Beyond sustainability: cradle-to-cradle business innovation and improvement zones in NW Europe

‘Sustainability’ has defined the approach towards dealing with resource deprivation and climate change over the past three decades, promoting ‘less bad’ strategies that aim to mitigate damage. Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) offers an alternative approach that focuses on doing ‘good’ by promoting continuous loops, reliance on current solar income, and diversity. It is argued that this philosophy offers the best opportunity to make a big beneficial footprint on this planet rather than just reducing the damage being done. Whilst this approach has