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title: Systemiq | New insights, tools and global initiatives shaping the materials transition
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From plastics to steel: new analysis, market-shaping initiatives and system solutions ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­    ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  

| View in browser Dear friends and collaborators,    As Systemiq marks its 10th anniversary, it’s an opportunity to reflect on how central materials have become in the global agenda for climate, nature, security, technology and economic development. Critical minerals and chemicals are now geopolitical priorities, plastics pollution has triggered negotiations on a global plastics treaty, and steel and cement decarbonisation is shaping industrial competitiveness as well as climate progress.   Over the last decade, we have built up our global Materials & Circular Economy team to operate at the frontier of these global material systems – through our advisory, research and collective action programmes. We have worked with many ambitious organisations from the private sector, government and civil society. And we are even more excited for the decade ahead – building more partnerships and programmes and taking advantage of the growing attention on materials as the backbone of our economy. Our 10th anniversary publication captures that journey and looks ahead to the next decade. This edition of our newsletter offers a snapshot of where we are focusing our efforts in 2026: building new analyses and tools to strengthen the evidence base for change, influencing policies and market rules, advising corporations, investors and government, and supporting flagship collective action initiatives turning ambition into action on the ground. We hope this edition sparks ideas and would welcome your reflections.   Ben Dixon, Partner and Head of Materials & Circular Economy  Yoni Shiran, Partner, Plastics & Packaging Lead  Janez Potočnik, Partner and Co-Chair, International Resource Panel  Julia Koskella, Jason Hale, Rob Wilson - Senior Directors New analysis and tools Kenya's $700m waste opportunity A new circular economy investment prospectus developed with Invest Kenya, Systemiq, ALN Kenya and TakaTaka Ni Mali identified a $700 million investment opportunity in Kenya's waste sector by 2030, spanning a growing ecosystem of more than 120 circular economy businesses.    Find out more Closing the loop on Brazil's plastic waste   Brazil's waste system could recover BRL 14 billion in value a year, underpinning a new R$300 million partnership with the City of Recife. This new report was developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Clean Rivers with analytical support from Systemiq and Delterra.   Read Closing the Loop Chemicals as a case study in industrial strategy   Which end markets – from green fuels to shipping and aviation – could be shaped into lead markets for sustainable chemicals? This new study by Agora Industry and Systemiq offers a practical framework for industrial strategy well beyond the sector.    Read the full study   Steel-IQ: what's really slowing the steel transition   New Steel-IQ modelling shows that, under a business-as-usual scenario, almost 500 million tonnes of blast furnace capacity could still operate in 2050. The accompanying whitepaper identified four forms of inertia that are slowing the sector’s decarbonisation.   Explore Steel-IQ New tools for circular economy policy   CIRCOMOD, a four-year Horizon Europe project, has delivered the first comparable model-based assessment of what circular strategies can achieve for climate mitigation. It found that circular strategies could unlock up to 21% of global industrial emissions mitigation potential.   To the CIRCOMOD tools Shaping market rules Harmonised Rules, Stronger Economies    With INC-5.4 set for March 2027, the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty has launched a campaign built on Systemiq's economic modelling: a treaty underpinned by harmonised regulation across the full lifecycle of plastics is the lowest-cost and most effective way to help end plastic pollution.   Explore the economic case   EPR guidance for cartons in emerging markets   Building on earlier guidance for EPR systems in low- and middle-income countries, a new paper, developed by The Consumer Goods Forum with Systemiq's support, sets out recommendations tailored to liquid packaging cartons: designing effective schemes, aligning value chain stakeholders, and strengthening local collection and recycling infrastructure.   Explore the guiding principles    Investors call for PPWR certainty   In a private letter to the European Commission, signed by 22 investors representing over EUR 28 billion in venture capital, private equity and infrastructure financing assets under management, called on EU institutions not to reopen or delay the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Systemiq coordinated the letter alongside Eunomia, Circle Economy Foundation and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.   Read more in Packaging Europe    Making markets for green technologies   During London Climate Action Week, we convened senior leaders from finance, policy and industry to discuss what it takes to scale green technologies. The verdict: market-making is emerging as a discipline in its own right, with lessons already transferable across sectors.     Read the discussion summary    Scaling clean chemistry: a Brussels roundtable   Ben Dixon was invited to set the scene for a roundtable with Commissioner Jessika Roswall and Europe's clean chemistry innovators, hosted by Norrsken Brussels. His argument: sustainability, health and competitiveness aren't trade-offs, and Europe's real bottleneck is weak long-term demand signals, addressed through coherent policy and value-chain orchestration.     Find out more Collective action initiatives Packaging Data Hub: Fixing the Packaging Data Gap   We're building the Packaging Data Hub, a new global platform co-led by Systemiq and Earth Action, set to launch this autumn. Ahead of that, its directors have published the first two articles in a series on what it will take to fix the sector's data problem.   Find out more Voices from Banyuwangi   What does it take to move half a million people from open burning and dumping to reliable waste collection? We asked Lintong Manik and Maurin Rizkianita Arjana from Systemiq’s Project STOP implementation team in Indonesia. Their answer: infrastructure, governance and behaviour change need to go hand in hand.   Read the interview  Advancing the plastics agenda with the Consumer Goods Forum Systemiq continues to support the CGF Plastic Waste Coalition of Action. Recent progress spans a city-scale reuse pilot in Ottawa, navigating a fast-shifting EPR landscape, and a new assessment of plastics recycling across the EU and North America.   More about the Coalition  GPAP: Designing national plastic roadmaps in Central America and Africa Since 2018, Systemiq has partnered with the Global Plastic Action Partnership to design national plastic roadmaps in 25 countries. Guatemala's roadmap is drawing to a close, while Kenya and Senegal move into a third round of workshops in July to define locally-tailored solutions.   Learn about GPAP  Systemiq joins ReHubs as knowledge partner   Earlier this year, Systemiq became a knowledge partner of ReHubs, an alliance dedicated to scaling up textile-to-textile recycling and boosting the adoption of recycled fibres in Europe. Since then, we've supported ReHubs in shaping its initiative roadmap, strengthening its role as an industry convenor, and co-developing insights to help translate ambition into action at a moment when accelerating circular textile solutions is critical.   Learn more about ReHubs Thought pieces and media EPR is reshaping US packaging: success depends on the system behind it Dee Yang and Julia Koskella argue that EPR laws are shifting packaging strategy from compliance to system-building. With US recycling infrastructure still under-built, companies that invest in collection, sorting and reprocessing now will be best placed to shape what comes next.  Read the article Stuck in linear: can a European push help circularity get into gear? Ben Dixon told Reuters that the linear economy is deeply entrenched, with recycled materials still just 6.9% of the global economy. His view: policy alone won't fix it, building resilient value chains for recycled materials is fundamentally a collective-action problem. Read the article  Get in touch 💬 © Systemiq 2026. You are receiving this email because you previously opted in or have expressed interest in our work. If you believe this was sent in error or wish to unsubscribe, you can update your preferences at any time. https://www.systemiq.earth/privacy Systemiq, 10-12 Russell Square House, 4th Floor, London, United Kingdom, WC1B 5EH . If you've been forwarded this email and would like to subscribe to news from Systemiq, click here. 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