To effectively roll out circular economy policies within a territory, companies and decision-makers require access to evaluation and simulation tools. The design of these tools, still in the research phase, necessarily requires a more detailed consideration of the impact of human activities, both locally and globally. “The circular economy enables optimization of the available resources in order to preserve them …

To implement a robust and durable circular economy strategy, it is important to assess its environmental impacts. Valérie Laforest and Natacha Gondran, both researchers at Mines Saint-Étienne, explain the reasons for incorporating an absolute environmental sustainability assessment method and the underlying concept of “environmental budgeting“.   The lifestyles of our contemporary societies are exerting constant and unsustainable pressure on the …

In industry, it is increasingly necessary to design products and services with concern and respect for environmental issues.  Such consideration is expressed through a practice that is gaining ground in a wide range of sectors: eco-design. Valérie Laforest, a researcher in environmental assessment and environmental engineering and organizations at Mines Saint-Étienne, explains the term.   What does eco-design mean? Valérie …