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ABN AMRO has developed a Circular Economy Guide to help their clients in all relevant industries to help get them on the fast track to becoming circular. Read more at:

Dialogue with customers

Adjacent to ABN AMRO's headquarters at the Gustav Mahlerplein in Amsterdam, construction of a new building known as 'The Pavilion' has been ongoing since late 2015. The new building known as Circl is designed by Architekten Cie. As an example of tangible circular construction, the Circl building from bank ABN AMRO stands in Amsterdam’s financial district. It was “born from a circular vision that centres on high-quality recycling of materials, energy-neutral consumption and a bare minimum of waste”. The building is the Netherlands’ first circular building design, with park-like surroundings an open-plan layout, and roof garden. The walls in the basement of Circl were made from window frames from an old Philips building, for example, while the parquet floor is made from residual wood from other projects. ABN AMRO is also making available their planning via a 'right to copy' to encourage others to develop similar buildings that can positively transform the urban environment. Read more at:

CIRCL - Resource efficient building design

A pilot project of Dura Vermeer and Overijssel Province has provided a practical case for investigating how a circular road can be exploited as a&nbsp;Road-as-a-Service. A white paper on this project, launched by a new coalition for circular accounting, demonstrates how to modify and rethink current financing and reporting practices for the circular economy. A discussion about contractual structuring and its implications has led to new insights. Dura Vermeer wants to retain the economic ownership of the road while providing its functionality (i.e. the use of the road) as a service to their client Overijssel Province. This incentive ensures that it will maintain the road as well as possible from its knowledge and expertise. This will ultimately lead to a higher residual value.The participants formed a Coalition Circular Accounting (CCA). This is a collaboration between&nbsp;Circle Economy,&nbsp;Sustainable Finance Lab,&nbsp;The Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants&nbsp;(NBA),&nbsp;Dura Vermeer,&nbsp;ABN AMRO,&nbsp;Rabobank,&nbsp;KPMG,&nbsp;Provincie Overijssel&nbsp;and scientists of&nbsp;Erasmus University,&nbsp;Open Universiteit,&nbsp;University of Groningen,&nbsp;Nyenrode Business University&nbsp;and&nbsp;Avans University of Applied Sciences. The CCA was co-funded by&nbsp;Nederland Circulair! To sell or not to sellThe fundamental question is “to sell or not to sell”, according to CCA. Financial reporting is about economic ownership and the transfer of risks and rewards. If at the end of the contract, economic ownership is transferred to the client (in this case Overijssel Province), it still appears on their balance sheet from the start as it would in a ‘normal’ sale. The alternative is to specify explicitly the ongoing nature of the agreement, which excludes a transfer. This ownership question has implications for the reuse of the road and its materials at the time of harvesting. The owner of the road is incentivised to optimize the durability of the road, its maintenance and (re) use of raw materials, with potential effects such as a longer lifespan, lower overall maintenance costs, and higher residual material value.&nbsp; Combining different financial structuresThis above decision has important consequences for the balance sheet of both parties and how to obtain financing for the investment. When no sale takes place, we have to alter our traditional financing perspective. A possible solution is to create a combination of financing projects, while also having some corporate debt that should lead to a different type of financing. A surprising result is the fact that the actual accounting of the circular road turned out not to be the main challenge in this case. Creating a financial incentive for circularity is the foremost objective. A contractual agreement should express circular incentives and the distribution of risk and reward. The actual accounting ultimately follows.

Pursuing Financial Reality of the Circular Road: A pathway to Road-as-a-Service

In its second whitepaper, the Coalition Circular Accounting (CCA) explores Facades-as-a-Service as a method to battle waste and increase the circularity of buildings. The Facades-as-a-Service will provide a customisable, dismantable facade that provides a building with ventilation, sunlight regulation and energy generation, all adjustable by remote control. The Product-as-a-Service business model benefits circular construction by incentivising manufacturing companies to retain responsibility for their product and their performance before, during and after its lifespan.&nbsp;‍However, current financing models can present major barriers for companies with circular business aspirations. Asset ownership for example, characterized by an extended balance sheet, is unpopular amongst financiers and suppliers, whilst essential for incentivising a long term business perspective.‍In light of these current and persistent financing barriers, the Coalition Circular Accounting has launched a white paper that elaborates on the opportunities and risks of Product-as-a-Service business models. The paper proposes a new contractual structure as an enabler and raises the issue of the misfit between current financing structures and circular business models.

The Circular Facade: Building a sustainable financial reality with Facades-as-a-Service

Residual resources, such as food processing surplus streams—now often categorised as ‘waste’—can be reused at their highest potential value if fair pricing can be ensured, finds the third report of the Coalition Circular Accounting. In their&nbsp;Valorising Residual Resources&nbsp;report, they elaborate on the financial, accounting and legal aspects of valorising food waste and the organisational challenges of being circular in a linear world.&nbsp; Annually, 88 million tonnes of food is wasted in the European Union alone. An estimated third of that waste occurs before food items even hit the shelves. In some food categories, waste is particularly hard to avoid because of a lack of knowledge, logistical challenges or expiration dates. But in a time when climate change and hunger threaten millions of livelihoods around the world, minimising food waste is a must, resulting in higher food security and a reduced industry footprint.&nbsp; A current go-to solution for many food manufacturers is to downcycle and sell waste streams as animal feed. But when these resources are of premium quality and fit for human consumption, this is a massive loss. To ensure efficient resource use, the circular economy aims to maintain the highest possible value of resources for as long as possible. But producers need a stronger incentive to valorise all their waste streams—an incentive the linear economic system does not provide. The Coalition Circular Accounting (CCA), led by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants (NBA) and Circle Economy, has identified opportunities to salvage and valorise residual resource streams before they are turned into input for the production of animal feed or waste. Using biscuit dough as an example, the coalition teamed up with cooperative&nbsp;IntelligentFood&nbsp;to explore the challenges they are facing and identify promising pathways for circular ways of working that can be applied to a multitude of other types of residual streams.&nbsp;‍The cooperate as circular enabler‍IntelligentFood is organised as a cooperative that receives residual biscuit dough from Europastry—a leader in the frozen bakery dough sector—and joins forces with value chain partners to add value and create new products. Members can contribute either as an employee, as an organisation, in cash or in-kind. All members that have contributed value share in the profits, following a distribution key.&nbsp; The CCA has found that the cooperative governance structure of IntelligentFood offers great incentives for partners to collaborate, create value and share risks. As a cooperative, IntelligentFood does not own production facilities, nor employs chefs or has any logistical capacities. Their primary role is to develop new food concepts that use residual food streams and connect different external parties—from resource input to final product sales—on its platform. They take on the role of a&nbsp;Circular Value Chain Director, connecting and redirecting resources between stakeholders, processes and industries to ensure their highest potential and value.&nbsp; Fair pricing is key‍The CCA once again confirmed that what gets valued, gets managed. The business case proved that residual resources should also have financial value. However, determining a fair price for these resources has sparked a debate about valuation theory versus market value. Moreover, the report provides potential options for accounting for the residual resources, based on a situation where profit margins&nbsp;after sales&nbsp;of the final product constitute the value of the resources used.&nbsp;&nbsp; Accounting for true impact‍Lastly, it becomes clear from the research that our current accounting models do not incorporate impact. Currently, accounting models and investors focus too much on profit and do not take environmental or societal aspects into account.&nbsp; The Coalition Circular Accounting will tackle this topic in their next case study. Together with Impact Institute, they will investigate how accounting can standardise impact assessment in order to better reflect the environmental and societal impact. This report is scheduled to appear in the first quarter of 2021.&nbsp;

Valorising Residual Resources: Mitigating food waste - how cooperatives can boost the circular economy


This white paper details the importance of measuring circular impact and using it to steer decision making in business. Using the case study of Meerlanden, the paper shows how data on circularity can bolster profitability in business while limiting negative environmental and social externalities through two avenues: integrated profit and loss and multiple balance sheets. Next steps and recommendations are provided for companies, financiers and accountants.&nbsp;

How to find the value of circular impact in business: Circular impact management and financial reporting

ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank co-developed international circular economy finance guidelines to support a common framework for financing circular business models. By introducing these guidelines, the three banks aimed to 'lay the groundwork for accelerating investment in and funding of circular business models' and are encouraging financial players across the world to follow suit.