The circular economy (CE) is increasingly discussed as a way to address climate change and sustainability. The idea is deceptively simple to explain. It is claimed that development is led primarily by practitioners, while the rigorous scientific system design effort is mostly ignored as the pressure mounts to act in the face of climate change urgency. In 2018 Swedish and Finnish authors distilled six limits and challenges of CE. These elements were used as a boundary object to define and co‐create a simulation model environment. Reference models were introduced to develop an initial conceptual model for discussion. An international team of geographically separated researchers and practitioners used this simulation model to develop an understanding of initial requirements. The first outcomes of the approach are promising and accentuate the importance of starting early with the co‐creation effort to develop a common language and simulation models for understanding.

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