Most of us know that our planet is in an emergency. We know that we need to change, and we know that we needed to do it yesterday. But taking meaningful action in the face of an emergency can be a staggering challenge.

The first Danish Circularity Gap Report states that Denmark is only four percent circular. The world is 7.2 percent circular. Design has a huge potential to change that, so we launched our mission to design an irresistible circular society in 2021.

Driving change through a circular mission

Read more about how we work mission-driven here. Reach out to Gry Brostrøm if you want to join our mission to design an irresistible circular society.

Design is key in the circular transition

Decisions made at the design stage influence eighty percent of a product’s environmental impact.

• 61 percent of the companies need skills in and knowledge of sustainable materials in the circular transition
• 58 percent of companies need skills and knowledge of user and customer needs in the circular transition (Design Delivers Green, 2022).

1. Business models
   We work strategically to help companies develop more circular and sustainable business models and build capacity to continue to work on their circularity – like when we helped 40 companies use circular design to future-proof their business.We only achieve 55 percent of our climate goals with energy efficiency and conversion to renewable energy. The remaining 45 percent must be obtained by restructuring our production and consumption, i.e., through a circular economy. Companies play a vital role in realizing this.
2. Value chains
   Up to 90 percent of a company’s CO2 emission happens in scope 3, but only four percent of Danish companies work with their supply chains. There’s a substantial unused potential here, and we work with a range of ambitious partners in projects like Decoupling 2030 and Resilient Fashion to change this. You can start mapping your value chain with our tools here and here.
3. Behavior
   By embracing a circular lifestyle, we can reduce Denmark’s material footprint by 9.1 percent and the carbon footprint by 10.8 percent. With our Circular Behavior Initiative, we seek to develop design tools and mission-driven approaches to change current consumption patterns and increase awareness of the power of the people.
4. Cities
   Our cities are fundamental in driving the circular economy. Cities emit over 70 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions and produce 50 percent of the world’s waste. That makes cities a crucial focal point for turning things around. We work with circularity in cities nationwide and internationally in projects like REFLOW, Centrinno, DESIRE – New European Bauhaus, Circular Cities, CCC, and CICC.

Based on our insights, we develop and publish tools and toolkits to support the transition. Our Circular Toolkit has been visited over 12,000 times across Miro and ddc.dk.