Ecology: What nature says | CIRCULAR REPUBLIC Festival 2025

Are we truly shifting beyond the linear economy or just circling around it? Despite growing pressure on natural systems and the depletion of critical resources, the shift toward a circular economy remains slow and complex. While pioneering efforts have demonstrated circular potential, questions persist about whether we are replacing the linear model or simply repackaging it. In this episode, Sandrine Dixson-Declève, former Co-President of the Club of Rome, stresses the need for systemic change to address both environmental collapse and social injustice. Following her keynote at the CIRCULAR REPUBLIC Festival 2025, she joined Jocelyn Blériot, Executive Lead for Policy and Institutions at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, for a panel discussion moderated by Niclas-Alexander Mauss. Together, they explored what is holding back the circular transition, from cost structures to deeply embedded incentives for extraction. This episode is the first in our CIRCULAR REPUBLIC Festival 2025 series, created in partnership with CIRCULAR REPUBLIC to bring you the key debates and insights from this year’s festival.