Circular Buildings: constructing a sustainable future is the latest addition to a series of publications from Holland Circular Hotspot about circular challenges and opportunities in different sectors including infrastructure, plastics, manufacturing and textiles and apparel industries.

It explores how circular economy concepts can help tackle challenges in the building sector, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and futureproof industry. It provides 25 good practices from the construction value chain and offers a framework for an international shift towards circular construction comprising policies, measurement standards, collaboration initiatives and knowledge exchange.

The conference Towards a Circular Economy: Competences for Youth aimed to enable participants from different backgrounds to learn more about the outputs from the Circular Economy - Sustainable Competences for Youth (CESCY) project, to share their views and to hear from experts from different sectors.

The worsening climate crisis and the growing scarcity of natural resources have increasingly demonstrated the limits of our predominantly linear economy. There is no question that our business models and practices must become more sustainable and circular. It is therefore essential that young people be prepared to contribute and lead the way towards a more circular economy in Europe and beyond.

The fashion sector is awash with certification schemes, sustainability labels and multi-stakeholder initiatives all seeking to steer the industry onto a greener course. Such schemes serve a dual purpose for the brands. As the fashion industry is one of the least regulated sectors in the world, they partially exist as a genuine attempt to move towards sustainability but they also enable ‘greenwashing’.

This report has sought to assess whether certification schemes, labels and multi-stakeholder initiatives are fit for purpose and what role they play in addressing the damage done by the fashion industry. The findings show that the majority of schemes offer a false promise of certification for textiles and a highly sophisticated form of greenwashing.

This report:

• sets out the background to the Circular Electronics project of the Consumer Insights Action Panel (CIAP),
• shares information on the multi-stakeholder circular Electronics Club at the heart of the work, and
• provides an overview of the methodology followed in gathering insights, designing and running interventions, and evaluating results and sustainability of the pilots.

It is designed not only to provide an overview of the project’s activities, but also to share learnings, findings and models that could support potential future initiatives in the field of circular electronics and beyond.

Circularity offers pathways to achieve a more sustainable production and consumption and to provide benefits to society. Although sustainability entails an ecological, economic, and a social dimension, the discourse on social aspects seems to have been less prevalent than on economic and environmental ones. Hence the need to further explore the social impacts of circularity and its potential societal benefits.

The aim of this report is to frame, address and better understand questions related to the social impacts of the transition to a Circular Economy. The report synthesises the gathered insights into key emerging themes and identifies gaps or areas of potential in the field as part of the Consumer Insight Action Panel (CIAP) project, led by the CSCP and funded by Sitra and DBU.

The built environment has a huge impact on the environment. This means that it is a key lever for achieving both the goals set by the Paris Agreement and many other sustainability objectives. Activating that lever will require a long-term transformation of the entire sector.

The circular economy is a way to secure resources, limit impact and promote affordability.

The Metabolic Institute, supported by the Laudes Foundation Built Environment Programme, set out to explore the circularity of the built environment in Europe. The resulting snapshot lays out key challenges, needs and opportunities in this field.

This exploration fed into the process of shaping a new programme starting in May 2022: Accelerating the Circular Economy in the Built Environment.

In the research Youth competencies in the circular economy labour market – A taxonomy of competencies, 50 circular entrepreneurs across Europe were interviewed on the competences that are relevant in their work. The central question is: How should young people be equipped to shift the labour market towards circularity and sustainability?

The results provide an overview of the types of skills, knowledge and attitudes that characterise circular entrepreneurship and leadership. The study concludes with a discussion on the role of youth workers in developing these competences.

This report is the second intellectual output of the Circular Economy - Sustainable Competences for Youth (CESCY) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU.

The aim of this study is to report on the status quo of circular economy and sustainable practices implementation at the EU level, as well as in Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

This status quo is considered from different perspectives – rules, social norms, funding, knowledge and education, knowledge dissemination vehicles and implementation of the circular economy vision – and involves different stakeholders: state (national government, regional/local government and municipalities), public companies, public and private universities, civil society, private businesses, cooperatives, association of companies and transnational corporations.

This is the first intellectual output of the Circular Economy - Sustainable Competences for Youth (CESCY) project.

Ireland is at a turning point for the transition to a circular economy (CE). The 2022 Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy provides the policy framework for the CE in this country, and the forthcoming Circular Economy Bill is expected to strengthen waste and CE legislation.

Nevertheless, with a circularity material use rate of 2% in 2020, Ireland shows significant scope for progress. This report analyses the state of play and challenges of the circular transition in Ireland and provides policy recommendations for CE policy across levels of government. It is the result of a two-year policy dialogue between the OECD, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, as well as a broad range of public, private and civil society stakeholders.

The goal of this study was to investigate the feasibility for Smart Integrated Decentralised Energy (SIDE) systems to contribute to the resilience, flexibility and circularity of the Dutch national power system infrastructure. The energy sector plays a crucial role in tackling the challenge of transitioning into a circular, renewable energy-based economy. For this reason, the Dutch government has decided to quintuple renewable power generation by 2030.

Thanks to recent developments in renewable energy technologies such as batteries, heat pumps and solar panels, but also biodigesters in which organic waste and black water are collected providing an alternative heating source, it is now possible to produce, convert and store energy locally within so-called microgrids.