Our impact
Revolutionising our relationship with stuff
ReLondon is a purpose-led organisation: our vision focuses ultimately on the climate emergency and how changing the way we consume ‘stuff’ can, and must, make a huge difference – not just on waste volumes but also on greenhouse gas emissions and the ability of our planet to keep providing for us all.
Our first ever impact report is a powerful presentation of evidence for the positive impact we had during the 2022-23 financial year to accelerate the transition to a low carbon circular economy in London and beyond.
We aim to achieve impact across four pillars, which cover our main audiences and areas of work:
Evidence
Our research and data published in 2022-23 helped us and others build interventions which effectively tackle waste and climate change. This included running pilots to test innovative ways of building a low carbon, circular city; and sharing the results through insightful publications and podcasts, and inspiring events.
Local authorities
Over the 2022-23 year we delivered training and events for local authorities right across London and beyond to provide officers with the knowledge, tools and resources to implement a circular economy, reduce waste, increase recycling and create more resilient communities.
Businesses
We collaborated with London-based business to empower systems change and continued to run our award-winning programme of funded support for London’s innovative small and medium-sized businesses who want to tackle the climate emergency by adopting or scaling circular business models.
Citizens
We designed, built and delivered powerful behaviour change campaigns and interventions in 2022-23 to help citizens change the way they consume, waste less and reduce their impact on the planet.
Our focus on circular economy and consumption-based emissions
45% of damaging global greenhouse gas emissions come from all the food, materials and products that we make, use and consume every day.
To avert the climate emergency, we need to reduce our consumption-based emissions and transform how we make, use and dispose of ‘stuff’. We must reduce waste, increase recycling, and improve resource efficiency – we need a global shift to a circular economy.
We engage with business, local and regional government, and citizens and communities to tackle waste systemically at points much higher up the hierarchy, not just as an inevitable output of an economy focused on consumption.
The year in numbers
“ReLondon brings valuable technical expertise and experience to the GLA and London’s boroughs and plays an essential role in delivering the Mayor’s Environment Strategy. ReLondon’s focus on carbon – in particular on embodied carbon – is highly relevant to London’s Mayoral and borough targets and helps support efforts to go beyond the traditional focus on weight-based recycling targets.
“ReLondon’s support of small businesses in delivering innovative circular products, services and business models to significantly reduce waste and consumption-based emissions has also been an important element of the Mayor’s work to support London’s transition towards a low-carbon, circular economy.”
“ReLondon is a pioneering thought leading organisation on transitions to a circular economy both in the UK and beyond. Its thought leadership goes much further than London boundaries and is admired by many cities and regions around the world. Its work in London directly supports the city’s businesses to realise long term value as well as safeguard and create jobs. Meanwhile its work with London’s boroughs has also been hugely important in creating clear pathways and actions to reduce waste and circulate products and materials, keeping value in the system.”
