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From COP30 to Tokyo: turning the Global Circularity Protocol into practice
At COP30 in Brazil, the Global Circularity Protocol for Business (GCP) officially launched as a global standard to Frame, Prepare, Measure, Manage, and Communicate circular performance across value chains. Circularise was one of the key technical service providers supporting WBCSD and One Planet Network in developing the protocol, working alongside Deloitte, KPMG, and Circle Economy.
Our team helped shape the GCP’s data, road map for enabling solutions & systems, and refine its Circular Transition Indicator (CTI) metrics, building on the “Circularity Data Exchange” whitepaper we co-authored with KPMG and WBCSD in 2024. In simple terms, our role has been to make sure the protocol reflects how data really moves across complex, multi-tier supply chains.
Tokyo Connect 2025 was the first step public and ‘soft’ launch of the GCP. It brought together key stakeholders within Japan in advance of the GCP’s official launch at COP30 in the Japanese Pavilion. The aim was to explore how a global “rulebook” for circularity can be turned into real systems, investments, and decisions.
Why Tokyo Connect matters
Circularise’s contribution to the GCP and its growing activity in Japan were both recognised at the event.
Dr Phil Brown, Head of Sustainable Innovation at Circularise, joined leaders from industry, government, and finance to discuss how to scale circularity with trusted, investment-grade data.
“The discussions were lively and grounded in reality, especially among leaders working at the intersection of digital innovation and sustainability,” said Phil. “What stood out was the active participation not only from major Japanese companies like Panasonic, Toyota, and Fujitsu, but also from government bodies such as METI and the Ministry of the Environment. You can feel a nationwide commitment to advancing circularity in Japan.”
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For us, this was not just another speaking opportunity. It was a continuation of our work within digital traceability and supply chain transparency that culminated the official launch of the GCP at COP30 within the Japanese Pavilion. We look forward to continuing the conversations and work with the WBCSD, their members and associated organisations that will put the GCP into practice on the ground. Circularise will actively support the development of the GCP as a technical working group partner and front-runner coalition member.
Four shifts reshaping Japan’s sustainability landscape
Tokyo Connect highlighted several trends that matter not only for Japan, but for any organisation working with Japanese supply chains.
- Primary data becomes the default
Demand for supplier-level, measured emissions data is accelerating, driven by initiatives like the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT), new regulatory requirements, and the GCP’s focus on robust circularity metrics. In Japan, where PACT-compatible tools are already widely adopted, companies are starting to align the same primary data with GCP reporting and other frameworks. This shift towards granular, verifiable product and batch-level data is exactly why Circularise is doubling down on primary data as the backbone of credible circularity and investment-grade reporting.
- Avoided emissions enter the investment conversation
METI and financial institutions are exploring avoided emissions to assess the value of innovative technologies. That creates a direct link between climate impact and capital allocation, raising the bar for data quality and reinforcing the need for primary data. Claims will need to be backed by consistent and comparable evidence, which is exactly what the GCP is designed to support when combined with digital traceability systems such as the Circularise platform.
- Circularity reaches the boardroom and the bank
The active involvement of banks such as SMBC showed that circular economy topics now sit firmly on executive and financial agendas. Circular performance is no longer treated as a side project for sustainability teams. It is being tied to risk management, growth, and competitiveness.
- Government-led standardisation picks up speed
Japan is working to align domestic standards with emerging global norms while strengthening its industrial competitiveness. Ministries, corporates, industry associations and technical partners are collaborating to ensure that circularity and data requirements form a coherent framework, not a patchwork of overlapping demands.
Inside the GCP session: rulebook, engine, and gears
One of the core sessions at Tokyo Connect focused on the Global Circularity Protocol itself. The panel brought together Circularise, WBCSD, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, Panasonic, SMBC, and others.
The GCP acts as a global rulebook for corporate circularity. By 2050, it is expected to unlock major impact in material savings, avoided emissions, and economic value. The challenge now is to connect that rulebook to real data systems.
Circularise shared a simple way to think about the required architecture:
GCP: the rulebook and manual (what to measure)
A global rule book that standardises and defines how circular performance is measured and reported, giving businesses, investors, and regulators a common language.
CDX: the engine (how data moves)
A shared data exchange logic that enables secure, interoperable circularity data flows across multi-tier supply chains, providing the “engine” that digital traceability solutions can plug into so companies can apply the GCP in practice.
Digital Traceability & Product Passport systems: the gears that drive data to the engine
Operational solutions, including those from Circularise and others, that collect and connect product and batch-level data to compliance, reporting, and decision-making.
Throughout the discussion, we emphasised that our mission is not only to support regulatory reporting. The goal is to deliver bankable data, robust enough for companies to report on and financial institutions to use when de-risking and funding circular investments.
How Circularise’s expertise connects to Japan’s transition
What we brought to Tokyo Connect builds directly on our broader work and role around the GCP:
- Supporting WBCSD and One Planet Network as a key technical service provider for the protocol’s development
- Shaping the GCP’s data and systems architecture and CTI-related approaches
- Co-authoring the “Circularity Data Exchange” whitepaper with KPMG and WBCSD
- Deploying traceability systems across automotive, aviation, electronics, plastics, chemicals, fuels, and consumer goods supply chains
This mix of standard-setting and real-world implementation is exactly what is needed in Japan (and globally), where advanced manufacturers, financial institutions, and government bodies are looking for practical ways to move from pilots to system-wide deployment.
Japan as a model for circularity in complex supply chains
Tokyo Connect underlined why Japan is a reference point for circular economy implementation in APAC and beyond:
- Strong government direction and policy support
- Highly sophisticated manufacturing across multiple industries
- Complex yet trusted supply chains where collaboration is already normal practice
APAC’s intricate supply networks are often seen as a barrier. In reality, they are a huge opportunity. If circularity can be measured, managed, and financed in these environments, it creates a template for other regions to follow.
Circularise will continue to expand collaborations in Japan and across APAC, acting as data infrastructure that links:
- Global protocols & standards, such as the GCP
- Regulatory frameworks like the EU Battery Regulation and ESPR
- The tools companies use day to day for supplier data collection, Digital Product Passports, and chain of custody tracking
What’s next
The conversations at Tokyo Connect 2025 and the launch of the GCP at COP30 are part of the same story. Global standards are in place. The focus now is on implementation.
Japan is becoming one of the places where that shift is happening fastest. Circularise is committed to supporting that journey and helping turn circularity from ambition into something operational and investable.
If you would like to explore how the Global Circularity Protocol, Digital Product Passports, or supplier-level data collection could work in your organisation or in your Japanese supply chain, our team is ready to discuss practical next steps.
Circularise is the leading software platform that provides end-to-end traceability for complex industrial supply chains. We offer two traceability solutions: MassBalancer to automate mass balance bookkeeping and Digital Product Passports for end-to-end batch traceability.
Talk to the Circularise team to assess your primary data readiness and design a traceability and Digital Product Passport roadmap for your supply chain.
