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Work item:
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L.1022rev
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Subject/title:
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Circular economy: Definitions and concepts for material efficiency for information and communication technology
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Status:
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Under study
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Approval process:
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AAP
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Type of work item:
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Recommendation
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Version:
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New
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Equivalent number:
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-
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Timing:
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2026 (Medium priority)
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Liaison:
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None
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Supporting members:
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Nokia, Cisco
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Summary:
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Recommendation ITU-T L.1022 currently contains a guide to the circular economy (CE) aspects, parameters, metrics and indicators for information and communication technology (ICT) based on approaches, concepts and metrics of the Circular Economy (CE) as defined in standards at the time of publishing this Recommendation in 2019.
To begin with, the title of this Recommendation currently only limits the concept of circular economy to “material efficiency”. To cover the wider circular economy aspect outside of material efficiency, we propose to modify the title of this Recommendation making it more inclusive, change to “ITU-T L.1022 “Circular economy: Definitions and concepts for circular economy for information and communication technology”
Most importantly, this Recommendation is the foundational framework in ITU in the CE area and is very useful for getting an overview of CE and other aspects impacting CE. This standard is helpful for considering CE related parameters, metrics and indicators for ICT goods and ICT organizations in its transition towards a circular economy. However, since 2019 when this Recommendation was published, the concept, definitions, regulatory and standardizations landscapes on circular economy have evolved a lot. Therefore, this Recommendation needs to be updated to make it relevant, useful, up to date and aligned with the current understanding and approaches.
Some areas where updates might be needed:
Updates on circular economy and material efficiency concepts (e.g., 9R concept) and updating existing definitions in ITU-T L.1022 and additions of new relevant terms and definitions since 2019.
In ITU-T some new Recommendation on circular economy is published or revised which needs to be updated and aligned in this Recommendation. For example, the revised ITU-T L.1023 - Assessment method for circularity performance scoring, published in 2023, ITU-T L.1061 : Circular public procurement of information and communication technologies, Two digital product passport (DPP) for circular economy related Recommendations (ITU-T L.1070 and ITU-T L.1071) and revision of ITU-T L.1410 - Methodology for environmental life cycle assessments of information and communication technology goods, networks and services which includes addition regarding circularity aspects for lifecycle assessment of a circular ICT goods, network and services which is published in 2024 and some others useful Recommendations.
This Recommendation also lists other important and useful circular economy related standards from other organizations that were available and relevant to ICT products and organizations. Since 2019, some new standards focused on circular economy from several other standardization organizations like ISO (e.g., 59000 series, which provide guidelines and frameworks for implementing circular economy principles) are now published, which could be updated. This Recommendation acknowledges publication of two CEN-CENELEC standards [EN 45558 and 45559] and other 45000 series standards as under drafting phase at its publication. Those materials efficiency related standards under drafting phase are also now published which need to be updated including some other new relevant standards in circular economy area. Moreover, IEC 60050-193 provides definitions on circular economy and material efficiency related terms and is at the final stage of publication. Therefore, update and alignment of terminologies with this standard would be beneficial.
Finally, from regulatory perspective, since this Recommendation also provides information on emerging regulations landscape related to CE, current status and update on the regulatory landscape such as Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)/ European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and other relevant circular economy related initiatives and regulations would be beneficial. ESPR entered into force on 18 July 2024 (after this standard has been published) and is focused on eco-design and circularity of a product, introduces digital product passport (DPP) and set information and performance requirements for several circularity aspects like durability, reusability, upgradability, reparability, maintenance and refurbishment, resource-efficiency, recycled content, recyclability, waste etc. and CSRD published in 2022, and the interconnected ESRS standards sets specific requirements for businesses to report on circularity relates aspects like identifying risks and opportunities, developing strategies, establish performance metrics, and implement data collection systems to track and improve the performance.
Together with these aspects, update on other relevant sections like “circular economy business models”, “parameters affecting environmental impact of different lifecycle stages”, “Circular economy on an organization level” and “reporting the information related circular economy” with the current approaches and latest understanding would be beneficial for this Recommendation.
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Comment:
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-
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Reference(s):
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Historic references:
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Contact(s):
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First registration in the WP:
2025-06-23 16:22:53
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Last update:
2025-06-23 16:26:56
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