the potentially transformative role in strengthening policy effectiveness, driving private sector participation and innovation, and building robust knowledge ecosystems.

Panel I will focus on how knowledge hubs, through effective knowledge creation and curation, can bridge the gap between research and policymaking to support the design and implementation of impactful circular economy policies and frameworks.

Panel II will focus on how knowledge hubs can enhance decision and policy makers’ capacity and strengthen collaboration across sectors to implement circular economy policies effectively.

Join the conversation and keep yourself up-to-speed with the Circular Economy Leaders’ Community here.

Target audience:

Circular economy knowledge platforms, practitioners, businesses, educators, and stakeholders working on the circular economy.

Moderators:

Hannes MAC NULTY, Manager - Green Industry Platform - Green Growth Knowledge Partnership

Hannes is the manager of the Green Industry Platform, one of the three platforms that make up the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership. A mechanical engineer with 20 years of experience working within the industry, government and NGO sectors, Hannes has an active interest in developing market-driven solutions that can deliver extensive upscaling of existing industry support programmes. His specific area of expertise is in resource efficiency and industrial decarbonisation, with a particular focus on bridging the communication gaps between related public and private sector stakeholders. 

Rene VAN BERKEL, Circular Economy Expert, SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component 

Dr René Van Berkel was formerly the Representative and Head of the Regional Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in India. In this role he was responsible for industry and government advocacy and coordination of UNIDO technical assistance portfolio on inclusive and sustainable industrial development, covering energy and resource efficiency, renewable energy, innovation, digitalization and circularity and MSME development. Previously he served amongst others in thematic leadership roles on resource efficient and cleaner production in UNIDO and as Professor of Cleaner Production at Curtin University of Technology in Australia. René has a three decade track record of pioneering and implementing SCP techniques, practices and policies in manufacturing and other productive sectors in Asia (including India, Indonesia, China, Viet Nam, Bangladesh and Myanmar) and globally. He currently serves as Senior Circular Economy Expert for the EU SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component. 

 Speakers

Zinaida FADEEVA, Team Leader, SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component

Zinaida Fadeeva is the Team Leader of the Policy Support Component of the SWITCH-Asia Programme. Zinaida has over 25 years leading international professional experience in policy for and practice of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and Education for Sustainable Development, amongst others working with the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Studies of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Her work has focused on diverse topics such as tourism, plastics, construction, small and medium enterprises, procurement and lifestyle. Zinaida has worked extensively with governments, private sector, international organisations and academia in East, South East, South and Central Asia.

Kgauta MOKOENA, Chief Director, Chemicals and Waste Policy, Specialist Monitoring Services at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and The Environment in South Africa; Co-chair of the African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA)

Mr. Kgauta Mokoena is a recognized thought leader in circular economy and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), he has over 22 years of experience in the environmental sector. His career includes roles at the National Department of Mineral Resources and Energy as Director of Mine Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, and as Director of Air Quality within the Gauteng Provincial Government’s Chief Directorate for Sustainable Use of the Environment. He has extensive expertise in policy development, pollution and waste management, environmental economics, cleaner production, air quality management, and climate change. He serves as the Chair of the Built Environment Working Group for the Africa Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) and represents the Co-chair of ACEA. 

Dr Venkatachalam ANBUMOZHI, Senior Research Fellow for Innovation, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)

Venkatachalam Anbumozhi is an expert in subjects such as resource efficiency, international cooperation and development finance. He has published several books, authored numerous research articles and produced many project reports on resource management policies, sustainable infrastructure design, and private sector participation in Green Growth. His previous positions include Senior Capacity Building Specialist at Asian Development Bank Institute, Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo, Senior Policy Researcher at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and Assistant Manager in Pacific Consultants International, Tokyo. Currently Senior Economist at ERIA, Anbumozhi was also invited as a member of the APEC Expert Panel on Green Finance, G20 Task Force on Low –Carbon energy systems and the ASEAN Panel for promoting climate-resilient growth.

Filipe CAMAÑO GARCIA, Manager and Lead, Global Circularity Protocol for Business at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Filipe Camaño Garcia is the Manager and lead of the Global Circularity Protocol for Business, a strategic initiative led by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), in partnership with the One Planet Network, hosted by UNEP.

Daniel MAZURÉ, Head of Environment and Climate, UN Global Compact Network Germany

Daniel Mazuré has a strong background in working at the intersection of business, politics, and international cooperation. On the one hand, he has worked with German and Argentine companies to promote resource efficiency, environmental technologies, and innovation. On the other hand, he has held various consulting positions, including business development for a company in the circular economy sector (specifically reverse logistics) and involvement in political dialogue and project implementation for North and West Africa. Today, he leads the Environment and Climate programme at the UN Global Compact Network Germany—the United Nations platform for responsible business. This multistakeholder platform fosters capacity building and dialogue across the sustainability field. His work engages a diverse range of stakeholders, from start-ups and SMEs to multinational corporations, as well as academia and NGOs.

Tim FORSLUND, Senior Lead, Sitra International Programmes and EU Circular Economy Resource Centre

Tim works with Sitra’s international projects, and he spends most of his time with the EU Circular Economy Resource Centre and its Policy Lab. He is also active in the World Circular Economy Forum. Almost anything circular is close to his heart, including a multitude of international circular economy initiatives – not least in the Global South – road maps, policy design and implementation, circular bioeconomy business models, development, trade and EU policy. Before joining Sitra, Tim studied circular economy, environmental management and policy and languages in Stockholm, Lund, Montreal, Rock Island and Beijing, before working at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Thomas THOMAS, Co-convenor ASEAN Circular Economy Business Alliance (ACEBA); Chairman, ARAIBA Sdn Bhd

Thomas played an integral role in the set-up of ASEAN Corporate Social Responsibility Network (ACN) in 2010 and as CEO, continues to provide oversight and strategic direction for the organisation.  ACN was established to promote and enable responsible business conduct in ASEAN Member States. ACN is the responsible and inclusive business champion with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council. They developed a Code for Responsible and Inclusive Business and is building up the ASEAN Responsible and Inclusive Business Alliance (ARAIBA) to be the region’s network of businesses supporting responsible business conduct. Thomas is driving this initiative. He has extensive experience in CSR and responsible business conduct, serving on various initiatives in the region and globally. He lead the baseline research on Sustainable Consumption and Production in 2020. Prior to ACN, he was the founding Executive Director of the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), now operating as the Global Compact Network Singapore. Thomas had been active with trade unions, co-operatives, the consumer movement and social enterprises and also served as a Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore.

Chloe POTTINGER-GLASS, Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

Chloe is a Research Fellow with SEI Asia. She joined SEI in November 2021 and works across the urban and water clusters. She has led and contributed to research projects on climate adaptation and resilience, just transitions, circular economy, nature-based solutions, urban informality, youth engagement and sustainable food systems with a particular focus on social equity and justice within these topics. Before joining SEI, Chloe worked with the International Centre for Environmental Management in Hanoi, Vietnam and United Nations Office for Project Services in Yangon, Myanmar. She holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Edinburgh and an MsC in International Development Studies (Urban Development) from the University of Amsterdam.

Andrés ROJAS, Finance and Services Manager at CEMPRE Colombia

Andrés Rojas is the Finance and Services Manager at CEMPRE Colombia, an NGO dedicated to sustainability and circular economy initiatives. He is an Industrial Engineer with an MBA in International Business from the University of Wales – Cardiff. With over 15 years of experience in financial modeling, resource management, and strategic investment, he has worked across mass consumption and technology sectors. Passionate about sustainability and profitable business models, Andrés focuses on creating financial strategies that generate positive impacts for all stakeholders within the value chain.

Dr. Martin CALISTO FRIANT, Global Value Chains Lead, Circle Economy

Martin Calisto Friant is the Global Value Chains Lead at Circle Economy Foundation. He also lectures on circular economy and society at the University of Amsterdam. Martin has an interdisciplinary academic background in international development studies, environmental governance, and urban studies from Utrecht University (PhD), the University of Melbourne (MA), University College London (MSc), McGill University (BA) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Postdoc). He has 10 years of experience as a sustainability practitioner and researcher working on projects in Europe, Oceania, Africa and North and South America. His current work focuses on analysing the global socio-ecological implications of circularity transitions through a decolonial and degrowth lens, as well as developing public policies to foster a socially just and sustainable circularity transition at the local, national and international levels. His publications are openly available on ResearchGate and Google_Scholar.  

Agenda