Circular Economy and AI
Leading the Twin Transition
A five-day executive programme | Crikvenica, Croatia | 14 – 18 June 2027
Programme Lead: Dr Gordana Kierans | Crikvenica Riviera
Programme Overview
Artificial intelligence and the circular economy are on a collision course – and a convergence course. AI’s hunger for energy, water, critical raw materials, and rapidly refreshed hardware makes it one of the fastest-growing resource challenges of the decade. At the same time, AI is emerging as the most powerful enabling technology the circular transition has yet seen: intelligent sorting, predictive maintenance, digital product passports, automated sustainability reporting, and circular business models at scale.
This five-day programme equips senior leaders to navigate both sides of that equation. Delegates will leave with a critical, hype-free understanding of AI’s true environmental footprint, a practical toolkit of AI applications mapped to circular economy strategy, fluency in the regulatory landscape connecting the EU’s green and digital agendas, and a sector-specific use case designed, tested, and presented during the week.
The programme reflects the European Union’s twin transition agenda: the recognition that the green transition and the digital transition must be designed together, or both will fail.
Who Should Attend
The programme is designed for mixed cohorts: the conversations between the technologist and the compliance lead are part of the learning.
Programme Objectives
By the end of the programme, delegates will be able to:
Programme Structure: Five Days, One Journey
The week follows a deliberate arc: problem → tools → data → governance → application. Each day builds on the last, closing with a facilitated reflection that feeds the Day 5 capstone.
DAY 1 – The Collision: AI Meets Planetary Boundaries
Learning outcome: Understand AI as both a resource challenge and a candidate solution: the intellectual frame for the week.
Framing: Opening: from the farm to the algorithm: why the circular economy is the story of our resources, and why AI now sits at its centre
Resource shortage: Critical raw materials in AI hardware: gallium, germanium, rare earths, and the geopolitics of the chip supply chain
Energy and water: The energy and water footprint of data centres: training versus inference, cooling demands, and siting conflicts in water-stressed regions
Hardware lifecycles: GPU refresh cycles, embodied carbon in semiconductors, and the coming wave of AI e-waste
The efficiency trap: The Jevons paradox: why efficiency gains drive consumption, and how to design against the rebound effect
Workshop: Group exercise: mapping your organisation’s direct and indirect AI footprint
DAY 2 – AI as Circular Enabler: Operations and Infrastructure
Learning outcome: Build a practical toolkit of AI applications mapped to the 9Rs and to circular infrastructure.
The infrastructure thesis: Infrastructure as the key enabler of the circular economy and AI as its intelligence layer
Intelligent sorting: Computer vision and robotics in material recovery facilities; improving purity, yield, and economics
Life extension: Predictive maintenance for life extension: mapped to Repair, Refurbish, and Remanufacture
Design and planning: Demand forecasting against overproduction; generative design for disassembly and material efficiency (Redesign, Reduce)
Flows and logistics: Digital twins of material flows and AI-optimised reverse logistics
Workshop: Group exercise: matching AI tools to the 9Rs for delegates’ own value chains
DAY 3 – Data, DPP, and Oversight
Learning outcome: Master the data foundations on which the Digital Product Passport, AI oversight, and credible reporting all depend.
DPP deep dive: The Digital Product Passport under ESPR: timeline, data requirements, and sector rollout
The data problem: Garbage in, garbage out: interoperability, data quality, and why circular data infrastructure decides who wins
LCA and Scope 3: AI-assisted lifecycle assessment and Scope 3 estimation: capabilities, limitations, and audit risk
Reporting automation: Automating CSRD/ESRS data collection with AI: efficiency gains versus data-quality liability
Oversight: Better oversight: AI for supply chain transparency, due diligence, and materials traceability
Workshop: Group exercise: DPP readiness assessment for a delegate product line
DAY 4 – Governance, Stakeholders, and the Money
Learning outcome: Lead people, manage regulatory risk, and build the commercial case for the twin transition.
Leading change: Stakeholder resistance and change leadership: applying the Cultivation Model to combined AI and circular transformation
Greenwashing risk: Greenwashing in the age of generative AI: the Green Claims Directive and new liability for AI-generated sustainability content
Regulatory interplay: The EU AI Act meets the green acquis: obligations, overlaps, and how to govern both regulatory stacks coherently
Tax and incentives: The fiscal dimension: tax revenue implications, incentives, extended producer responsibility, and who pays for the transition
Business models: AI-enabled circular business models: product-as-a-service, resale platforms, and the commercial upside
Workshop: Group exercise: stakeholder mapping and resistance planning for a twin-transition initiative
DAY 5 – Capstone: Design Your Twin Transition Use Case
Learning outcome: Convert the week’s learning into a defensible, sector-specific plan of action.
Capstone briefing: Delegate teams design an AI use case for a circular challenge in their own sector: problem definition, data requirements, 9Rs mapping, stakeholder plan, and rough business case
Development: Facilitated team working sessions with individual coaching input
Presentations: Team presentations to the room with structured peer and facilitator feedback
Closing: Personal commitments, the Seed-to-Seed pathway for continued development, and certificates
Learning Methodology
The programme combines facilitator-led sessions, real-world case studies, structured group exercises, and a cumulative capstone project. Every conceptual session is paired with an applied exercise so that delegates work continuously on their own organisational context. Cohort size is deliberately limited to preserve discussion quality and individual attention.
Venue and Format
Crikvenica Riviera, on Croatia’s Kvarner coast: a one-hour drive from Rijeka and within easy reach of Zagreb, Ljubljana, Trieste, and Venice airports. June on the Adriatic offers long days, warm weather, and pre-season calm: the conditions for a genuine learning retreat, with structured evening networking and time to think. Delegates arrange their own accommodation; a list of recommended hotels in Crikvenica, including the programme venue, is provided on registration. Five days, Monday to Friday.
Registration
Places are limited to keep the room small. Secure yours below.
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