Abstract

In recent years, the problem of decommissioning and recycling offshore platforms has become an increasingly complex issue for environmental, socio-economic and safety reasons. The decommissioning or sustainable conversion of offshore platforms in the broader context of the circular economy will lead to the acquisition of new technologies and increasingly change values and behaviours towards sustainability in line with new business models. It will also be a complex process as it will require new skills, transformative technologies and the ability to engage all stakeholders. The objective of this study are the Multi-Use Platforms at Sea (MUPS), which represents an interesting solution for the creation of marine areas where different economic and recreational activities can be launched and developed according to the needs of environmental protection (e.g. renewable energies, shellfish farming, decarbonization plants, tourism and recreation).The main research question was the following: "What is the sustainable and circular business model in the literature that can be best used to support the transformation and/or decommissioning of oil platforms?" In addition, "How can the above business model be applied to the case of a platform considering social and environmental impacts?" In the first phase, the research activity focused on a thorough review of the literature on offshore platform decommissioning and sustainable and circular business models. This allowed us to access the Sustainable Circular Business Model Canvas (SCBMC), a conceptual tool that presents a holistic view of the different multi-purpose management options and their social and environmental impacts. This tool could help oil and gas operators (and related industries) address platform mining issues. The methodology adopted was a qualitative analysis. To test the SCBMC, an empirical study was conducted with semi-structured questionnaires given to several stakeholders (including experts, professionals and academics) in the international decommissioning industry. In addition, broader desk research on global offshore case studies was conducted using information sources and secondary sources. 
 
 In future research, it may be useful to compare the SCBMC with the latest mainstream Circular Business Model (CBM) issues to better assess and quantify the environmental and social impacts of offshore platform decommissioning and to broaden the debate on this topic, considering economic indicators.

Highlights

  • In recent decades, the demand for natural resources and materials (Note 1) has increased at an unprecedented rate

  • We found that 1) experimentation creates internal and external engagement to start business sustainability transitions 2) experiments can help test assumptions in every building block of the business model 3) collaboration with external partners can ease experimentation, and 4) experimentation processes are iterative and require regular learning and sustainability checks» «Circular business model innovation (CBMI) can support sustainable business transitions, but the process is poorly understood and there is a lack of tools to assist companies in Circular Business Model Innovation (CBMI)

  • The results derived from the six case companies indicate that the developed framework including its tools and techniques are useful for CBMI» «The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the barriers that hinder adoption of circular business models to facilitate circumvention of the barriers and a faster uptake

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Summary

Introduction

The demand for natural resources and materials (Note 1) has increased at an unprecedented rate. Natural resource consumption has increased from 27 billion tons in 1970 to 89 billion tons in 2017, according to OECD (2019), and is projected to increase further to 167 billion tons in 2060 (Note 2). The environmental consequences of material use are driven by the projected doubling of greenhouse gas emissions, soil, water and air pollution, and harmful impacts on ecosystems. Because of this critical context, there are increasing efforts to move to a more resource-efficient and circular economy. The pandemic COVID -19 is having a profound impact on our economy.

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