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Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Mineral-based Construction Materials

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Focus Area 3D 鈥� Accounting framework to enable capital investment into circular economy projects

This focus area aims to enable capital investment in Circular Economy (CE) projects by engaging with internal organisational and external funders' decision-making processes.

3d

Description

The main objective of the project is to develop a novel accounting-sustainability hybrid tool that embeds circular economy principles into capital investment decisions, and to be tested and validated via an industrial placement.

The prototype tool is developed and shaped based on literature reviews, stakeholder engagement, and interviews with construction and investment industrial collaborators.聽The literature review resulted in a paper being presented at several international conferences and receiving a revision and resubmission invitation from the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.

The team has jointly conducted over 40 interviews with industry experts, professionals working in sustainable finance, and key role holders at the Industrial Partner site. It contributed to the development of the prototype tool and the basis for drafting a paper for the Special Issue of the British Accounting Review, due for submission in October 2024.

This project is being led by聽Dr Longxiang Zhao at Loughborough University, and supervised by聽Dr Suzana Grubnic and Professor Andrew Vivian. Longxiang聽started his secondment at Network Rail in August 2023, active in testing and validating the prototype tool.

Current progress has been made on the successful implementation of Step 1 and Step 2 of the tool, resulting in the identification of Network Rail鈥檚 strengths and gaps in adopting CE principles and a case study will be developed聽to apply the tool in Step 3. The project has been presented at industrial workshops such as the International Union of Railways鈥� (UIC) CE Sector Meeting and generated wider interest from the audience.

The implementation of this tool is expected to improve Network Rail's decision-making by enabling better incorporation of CE principles, leading to greater internal and external investments and improved economic and environmental performance.