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Vision Zero

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15 Feb, 2023

This post was originally published on 15 Minutes City

The “keystone habit” for reimagining our transportation system

Alcoa worker | Saving Iceland

When Paul O’Neill arrived as the new CEO of Alcoa in 1987, he encountered an industrial company with discontented workers, a sagging stock price, and a mediocre safety record: almost every Alcoa plant had at least one accident per week. Rather than embark upon a 20-point plan to turn around the company, O’Neill focused relentlessly on just one thing: worker safety. He established a simple, unambiguous goal of zero — zero industrial accidents, zero deaths, and zero work days missed. By the time he left the company 13 years later, Alcoa had become one of the safest industrial companies in the world, with an injury rate just one-twentieth of the U.S. average.

Alcoa had changed in other ways as well. Worker/management relations had improved, productivity was up, product and process innovation was thriving, and Alcoa’s net income increased fivefold from 1987 to 2000.

This story is described in Charles Duhigg’s excellent 2012 book “The Power of Habit” [1]. In Duhigg’s framing, focusing on worker safety was the “keystone habit” that triggered a wholesale transformation of Alcoa’s entire business.

Cities and companies are, of course, very different things, but most of today’s big cities have much in common with the Alcoa of 1987. They are massively complex, and they are underperforming in myriad ways. And getting around in them can be unsafe; 43,000 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States in 2021.

Vision Zero — the theory

In 1995, eight years after Paul O’Neill arrived at Alcoa, the Vision Zero concept was born in Sweden. Vision Zero, which has since been adopted by hundreds of cities around the world, is a commitment and an approach to eliminating traffic deaths and severe injuries. It distills the complex challenges of improving how we move around in our cities into a simple, unambiguous goal of zero. The goal is so simple it’s right there in the name. Not Vision Five or Vision Forty-Three Thousand. Vision Zero.

Vision Zero can be to our transportation systems what O’Neill’s single-minded focus on worker safety was to Alcoa: the keystone habit that triggers comprehensive change. If we keep people safe on and around our streets and highways, many other good things come along for the ride (pun intended). Vision Zero cities slow vehicle traffic, which brings more cyclists and pedestrians onto the street network, making our transportation system more equitable and affordable while reducing noise and air pollution. “Complete Streets” make our streets an integrated part of our neighborhoods, not a single-use conduit devoted to rapid car travel. These streets strengthen communities by making street and public spaces more inviting and activated. Green stormwater infrastructure such as rain gardens and permeable pavement can be integrated into Complete Streets design to reduce stormwater runoff. Making our streets safe — not just safer, but safe — demands a wide-ranging approach that touches all aspects of the system and leaves no stone unturned.

Vision Zero and O’Neill’s safety focus at Alcoa begin with the same principle. Whether it’s a machine operator or a cyclist, a smelter or a busy intersection, an ethical approach demands that we prioritize people’s safety. It is easy to imagine that if Paul O’Neill had been a mayor or chief transportation planner rather than Alcoa CEO, perhaps he and not Sweden’s Claes Tingvall and Maria Krafft would have created Vision Zero.

Vision Zero — the practice

Accountability under Vision Zero couldn’t be simpler. Are there any traffic deaths or severe injuries to count? If so, keep working to make the system safer.

Pedestrians cross at a busy intersection in Daly City, California

Daly City, California | Dan Luscher

Unfortunately, too many Vision Zero cities have actually seen an increase in traffic deaths, including my own San Francisco. Walkable cities expert Jeff Speck has remarked that “here in the U.S., Vision Zero can’t help but feel like a sick joke.” Sweden’s Tingvall and Krafft themselves have observed that “weak and watered-down versions of Vision Zero” could threaten the concept globally.

If accidents at Alcoa had increased under O’Neill’s watch, he likely would have been fired, or at least dismissed as an ineffective CEO. The clear and aggressive safety goals at Alcoa had to be backed up by concrete actions and continuous follow-up, reinforcement, and adjustment. For those Vision Zero laggards with aspirations but no bottom-line results to speak of, we must demand more.

Making Vision Zero a Keystone Habit

Is there an “Alcoa” of Vision Zero cities? There are several, some of which are unsurprising — Oslo and Helsinki, with zero pedestrian deaths in 2019 — and others that are unexpected, like Hoboken, New Jersey, a city of 60,000 that hasn’t had a traffic death in over 4 years. Oslo and Helsinki have taken top-to-bottom approaches to making streets safe, including low speed limits, street designs that prioritize safety over moving traffic, significant car-free spaces, comprehensive bike networks, and robust public transportation.

Complete street illustration

Complete street illustration | Hoboken Vision Zero Plan, 2021

So it can be done. But we in the U.S. need to take Vision Zero much more seriously, with strong commitment from mayors and city councils paired with relentless follow-through. This will not just save lives, although that is critical by itself. More broadly, a vigorous focus on road safety can be the keystone habit that triggers myriad other positive changes as well. Vision Zero, when effectively implemented, can do so much more than eliminate traffic violence. It can transform our cities for the better.


[1] Duhigg’s chapter on Alcoa is available online, but I recommend getting and reading the entire book.

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Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

In June, I had the privilege of attending the 2025 E-Waste World, Battery Recycling, Metal Recycling, and ITAD & Circular Electronics Conference & Expo events in Frankfurt, Germany.

Speaking in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track on a panel with global Circular Economy leaders from Foxway Group, ERI and HP, we explored the evolving role of IT asset disposition (ITAD) and opportunities in the circular electronics economy.

The event’s focus on advancing circular economy goals and reducing environmental impact delivered a series of insights and learnings. From this assembly of international expertise across 75+ countries, here are some points from the presentations that stood out for me:

1. Environmental impact of the digital economy

Digitalisation has a heavy material footprint in the production phase, and lifecycle thinking needs to guide every product decision. Consider that 81% of the energy a laptop uses in its lifetime is consumed during manufacture (1 tonne in manufacture is equal to 10,000 tonnes of CO2) and laptops are typically refreshed or replaced by companies every 3–4 years.

From 2018 to 2023, the average number of devices and connections per capita in the world increased by 50% (2.4 to 3.6). In North America (8.2 to 13.4) and Western Europe (5.6 to 9.4), this almost doubled. In 1960, only 10 periodic table elements were used to make phones. In 1990, 27 elements were used and now over 60 elements are used to build the smartphones that we have become so reliant on.

A key challenge is that low-carbon and digital technologies largely compete for the same minerals. Material resource extraction could increase 60% between 2020 and 2060, while demand for lithium, cobalt and graphite is expected to rise by 500% until 2050.

High growth in ICT demand and Internet requires more attention to the environmental footprint of the digital economy. Energy consumption of data centres is expected to more than double by 2026. The electronics industry accounts for over 4% of global GHG — and digitalisation-related waste is growing, with skewed impacts on developing countries.

E-waste is rising five times faster than recycling — 1 tonne of e-waste has a carbon footprint of 2 tonnes. Today’s solution? ‘Bury it or burn it.’ In terms of spent emissions, waste and the costs associated with end-of-life liabilities, PCBAs (printed circuit board assembly) cost us enormously — they generally achieve 3–5% recyclability (75% of CO2 in PCBAs is from components).

2. Regulating circularity in electronics

There is good momentum across jurisdictions in right-to-repair, design and labelling regulations; recycling targets; and voluntary frameworks on circularity and eco-design.

The EU is at the forefront. EU legislation is lifting the ICT aftermarket, providing new opportunities for IT asset disposition (ITAD) businesses. To get a sense, the global market for electronics recycling is estimated to grow from $37 billion to $108 billion (2022–2030). The value of refurbished electronics is estimated to increase from $85.9 billion to $262.2 billion (2022–2032). Strikingly, 40% of companies do not have a formal ITAD strategy in place.

Significantly, the EU is rethinking its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management targets, aligned with upcoming circularity and WEEE legislation, as part of efforts to foster the circular economy. A more robust and realistic circularity-driven approach to setting collection targets would better reflect various factors including long lifespans of electronic products and market fluctuations.

Australia and New Zealand lag the EU’s comprehensive e-waste mandated frameworks. The lack of a systematic approach results in environmental degradation and missed positioning opportunities for businesses in the circular economy. While Australia’s Senate inquiry into waste reduction and recycling recommended legislating a full circular economy framework — including for imported and local product design, financial incentives and regulatory enforcement, New Zealand remains the only OECD country without a national scheme to manage e-waste.

3. Extending product lifecycles

Along with data security and digital tools, reuse was a key theme in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track of the conference. The sustainable tech company that I lead, Greenbox, recognises that reuse is the simplest circular strategy. Devices that are still functional undergo refurbishment and are reintroduced into the market, reducing new production need and conserving valuable resources.

Conference presenters highlighted how repair over replacement is being legislated as a right in jurisdictions around the world. Resources are saved, costs are lowered, product life is extended, and people and organisations are empowered to support a greener future. It was pointed out that just 43% of countries have recycling policies, 17% of global waste is formally recycled, and less than 1% of global e-waste is formally repaired and reused.

Right to repair is a rising wave in the circular economy, and legislation is one way that civil society is pushing back on programmed obsolescence. Its global momentum continues at different speeds for different product categories — from the recent EU mandates to multiple US state bills (and some laws) through to repair and reuse steps in India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Commission has done a scoping study to identify product groups under the Ecodesign framework that would be most relevant for implementing an EU-wide product reparability scoring system.

Attending this event with the entire electronic waste recycling supply chain — from peers and partners to suppliers and customers — underscored the importance of sharing best practices to address the environmental challenges that increased hardware proliferation and complex related issues are having on the world.

Ross Thompson is Group CEO of sustainability, data management and technology asset lifecycle management market leader Greenbox. With facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Greenbox Group provides customers all over the world a carbon-neutral supply chain for IT equipment to reduce their carbon footprint by actively managing their environmental, social and governance obligations.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mustafa Ovec

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