One thing that is certain in the fight against climate change is that cities which already account for over 70% of global CO2 emissions and consume two-thirds of world’s energy will play a crucial role in transitioning towards a low carbon economy. Considering that 80% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2050, the transformation of the way we design, build, operate and govern urban areas is both critical and urgent. 

The task for the urban infrastructure, the beating heart of cities, is enormous. Increasing demand for infrastructure in response to increasing urbanization rates and the conflicting interests among key stakeholders are some of the key challenges that require an immediate shift in paradigm to galvanize the “revolution” that cities need.

In this podcast Matthew Bishop (The Economist U.S. Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief) interviews Catherine de Wolf (Assistant Professor of Circular Engineering for Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Olivier Brousse (CEO of idverde), Jérôme Stubler (CEO of Equans), Sébastien Fraisse (Chairman of Indigo), to discuss how cities can undertake this transformation and outline the paths that will lead to an ecosystem of cities made of circular infrastructure.

Within the digital industry, continuous innovation coupled with strong competition have fostered massive investments and the rapid emergence of new technologies and new generations of equipment.

In the telco sector, those technological changes and accompanying customer behaviours are shortening consumer devices and networks lifecycles, resulting in greater production and increasing electronic waste.

In this podcast Matthew Bishop (former Economist U.S. Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief) interviews Benoît Torloting (CEO of Bouygues Telecom); Sergio Osle (COO of Telefonica in Spain); Dr Paul Ekins (Economist, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources), to analyse precisely how the telco industry can find its way within the circular transition.

Among infrastructure, road transport, which is responsible for around 20% of global CO2 emissions in Europe, is both a participant and an onlooker in a linear economy which is struggling to make the leap into the circular economy.

Yet, from preserving natural capital to optimising natural resources and reinforcing system efficiency, there are many ways infrastructure like roads can take part in the general move towards a more circular world.

In this podcast Matthew Bishop (former Economist U.S. Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief) interviews Christophe Hug (Deputy General Manager at Vinci Autoroutes), Martijn Lopes Cardozo (CEO of Circle Economy) and Marta Gil de la Hoz (Chief Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability Officer at Sacyr), exploring how road and highways operators can succeed in paving the way in this direction.