Levers for change

10 key levers

In evaluating the potential for New York to become a circular city, the members of the initiative chose to focus on the levers of change. Specifically, we wanted to identify actions that the city, its businesses and financial institutions could take that would generate positive impacts, individually and collaboratively, across a range of sectors.

Through a brainstorming exercise we identified more than 50 potential levers that were then put to a vote for further analysis.

This process resulted in the following 10 levers being selected. In researching these levers, it became apparent that each brings different benefits to the city. Some have a great potential to create jobs, others to deliver wider economic or environmental benefits. Finally, some act as “enablers” in that they don’t deliver direct benefits but instead contribute to the success of others.

These enabling levers can be accessed at the bottom of the page.

The 10 levers

Markets
Build on, develop and promote existing materials marketplaces around the city.
Procurement
Develop procurement guidelines and set a target for circular public procurement.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR)
Ensure manufacturers take financial or physical responsibility for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products.
Jobs
Develop a jobs plan to identify, facilitate and promote circular jobs around the city and boost net employment.
Planning
Incorporate circular economy principles into zoning and land development policy.
Finance (enabling)
Develop mechanisms and policy incentives to support the financing of circular
economy (CE) technologies, projects and start-ups.
Policy (enabling)
Develop policy to incentivize good (e.g. reduced sales tax, circular goods marketplaces) and disincentivize bad (e.g. “pay-as-you-throw”) practices.
Innovation (enabling)
Promote circular innovation in product design, production processes and
business models and through bespoke projects and ideation programs.
Communication (enabling)
Develop campaigns to communicate the benefits of circularity to residents
and businesses and highlight the good work already being done.
Education (enabling)
Integrate circular thinking into the curriculum for vocational training and at
universities and business schools.
Markets
Build on, develop and promote existing materials marketplaces around the city.
Procurement
Develop procurement guidelines and set a target for circular public procurement
Extended producer responsibility (EPR)
Ensure manufacturers take financial or physical responsibility for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products.
Jobs
Develop a jobs plan to identify, facilitate and promote circular jobs around the city.
Planning
Incorporate circular economy principles in zoning and land development policy.
Finance (enabling)
Develop mechanisms and policy incentives to support the financing of circular economy (CE) technologies, projects and start-ups
Policy (enabling)
Develop policy to incentivize good (e.g. reduced sales tax, circular goods marketplaces) and disincentivize bad (e.g. ‘pay-as-you-throw’) practices.
Innovation (enabling)
Promote circular innovation in product design, production processes and business models and through bespoke projects and ideation programs.
Communication (enabling)
Develop campaigns to communicate the benefits of circularity to citizens and businesses and highlight the good work already being done.
Education (enabling)
Integrate circular thinking into the curriculum for vocational training and at universities and business schools

Our research approach here analyzed 10 levers for change that can help the city, its businesses and financial institutions make the transition toward the circular economy.

In conducting our research we have uncovered a range of potential approaches that can deliver jobs and economic opportunities, and address critical environmental challenges. These are explained in detail in the report, but the table below highlights the potential offered by each of these levers.

LEVER

JOB
CREATION

ECONOMIC
BENEFITS

ENVIRONMENTAL
BENEFITS

Circular marketplaces

Circular procurement

Extended producer
responsibility

Jobs plan

Planning

ENABLING
LEVERS

Finance

Policy

Innovation

Communication

Education

KEY:

= high impact

= medium impact

= limited impact

Our research findings

In this section, we focus on the role of enabling levers: those levers that support the achievement of the core levers and play a critical role in facilitating the transition to a circular New York City. Our research has identified five key enabling levers: Policy, Finance, Innovation, Communication and Education.