Lead the Circular Economy with CIRCelligence

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The linear economy is a one-way street—and growth may soon hit a dead end. As raw materials follow a “take-make-waste” journey—once spent, they’re out of play—in a circular economy, they find new life filling needs (not landfills). Circelligence by BCG helps companies master sustainability and the circular economy, sparking efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage.

What Is the Circular Economy?

The circular economy sustains growth in a world of finite resources by turning value chains into value circles. Circularity lowers sourcing risks and costs, improves operational efficiencies, and opens the door to new products and market segments. But creating a circular business isn’t simple. A robust circular economy roadmap requires a holistic approach for every phase of a product’s life cycle. The challenge: understanding just how circular your business is and how to focus your efforts to create a circular strategy.

How Circelligence by BCG Works

Developed by BCG GAMMA and our circular economy consulting team, in partnership with SAP and battle-tested with BCG’s clients, Circelligence is now available as a standalone circular strategy solution running on SAP BTP. It’s part evaluative, part circular economy framework, providing an end-to-end assessment of a company’s circularity and helping leaders identify initiatives that create—and differentiate—a truly circular business.

Circelligence by BCG calculates the circularity of a company to help clients on their climate change and sustainability journey by embedding circular economy concepts into their overall corporate strategy and enabling management to make informed circular investment decisions. The Circelligence tool is built around five key pillars:

The Benefits of Circelligence by BCG

A circular economy promotes sustainability, but it also creates business value. Circelligence by BCG helps you realize the full potential of circularity in a variety of ways:

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Business Model Innovation

A circular mindset can drive the formation of new business models and establish new revenue streams.

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New Growth Opportunities

A circular strategy can spark innovation, opening the door to new products—and new market segments.

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More Efficiency, Less Risk

By reducing dependence on resource extraction, Circelligence by BCG shrinks supply chain risks and boosts operational efficiencies.

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Stronger Customer Relationships

A circular business produces less waste and builds longer-lasting products, helping you meet sustainability goals—and customer expectations.

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Staying Ahead of the Regulatory Curve

Circularity is nascent, but word—and interest—is growing. First movers can play an active role in developing circular economy regulations.

Our Clients’ Success with Circularity

Across sectors and around the globe, BCG has helped companies accelerate their circularity journey. Here are some examples of our work—and results:

Hilti was the first company worldwide to use and codevelop the Circelligence method with BCG. Hilti now evaluates the circularity of its entire product portfolio in terms of both quality and quantity on a yearly basis. Valuable insights from Circelligence supported Hilti in defining a comprehensive circular strategy, including projects in remanufacturing and product design, that led to the recovery of an additional 100,000 spare parts in 2021, saving 75 tons of valuable electronic motors and rotors.

We partnered with a materials industry powerhouse to pilot end-of-life collection, source bio-based and recycled materials, and develop fully circular business models, among other initiatives. In all, circularity efforts have the potential to impact 75% of the business’s volume.

Circelligence helped bring clarity to an extremely complex topic. It supported us in building a database of material use and flows which—beyond allowing us to calculate the circularity score—gave us deep insight into our material use

Caroline Stern, Head of Circularity, Hilti

Meet Our Circular Economy Consulting Team

Our circular economy consulting experts help companies embed circular strategy—and perspective—into their business, culture, and path ahead with a circular economy roadmap. Meet some of our Circelligence by BCG team.