Circulab Toolbox

Value Chain Canvas

Analyze your material, energy, and human capital flows to identify the risks and circular opportunities in your value chain.

Value Chain Canvas workshop in progress

The tool

What is the Value Chain Canvas?

The Value Chain Canvas lets you map all the flows of a product or service (materials, energy, water, human capital, data) to reveal structural vulnerabilities and circular opportunities that a linear analysis misses.

  • 1

    Map incoming flows

    Identify all the resources entering your system: raw materials, energy, water, human capital, data.

  • 2

    Analyze outgoing flows

    List the products, by-products, waste, emissions, and losses generated at each stage of your chain.

  • 3

    Identify dependencies

    Spot critical dependencies on scarce, costly, or regulatory-at-risk resources.

  • 4

    Find circular levers

    Identify opportunities to close flow loops, valorize by-products, and reduce losses.

Value Chain Canvas

Use cases

When to use the Value Chain Canvas?

Circularity audit

Assess the current level of circularity of your organization or a specific product.

Risk management

Anticipate risks linked to resource scarcity, regulation, or material costs.

CSR strategy

Lay the groundwork for a sustainability strategy grounded in the real flows of your business.

Product innovation

Identify opportunities to rethink your product design and reduce impacts.

Workshop preparation

Create a shared language across teams to facilitate collaboration on circularity challenges.

Internal training

Raise your teams' awareness of your business's systemic challenges in a visual, engaging way.

Free download

Get the Value Chain Canvas

Create a free account to download this tool in high definition, in every language.

A universal tool

🌐No text, readable in every language.
Usable anywhere in the world.

The complete method

Complete it with the other tools

Circulab's tools are designed to work together. Each one prepares the next in the circular design method.

See all tools →