In the first phase of development the ICE-SRM data observatory aims to provide case examples and policy recommendations to strengthen the linkages and interactions between UNRMS/UNFC and circular economy reporting, policy and industry applications at global and national scales. Applying the FAIR principles, the data observatory is designed to make relevant public and industry data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable.

We apply automated statistical and analytical processes (Reproducible Analytical Pipelines or RAPs) to improve the quality and ensure the repeatability of the analysis and increase trust in the analysis by producers, policy teams and end users. In doing so we improve the efficiency of data collection, cleansing, linking and increase value for the wider resource management community by enabling standardised reporting, traceable methodologies, and scalable integration with national and international datasets.

Initial case examples have been focussed on utilising UK public data assets to develop a common, agnostic, value chain method to pooling data from diverse sources, to produce a series of detailed Sankey charts as the basis for circular economy systems modelling and subsequent connectivity to the upstream UNRMS.

The CE systems modelling provides the means to identify where valuable materials, components and products leak from the economic system, their pathways and their impacts. From this baseline, we test and evaluate individual and packages of circular economy interventions, their implementation and outcomes, which are then translated into policy recommendations, including support for UN SDGS and UNRMS

The UN data observatory demonstrator is currently funded by Defra through two fellowships focussed on plastics and glass, and a team of two Exeter staff and two associates. This demonstrator provides pre-validated public data sources within a common Sankey and value chain structure, a complete navigable data directory for all data sources and transformations and a working policy scenario explorer, to illustrate the effects of specific policy interventions on material flows.

In the next phase of development collaborative case studies are under development that connect different material flows at product and sectoral scale, Our first collaborative case ,automotive, combines the data and expertise of Swansea (steel), Brunel (aluminium, copper, nickel) , BGS and Exeter (critical minerals).