Circular Economy Hub held Circular X on “How to measure the transition to a circular economy: Indicators, standards, and global trends”

Circular Economy Hub has been hosting the monthly online learning program series “Circular X” since 2021, offering opportunities to explore the future of circular economy practices across various industries and sectors.

The theme for November 2025 was “How do we measure the transition to a circular economy? The latest trends and practices surrounding circularity indicators in Japan and abroad.”

As the transition to a circular economy accelerates worldwide, growing attention is being placed on the development of circularity assessment methods and indicators that objectively measure and visualize progress toward this transition.

In recent years, a wide range of methodologies and tools for circularity assessment have emerged. These include the Material Circularity Indicator developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in the United Kingdom, ISO 59020 within the ISO 59000 series of international standards for the circular economy, which focuses on measuring and evaluating circularity performance, and the Circular Transition Indicators developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. In addition, many private organizations and local governments have created their own original indicators.

On November 11, the first edition, version 1.0, of the Global Circularity Protocol was announced at a COP30 side event held at the Japan Pavilion in Belem, Brazil. This international framework for circularity indicators, target setting, and disclosure schemes is led by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the One Planet Network under UNEP.

Against this backdrop, the latest Circular X session examined recent domestic and international developments related to circular economy indicators. From both corporate and municipal perspectives, the discussion focused on the current state of circularity assessment, challenges identified through practical implementation, and future outlooks for advancing measurement and evaluation.

Speakers

Kiyokazu Nasu

CEO of Circle Design Inc. and Editor in Chief of Circular Economy Hub. He is a member of the Global Circularity Protocol Frontrunner Coalition, which was newly established to advance the implementation of the Global Circularity Protocol, and is engaged in supporting companies with circularity assessment.

Yu Kato

CEO of Harch Inc. He has worked on projects that visualize resource circulation and has collaborated with Circle Economy in the Netherlands and Gamagori City to develop Japans first employment focused circular economy transition indicator, the Circular Employment Dashboard known as the Gamagori Data Explorer. He has also been involved in developing the Circular City Transition Indicator.

[Reference] How do we measure the transition to a circular economy? The latest trends and practices surrounding circularity indicators in Japan and abroad: Online event Circular X on November 27 | Peatix (in Japanese)
[Related Site] Circular Economy Hub (in Japanese)