The Circular Economy needs a new operating system - The ZeroNet showcased at Dubai Expo 2022
Updated: Mar 4, 2022
CIRCULÉIRE member the ZeroNet participates at the Irish Pavilion during the Circular Europe Days event at the Dubai Expo. Check out the highlights here!
January was an important month with CIRCULÉIRE being represented by its Industry Member The ZeroNet in an international event: the Circular Europe Days in Dubai. Paul McSweeney, the ZeroNet founder and CEO, delivered a speech about how "The Circular Economy needs a new operating system" and how the ZeroNet platform is setting out to reinvent collection logistics. Paul also highlighted the great work being done by CIRCULÉIRE*, Ireland’s first industry-led innovation network for the circular economy led by Irish Manufacturing Research.
“It was a brilliant opportunity to showcase our own work in developing and promoting the ZeroNet platform and we are extremely grateful to CIRCULÉIRE for giving us this great opportunity. The feedback and interest from many attendees has been universally positive”, said McSweeney.
You can check out our full presentation here.
The event took place on the 17th and 18th of January 2022 during the Dubai Expo Global Goals Week, which coincided with the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. During the Circular Europe Days, the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform’s (ECESP) Coordination Group members showcased the work done by their Leadership Groups.
“Meeting with many of the members of the ECESP was an extraordinary experience. Showcasing the array of circular initiatives taking place in many partner countries was a terrific opportunity to understand the circular landscape – and challenges – that exist in accelerating the move to a circular economy in Europe”, added the ZeroNet CEO.
Stepping into the global arena, the event showed Europe’s willingness to foster international cooperation. Five national European Pavilions —Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Finland, and Poland — held high-level events on the opportunities and barriers to understanding successful European projects in the circular economy.
The Circular Europe Days was opened with a welcome speech by Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President for the European Commission. In his welcome speech in a video message, Timmermans said: “We must find a way to prosper together. This is precisely what the European Green Deal is about. The transition to the circular economy is at the heart of the European Green Deal to reach climate neutrality by 2050.”
“Last year’s Circularity Gap Report showed that by doubling circularity we can shrink global greenhouse gas emissions by 39 per cent, and cut virgin resource use by 28 per cent in the next 10 years,” Timmermans added. “To get there, we need to profoundly change our production and consumption patterns and invest in the circular business models.”
*CIRCULÉIRE is Ireland’s first industry-led innovation network for the circular economy led by Irish Manufacturing Research, an Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland supported Technology Centre. It is co-designed and funded by three Strategic Partners, the Government of Ireland’s Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EIT Climate-KIC.
