'Sustainable Growth Coalition' of Businesses from Minnesota, USA Incorporates IPBES Global Assessment Findings Into 'Materials Vision' Document Looking Toward a Circular Economy

Description of Impact(s) (English Only) The Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition (MN SGC) is a group of Minnesota-based companies who have joined together with their purpose to define and develop projects building toward a sustainable circular economy. The MN SCG focuses on the flow of energy, water, and materials that member businesses and organizations manage and has developed a vision and sector-specific projects. The Materials Vision document was adopted by the MN SGC in October 2019 and focuses on the need to transform waste into assets. To motivate this, the Materials Vision document cites the decline in Nature’s Contributions to People documented in the IPBES Global Assessment SPM.

“While more food, energy and materials than ever before are now being supplied to people in most places, this is increasingly at the expense of nature’s ability to provide such contributions in the future,” notes the Materials Vision document, quoting the IPBES Global Assessment.

As the Materials Vision document states, "Materials are undervalued and are part of a linear take-make-waste model, resulting in inefficient use and unsustainable consumption, which threatens natural resources, human health, well-being, business continuity and growth."