A coalition of 91 organisations, with cities and regions representing more than 80 million Europeans across 16 EU Member States and candidate country Albania, has formally presented the Call for Action to make the Circular Economy Act an enabler for circular construction to face the raw materials crisis to the European Commission and the European Parliament. It urges EU decision makers to make circular construction a central pillar of the upcoming Circular Economy Act.

The coalition spans 41 cities, 28 regions and 22 private and network organisations. Among the signatories are some of Europe’s most influential urban hubs alongside numerous smaller municipalities and private entities committed to scaling up circular solutions.

They are calling for ambitious European measures to reduce the construction sector’s dependence on virgin raw materials, strengthen secondary materials and improve Europe’s resource resilience.

The construction sector is responsible for around 40% of all waste generated in the EU and remains one of the continent’s largest consumers of raw materials. At the same time, growing resource scarcity, geopolitical uncertainty and increasing material costs are placing additional pressure on Europe’s economy and supply chains.

The Call for Action outlines four priorities for the upcoming Circular Economy Act:

• reduce material consumption and prioritise reuse over demolition and new construction;
• use public procurement to create market demand for circular building solutions
• harmonise end-of-waste criteria to facilitate the use and trade of secondary materials across Europe
• strengthen the competitiveness of secondary and bio-based construction materials.

The Call for Action on Circular Construction was initiated by the Capital Region of Denmark, the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam, Île-de-France, the City of Vienna, the City of Copenhagen, and ICLEI Europe. Read more about it here!