Ep 93: The power of policy

It's quite difficult to do business on a dead planet,' says Helena Braun, Member of the Cabinet of Frans Timmermans, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission leading the work on the European Green Deal.

In conversation with Miranda Schnitger, the Foundation's Government Lead, Helena discusses the Commission's recently-announced Nature Package, and how policy plays a vital role in creating a nature-positive economy.

We are also joined by Shardul Agrawala, Head of the Environment and Economy Division at the OECD, and Andrea Liverani, Lead Sustainable Development Expert at The World Bank Group, who explore the power of policy to accelerate the industrial transformation needed to scale a circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature..

Calling for more ambitious policies to provide upstream solutions, rather than looking downstream, is key — as  Andrea says, what's the incentive to keep waste out of landfill when it doesn't cost anything?

This is third in a series of podcast episodes recorded at Summit 22 — the Foundation's flagship annual event — which brought together business leaders, policymakers, innovators, and global changemakers to explore how we can redesign our economy so that it regenerates, rather than destroys, the natural world.