Communicating the case for the transition to a circular economy

Communication touches every corner of our lives. It is the cornerstone of a healthy relationship. It underpins the success of the world’s best sports teams. It is the hallmark of a successful business. It tells us what is, what has been, what could be, and what should no longer be.

When communication works well, it can be an enabler of systems change, stakeholder buy-in, customer and consumer engagement, and team alignment. It might even be the difference between convincing your entire industry to go on the journey with you towards a circular future, or going it alone.

Shifting our take-make-waste linear economy to a circular one is no small undertaking. It requires painting a vision of the future we want to see, inspiring many diverse stakeholders, and convincing them to change their comfortable lives and business operations. Within business, sustainability, and circular economy initiatives, when we don’t communicate effectively, the projects that we have worked so hard to develop lose momentum. Those who you need to engage become disinterested and begin to question the work, and frustration arises. Projects stagnate. Energy is lost. Disillusionment creeps in. 

To shift the mindset and behaviours of an entire business, consumer base, and industry to embrace circular thinking, we can liken circular practitioners to tugboats, steering the great ocean liner of our economy in the direction that we want to go, to be better for our people and planet. 

And what is the fuel of the tugboats? It is communication. It is story. It’s the picture that effective communicators can paint to engage stakeholders and inspire new possibilities.

Our panel discussion on the final day of XLabs LIVE 2022 explored the question of how we can best communicate the case for a transition to a circular economy, in our businesses, communities, schools, and government. 

The panel, moderated by storyteller, narrative strategist, and author Alina Siegfried, hosted Morgan Maw of Boring Milk, Michael Burgess of Fletcher Building, Te Aroha Grace of Figure Group, Jo Bye of EECA, Michael Eaglen of EV Maritime, and freelance creative Dalong Ye-Lee, who was also working as an engineer with one of the XLabs teams, from Downer. 

We asked panellists how we might flex our mental muscles to reimagine and entrench a societal narrative of a radically different future, when our brains are wired towards looking to the past and what’s around us right now, and what sort of practical steps and strategies can be used in communicating the case for change. Their insights are summarised under five key themes below.

Hearts & Minds: Make Them Feel Something

The transition towards a circular economy can’t just be an analytical conversation; we need to shift both hearts and minds. 

Panellist Jo Bye, who is GM of Marketing and Comms at the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency (EECA), set the tone early on that whatever our goals, good communication needs to make people feel. She described the tight-rope act in balancing hope and fear when talking about climate change. 

Too much hope is not useful — the perception that we are making great progress may encourage people to assume someone else is in control of the situation, and take their foot off the pedal in their own efforts. On the other hand, too much fear is overwhelming, to the point where people stick their proverbial fingers in their ears and shut down. 

EECA launched ‘The Right Side’ campaign, which asks people ”Will you be on the right side of history?” After the planet received a break from our carbon mile emissions during 2020 and 2021, Jo describes the campaign as a deliberate inflection point to challenge people to get past the inertia they’re feeling around climate change. For those businesses that are at least somewhat open to doing what they can to address the climate crisis, such a provocative question is good food for thought. 

“It doesn’t matter if you’re selling climate change or milk, you want people to feel something. If they don’t feel anything, you’re not having any impact; what you’re getting is indifference.”

— Jo Bye, GM Marketing and Comms, EECA

When Michael Eaglen, Co-founder and CEO of EV Maritime, was invited to a breakfast event at Auckland Transport called “Gulf 2025”, people expected him to get up and speak about the technical specifications of electric ferries, explain the numbers, and make the case for why to switch from diesel in the Waitemata Harbour. It was 2018, he had been speaking a lot with the Chief Executive of Fullers who currently run the commuter ferry service in Auckland, and many there saw him as “the tech guy”. 

Instead, Michael took the stage and told the audience to close their eyes. He then outlined a vision of the future, asking the audience to imagine that it was 8am, November 2021, and a small crowd has gathered around the newly refurbished ferry terminal. Two electric ferries glide silently into the terminal. On board, the Prime Minister addresses APEC delegates and explains her government’s commitment to electrifying the Auckland ferry fleet, and then taking and building upon all of NZ’s boat building history, expertise, and technology, and channelling it into climate action for the world. 

APEC, of course, did not transpire for Auckland, but in 2024 two brand new electric ferries will indeed arrive into the downtown terminal. In telling a story rather than outlining the business and technical case, Eaglen maintains that he laid out the inspiration, and then lobbied like mad. 

Tell the Stories that aren’t in the Room

A circular economy requires a shift in mindset to recognise that we who are alive today, are part of an interconnected web of life that spans millennia.

When asked how to shift some of the predominant narratives underpinning our lives and our collective current understanding of “the way things are”, Figure Group’s Chief Relationship Officer Te Aroha Grace was blunt: 

“Be more Māori. It’s not an ethnicity, it’s a way. And the way is to convene cosmology around you. Bring the mountain into the conversation. Bring the tree into the conversation. How do you belong?”
– Te Aroha Grace, Chief Relationship Officer, Figure Group

Our current economic paradigm is underpinned by several assumed narratives. One is that the gifts of nature are there for humans to take, make, and eventually waste. Another is that competition is the best way to drive innovation, and that resources are scarce so we had best get them when we can at the best price. Alternative narratives can provide a different view, such as the one that tells us that humans ARE nature; we are an intricate part of the interconnected way of life. While competition can be good for customers and can drive some innovation, the magnitude of complex challenges such as climate change, deforestation, declining water quality, and the loss of biodiversity and fertile topsoil are too big and too urgent to be solved through this type of neo-liberal economic thinking. The planet requires us to subscribe to a new narrative that tells us we can’t solve the world’s problems unless we work together, and design the right systems to make abundant use of the resources available to us through the reuse, recycling, and repurposing of materials. 

Grace, who is of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei descent, spoke about the way conversation unfolds on marae, referring to the powhiri as a platform to communicate. XLabs was held in the same week that Aotearoa lost Bastion Point activist and Ngāti Whātua kaumātua Joe Hawke, and Grace invited the audience to consider the centuries old mana that is in the room when we have conversations together. He described the construct of conversations on marae shifting seamlessly from normal to sacred, and back to normal again, and talked of the wisdom of such ways of communicating the case for change. Such ways of communicating recognise not just those who are in the room, or even those who are alive now, but entire lineages of those who have come before us and the generations to come. Grace describes a good story as the trojan horse that can align people and illustrate a way forward.

Freelance creative and Downer engineer Dalong Ye-Lee picked up on this thread, pointing out how short a time humans have existed in the history of the Earth. If we are to measure the entire existence of the Earth against a 24 hour clock, human beings have existed for just 77 seconds. Ye-Lee concluded that this kind of framing changes perspectives, and the case for developing circular solutions is no longer about me, you, your business, or anyone else here. 

Referencing the natural world, our ancestors, and those who have yet to be born helps us to understand that we are simply tenants, on this property we call Earth.

Sharing the Whole, Flawed, Messy Truth

Sharing your progress on sustainability initiatives, the good and the bad, gives your business credibility in a time when consumers expect and appreciate authenticity and transparency.

Morgan Maw, Founder of Boring Oat Milk, shared with the audience how after developing oat milk as a more sustainable alternative to dairy, she finds it painful that her product is packaged in plastic. Boring is a company that prides itself on sharing its journey, and Maw explained that by candidly recognising that this is a problem, and sharing how they are working on it, they gain credibility in the eyes of consumers. She was also candid about the fact that she doesn’t see the dairy as the enemy in the milk market, and recognises the place it has our nation’s economy. 

Maw pointed out that many are quick to dismiss sustainability initiatives that aren’t perfect, which is an understandable reaction in a time when greenwashing is rife. She considers that businesses that are authentic about what they’re trying to improve on, as well as what’s working, have a better chance of gaining loyal customers. 

When asked about how we can avoid virtue signalling and greenwashing, Bye responded that being authentic in your claims is quite simple. You either are authentic or you aren’t, and people are getting very good at spotting the difference. She too urged the Xlabs audience have the confidence to share their flawed progress: 

“If no one has the confidence to share the journey they are on, then no one can take example from it. That’s the balance that we have to play, to encourage people to share their journeys — share their status and share it unashamedly — as long as there is a pathway. I want to encourage that kind of flawed progress.”

— Jo Bye, GM Marketing and Comms, EECA

Transparency is arguably every more important for bigger companies, as levels of trust are often lower. Michael Burgess, who is Group Carbon and Environmental Performance Manager at Fletcher Building, referenced a lot of scepticism of larger businesses and being upfront they are not perfect is important to remain credible.

He points to being honest and keeping to your commitments as the biggest drivers to winning trust, as he has seen many companies saying they are going to take action, and not following through. Burgess pointed to the importance of trusted third-parties who can independently verify that processes, operations, and the development of products has been done in accordance with a proven methodology or a trusted system. Accreditation partners such as Toitū Envirocare, Declare, and the Circular Transition Tool developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development are good options for companies wanting to back up their sustainability claims. 

Know your Audience - All of Them

Knowing and understanding our audiences can help us to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy, by ensuring that we bring people on the journey with us. 

Maw spent 15 months coming up with the name for her company. Sharing that naming is sometimes an afterthought for businesses that are wrapped up in enthusiasm for their product, she explained that she wanted to be quite paired back. She landed on the train of thought that milk isn’t exciting – it’s the stuff you put it in that’s exciting, the cereal, the coffee. Reflecting on the dry, self-deprecating sense of humour of many New Zealanders, and wanting to provide a nod to our roots, she “channelled her inner Jermaine Clement” and landed on ‘Boring’.

Knowing your audience is a well worn adage within the field of marketing and communications, and when you’re selling a specific product, it can be relatively simple. But when we are trying to bring entire teams, businesses, or industries with us, the audiences are as diverse as they are many. 

Ye-Lee pointed to the different learning styles that people have, and the multi-faceted communications approach required for circular economy or behaviour change efforts to succeed. Some people respond to human-centric, story driven approaches, while others such as engineers like himself love the data and the figures. Within questions as big as transforming an entire economy to be circular, he cautions that all audiences need to be catered for, to bring everyone with us on the journey. Whether data-driven or story-driven, grounding communications within commonly held values such as care, community, and truth, and avoiding “us vs them” framing that can alienate swaths of the population. 

Burgess also considers himself at “the boring end of the spectrum”, as a highly analytical person for whom numbers change his heart. And some of the numbers in his industry do indeed demand attention - he pointed to the fact that 50-60% of New Zealand’s landfill waste comes from the construction and demolition industries. 

Within a big organisation such as Fletcher Building, knowing his audience means recognising that in many cases the solutions already exist, and that the key to making progress towards circular solutions as an executive is to remove the roadblocks, trust employees, and facilitate change. He sees his role as communicating the big changes coming for the construction and demolition sectors, and inspiring others in his company to lead the necessary shifts. 


“Our people know what they need to do, sometimes we need to give them a bit of help, but by and large we just just need to empower them and let them get on with it.”

— Michael Burgess, Group Carbon and Environmental Performance Manager, Fletcher Building

Empathy is Key

Business-as-usual can be hard to break apart, and empathy goes a long way to inviting people into the conversation to find a circular way forward.

Following on from knowing your audience, is the need to be empathetic to their needs, desires, and barriers. Within both internal organisational settings and external facing communications, showing that you understand their hopes and fears can be the difference between bringing people with us and hitting a stone wall. When it comes to climate change, the plastics accumulating in our oceans, and the decline of our freshwater, and the destruction of our remaining natural ecosystems, we have no time to waste talking to stone walls. 

For Maw, this notion of using empathy comes back to making it relevant to your own audience and the people they care about — their team, their whanau, their community. We naturally as humans want to look after our own, and people are dealing with a number of converging existential crises at the moment. If that means telling the more privileged members of our community that their grandchildren won’t be able to enjoy their bach at Omaha because of rising sea levels, then that’s what she’ll do to get through.

“We need empathy; putting yourself into the shoes of someone hearing your message and ‘will they understand?’ Some people love detail, some people love no words at all, some people the tactile, while others love the visual or the sonic. It’s really working out who your audience is and understanding them.”

— Dalong Ye-Lee, freelance creative and former Mechanical Engineer, Downer

Grace delivered a potent point around the need for empathy, particularly when it comes to external communications via social media. In what he describes as a massive censorship programme, he highlighted that with many people getting their information and news from social media, what they receive is highly filtered by algorithms. Our feeds are filtered by our prior behaviour and interactions with content and others on the platform.

The targeted filtering of information means that we feel better, validated, understood by others, like we belong. But it also serves the perverse function of creating bubbles, where we are provided with narrow perspectives, partial truths, misinformation, and wilful disformation. Our communication does not land in neutral territory. Recognising these massive barriers that our audiences frequently face gathering reliable information can help us to craft our messages in a more inviting and educational way. 

The XLabs LIVE experience has now reached 184 people over two years, impacting 40,000 employees and creating $7.5B in revenues represented across these businesses. The stage has been set for a transition towards a circular economy for Aotearoa. Communicating the urgent impetus for change, the progress we have made so far, and convincing businesses, governing bodies, communities, and individual alikes to journey with us, might be the biggest challenge that we face in bringing about the circular future we envision. But it starts here. We invite you to join us.   

— Written by Alina Siegfried