Towards Net-Zero: Assessing and Improving the Carbon Reduction Potential of Circular Clusters
Partners: City of Guelph (including Our Food Future & the Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL))
Canada aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, the country needs to rapidly scale a climate-smart circular economy that closes material flows and mitigates climate change.
The Canadian agri-food sector generates 35,000,000 tonnes of food waste and contributes almost 100 million tonnes of GHG emissions per year and could benefit extensively from the development of a climate-smart circular economy. In Ontario and Quebec, our recent research has identified over 110 food upcycling operations, each converting food waste such as spent grains and fruits and vegetable residues to useful ingredients and products such as flour, biscuits and other bakery products.
By combining field work, life cycle assessments and analytical simulations, our study revealed that upcycling could reduce carbon emissions up to 25% relative to the production of virgin ingredients and products. However, the study also revealed that upcycling could be detrimental for the natural environment if improperly designed and executed. Moreover, during our fieldwork, we identified five circular clusters, defined as small networks of firms that upcycle each other by-products and surplus materials to create economic, social and environmental benefits.
Unfortunately, limited research exist that quantifies and optimizes the environmental performance of such clusters. How much carbon do these clusters save? Can we optimize their operational structure to achieve stronger carbon savings? The proposed research project combines field work and life cycle assessments to assess the carbon profile of emergent circular clusters in ON and QC. We will also simulate what operational structures could improve the environmental performance of the identified clusters.
Researcher Biography
As an ‘engaged’ scholar, I aspire to create scientific knowledge that inspires and enables organizations to do better for their societies and the natural environment. I am also passionate about supply chains as complex systems of collective organizing. My research and teaching thus focus on how supply chain members interact with each other to increase their individual and collective environmental performance, and the implications for economic viability and competitiveness. Relevant questions my research answers: What inter-organizational structures characterize sustainable, regenerative supply chains? When does positive collective action emerge in such complex systems? And how is collective action governed and sustained despite stakeholders’ trade-offs? I have been studying the relationship between the inter-organizational structures of supply chains and sustainability in two empirical contexts: ESG disclosures in global supply chains; circular, regenerative agri-food systems.
My commitment to impact has led me to take on leadership roles at Ivey’s Building Sustainable Value Centre (BSV) and its sister organization, the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS). BSV shapes pathways of systems change towards a fairer and ecologically sound future through innovative research and impact programming. NBS connects researchers with managers to advance business sustainability. My work has been featured in popular media including Corporate Knights, The Conversation, The Toronto Star, The Financial Post, B the Change, Eco-Vadis, and the Peggy Smedly Show.
During my career, I have received about 1M CAD in funding from both industry and research councils for my research, which has been published in premier journals including the Journal of Operations Management, the Journal of Supply Chain Management, and the Journal of Industrial Ecology, among others. I am an Associate Editor at the Journal of Supply Chain Management, and I serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Operations Management, and the Production and Operations Management Journal.
I have received several awards for both my research, teaching and impact, including: the 2024 Clean16 Award by Delta Management (2023), the Distinguished David G. Burgoyne HBA Teaching Award (2022), Academy of Management Best Paper Award (2021), Best Reviewer Award (Honorable mention) by Journal of Operations Management (2021), Two Best Paper Awards by the International Purchasing and Supply Management Association and Research Education (2016 and 2012), the 2015 Best Reviewer Award by the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, and the Production and Operations Management Runner-up for Best PhD Proposal Award (2012).
