Cities are where the future happens first. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group connects more than 90 of the world’s greatest cities, representing over 650 million people and one quarter of the global economy. Created and led by cities, C40 is focused on tackling climate change and driving urban action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, while increasing the health, wellbeing and economic opportunities of urban citizens.
Catalunya Circular was launched on the 9th of May 2018 in Barcelona and it already has around 20 member organizations. Its aim is to become a central point of reference for circular economy (CE) in Catalonia.
Besides providing useful knowledge and information on CE, Catalunya Circular offers an opportunity to raise awareness about the work done by Catalan businesses and society by publishing details of their CE initiatives. These initiatives are geolocated on an interactive map and can be selected using a search engine that allows users to look for projects by keyword and/or type of economy.
The Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX) initiative is a collaboration of over 160 European companies, associations and organisations representing the entire value chain of flexible packaging. CEFLEX wants all flexible packaging to be designed for easy collection, sorting and recycling, with valuable new markets and applications created for the recycled materials.
CEFLEX stakeholders represent the full value chain including: raw material producers (plastics, paper and aluminium foil), ink, coating and adhesive suppliers, film producers and flexible packaging converters, brand owners, waste management companies, recyclers, extended producer responsibility organisations and technology suppliers.
CER Sustainable Business Network Slovenia is the largest sustainable business network in Slovenia on a mission to strengthen ambitions and activities to achieve a climate-neutral economy faster.
They bring business leaders together to share learnings and best practices, advocacy necessary for the change, influence policy, and accelerate the green transition using collective action. They raise awareness, grow ambition, build capacities, promote green tech, and foster partnerships to boost the transition towards climate-neutral Slovenia.
Furthermore, they work towards better understanding the necessity to act now on climate change. They bridge the gap between different stakeholders, offering them a safe space for open discussion about systemic barriers to reach climate neutrality.
Chemical Recycling Europe is a platform that encourages its members to unite for the common goal of closing the loop for the plastics industry through technological innovation and participation within chemical recycling. The platform encourages the goal of recycling all plastic waste into its original components or as value-added materials.
The association was established in 2019 for the European chemical recycling industry to make a difference towards the public and European institutions.
Its members offer technologies to transform unrecyclable plastic waste into new raw materials. In this way, the transformation to reuse ensures the reduction of CO2 emissions and combat global warming and increased CO2 footprint of plastic products.
Through its eight modules, the CICLO platform aims to upgrade, free of cost, the opportunities for up-skilling and re-skilling of long-term unemployed and low-skilled workers, in the field of the evolving circular economy market:
Circular Economy: What’s in a name?
Recycling Management
Materials Reuse and Remanufacturing
From Products to Services (Servitisation)
Soft Skills for the Circular Economy I and 21st Century Skills
Soft Skills for the Circular Economy II
Good Practices
How to Approach a Transition Towards a Greener System.
The material could be included in educational services offered by Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers, Training Centres, Higher Education Institutions, NGOs, SMEs, public services relevant to EU labour force, etc.
CIRCLE is a transnational cooperation project aimed at promoting circular economy solutions in SMEs in rural areas.
The project comes under the EU's LEADER programme and its objectives are as follows:
increase knowledge and awareness about circular economy and its potential for enterprises in rural areas
increase cooperation between local enterprises
increase international cooperation and create networks, and to enhance existing ways of implementing circular economy.
The project partners have agreed to organise one programme in each country with visits to enterprises, farms and organisations implementing circular economy or innovative environment-friendly solutions.
Circle Lab is an online platform for cities, businesses, and citizens to explore, brainstorm, and implement circular business models and strategies to tackle universal and local challenges.
By digitising knowledge, opening up access, and encouraging co-creation, we aim to break down information silos and fuel cross-industry collaboration and innovation. The circular economy has the potential to change the world, and we believe the time to bring the concept to the kitchen table – so that everyone, from entrepreneurs to big brands, can play a role in making it a reality – is now.
Cities and entrepreneurs are expected to be full of inspiring and sustainable ideas but they often have a lot of questions before they can implement those ideas. How do you set up a product-as-a-service business model? How do I protect my logo? How can you support cititzens initiatives? How can the financiers be involved...
To get an answer to all these and other questions, you can ask experts at CircleAid. They have all their specific experience with circular economy: in business models, procurement, governance, financing...
These experts are mentors who can guide you through your circular questions. Consultants who want to become part of this database can apply if they have experience or knowledge in Circular Economy.
For the moment this platform is only available in Dutch.
CIRCLES is a platform dedicated to disseminating circular economy solutions in the Eastern Netherlands. It encourages entrepreneurs to participate in the green transition, promoting their sense of ownership in the transition process. It offers a space for stakeholders to interact and exchange views on circular economy – digitally or physically - or simply a space to establish partnerships.
Several organisations – public, private and NGOs – interact in a range of ways, including workshops, publications, opportunities to access finance. One of the initiatives, for instance, consists of a space to submit ideas. If viable, cooperation with regional universities can be established, and entrepreneurs can collaborate to reach solutions.