Just Transitions to a Circular Economy – CE Hub Lunchtime Webinar
The latest offering from the CE-Hub Lunchtime Webinar series focused on issues around social justice in relation to circular economy. The event on Thursday 28th September was hosted by Ryan Nolan, of the CE-Hub, with guest speakers Elisabeth Tuerk from the United Nations and David Monciardini and Livia Regina Batista from the University of Exeter.
Following introductions from Ryan, David and Livia took us through an overview of their JustCE project which explored circular justice within the European right to repair movement. The research project produced two papers. The first, “Our Best Enemy” emphasized the role of social conflict in advancing a sustainable circular economy. The second explored justice in the right to repair debates, identifying two distinct ideas: regenerative justice and social solidarity, and a liberal idea of justice.
The floor was then handed to Elisabeth Tuerk, Director of Economic Cooperation and Trade Division at the UNECE. Elisabeth discussed the progress on the UN’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), in particular SDG 12, which is associated with the circular economy. She also introduced and gave an overview of the Circular STEP initiative, a multi-stakeholder network aimed at accelerating the circular transition in the UNECE region, of which the CE-Hub recently has been selected as the UK focal point.
The resulting lively discussion was prompted by some thought-provoking questions from the audience. You can find out more about what was discussed by watching back the full webinar below.
