Who Is Funding the Circular Transition and Is It Enough? | Milan Longevity Summit 2026

*The circular economy is no longer a fringe idea. But are we investing enough to actually build it?* Moving from a linear economy based on extraction, consumption, and waste towards circular models requires more than new ideas and ambitious targets. It requires capital to build new infrastructure, scale technologies, redesign supply chains, and create business models capable of keeping materials and resources in use for longer. In this panel from the *Milan Longevity Summit 2026*, *Byron Peasland* of *Green Future Project* and *Nicola Tagliafierro* of the *European Institute for Innovation and Sustainability* join moderator *Peter Kruger* of *Big Idea Ventures* to examine whether investment is keeping pace with the scale of the circular transition. The conversation explores where capital is flowing today, which technologies and business models are attracting investors, and where critical financing gaps remain. Circularity also presents a particular challenge for investors. Many solutions depend on new infrastructure, collaboration across value chains, changes in consumer and corporate behaviour, and returns that may take longer to materialise than conventional investment models allow. So who should carry the risk of transition? What role should private capital, venture investment, corporations, and public finance play? And how can we create stronger incentives for investing not only in reducing negative impact, but in redesigning the way resources move through the economy? Ultimately, the question is not whether circularity makes environmental sense. *It is whether we can build the financial conditions that allow circular solutions to compete, scale, and become the foundations of a new economy.* *Powered by @FinecoLive * The Milan Longevity Summit brings together global leaders across science, policy, business, technology and society to explore longevity through a *One Health* perspective, connecting the health of people with the health of our societies, economies, and planet. Check out the speakers: https://www.milanlongevitysummit.org/it/speakers26 #MilanLongevitySummit #CircularEconomy #Circularity #Bioeconomy #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #ClimateFinance #Innovation #OneHealth #FutureOfBusiness