This Sitra memorandum focuses on providing building blocks to help the next European Commission address the ecological crisis while maintaining Europe's competitiveness and resilience.
The renewed European Commission will take office in 2024 and must keep up the European Green Deal, ensuring that it centres on nature and mainstreams the circular economy across the EU single market.
The key recommendations include:
ecosystem accounting
biodiversity offsets
circular single market
leveraging nature as a business opportunity
using data for the green transition
addressing Europe's global biodiversity footprint, and
reforming the common agricultural policy.
Stakeholders are encouraged to contribute to the ongoing debate, ensuring the strategy's success.
The roadmap for Ostrobothnia (Finland) provides practical examples on how to get started or develop sustainable thinking, based on the latest research and current trends. The focus is on developing concrete guides, tools and checklists to make the change easier for entrepreneurs.
Get started - Focus on sustainability
Facilities & energy - Less is more?
Raw materials - Everything starts from the choice of materials
Design & product development - Right from the start
Purchases - Have courage to set strict requirements
Production & manufacturing - Produce for the future
Transports & distribution - The closer the better
Communication & marketing - Tell!
Sales - New requirements
Waste & recycling - Go through your waste recycling
Varusteleka, a webshop selling military surplus and outdoor gear in Finland, buys back products it has sold to customers and resells them as second-hand products.
Finnish energy company Fortum had developed a circular renewable energy service, dubbed HorsePower, that used recycled materials to provide a bedding management service for stable-owners, as well as using manure for energy.
For New York's design week, NYCxDESIGN in May 2018, the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York invited chefs from the Helsinki-based Restaurant Nolla to bring their zero waste food philosophy to New York. The temporary bistro was built on themes of circular economy, new material innovations and sustainable design.
The Finnish region of Päijät-Häme is a strong promoter of circular economy practices. In line with the national strategy, the region focuses on regional-level initiatives. It therefore seeks to engage various regional stakeholders and foster a common vision and strategy.
The formation of a stakeholder group through a series of networking events has led to a constantly evolving roadmap. Several projects are currently being implemented on the basis of this roadmap, and many good practices have been achieved which serve as an example of a circular economy in the region.
