Special Report: Going Green and Global in Atlanta

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Circular City: Going Green & Global

For as long as climate change has been a threat, it has been trendy to speak of moving toward circularity — the concept of closed-loop product life cycles and systems that eliminate waste and pollution. 

The reality (and perhaps the problem) is that in a free-market economy, achieving this holy grail requires an innovative business model, as well as a willingness to forfeit short-term profit for long-term environmental gain. That’s easier said than done, especially when shareholders and investors are often looking over innovators’ shoulders, tapping their feet while awaiting their returns.

Still, we’ve been seeing a variety of products and services pop up in Atlanta, some from foreign investors, others dreamed up by local innovators, that seek to make a dent in big, unwieldy global problems. Making a buck in the process is now not only accepted, but expected.

Our profiled companies show that the global wave of interest in sustainability has yet to crest, even though some market exuberance has subsided. With the U.S. pulling back on climate goals and ESG standards now out of vogue, it has become more important than ever for companies to base their solutions on market fit rather than feel-good idealism.

As CIRT CEO Kat Shayne told us in our profile of the Athens-based software platform, this is overdue for some consumers, who are exhausted by green-washing and just want companies to make it less complex for them to feel good about their spending.

“They’re saying, ‘Don’t smokescreen me — don’t tell me something that is just marketing. Show me data, show me the real stuff behind it.’”

The below firms have that real stuff, and it seemed fitting for us at Global Atlanta to explore this quest to balance global good and intentional innovation with our partners at Atlanta International School, which tries to inculcate such values into the future leaders it’s building.

And its new Sandy Springs campus, nestled in a forest along the Chattahoochee River, gave us a beautiful place to host an in-person discussion with three founder/CEOs and two mobility giants, SK Battery and Michelin, during our first ever Circular City breakfast. We hope to keep the momentum flowing, and I hope you enjoy the report.

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/// PROFILES

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