Going circular – good for business, good for the planet

Nov 23, 2021 - Reading time 1-3 minutes

As a purpose-driven health technology company, Philips is committed to making the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation, while acting responsibly towards the planet and society. And the transition to a circular economy is key to that objective.

As pointed out in the Circularity Gap Report 2021 from Circle Economy, rethinking the way products are created can help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 45%, while creating a $4.5 trillion economic opportunity.

Going circular gives us an opportunity to reshape our relationship with our customers, to build partnerships, to learn, scale and speed up circularity.

Frans van Houten

Chief Executive Officer

Driving the transition to a circular economy

At Philips, we take an end-to-end approach to circularity: we reduce, re-use and recycle wherever possible, to maximize value and minimize the use of materials and resources throughout the lifetime of our products and solutions. We do this through innovative service models, smart digital solutions, and product take-back, refurbishment and parts recovery. And through our EcoDesign process we optimize our products, to making them more energy-efficient, lighter in weight and use less materials.

More and more, we are teaming up with our suppliers, customers and likeminded partners, from both the public and private sectors, to realize innovative, circular business models and ways of working.

Each of us has a tremendous opportunity to be much more conscious, thinking about our recycling habits, the impact when we travel. Every decision has an impact.

Deeptha Khanna

Chief Business Leader Personal Health

Our choices make a difference

By making sustainable choices, each of us can help create meaningful impact. Business leaders can steer their companies to do what's good for business and the planet. Industries can adopt circular practices and produce in the most sustainable way possible. Governments can incentivize green practices and drive a reduction in greenhouse gases. And as individuals, we can drive change by being conscious about what we purchase, eat, travel and how we take care of ourselves.