The rapid change in our climate and the unprecedented challenges it creates for humanity have made it increasingly urgent to shift to a more sustainable and circular development model. To accelerate the transition, several cities, regions and other promoters are already developing and applying circular economy projects in Europe. Due to the risks entailed, however, these projects often struggle to find investments, hindering their implementation.

A new initiative, called CircularInvest, approved under the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI), will bridge the gap between circular economy project development and their implementation by helping circular project beneficiaries to become investment-ready and access funding. CircularInvest will provide free project development assistance to the most promising European circular economy ideas, offering a variety of customised services based on their needs, including:

• Business plan development
• Investment readiness
• Circularity.

Circular economy project owners can apply for CircularInvest project development assistance by submitting their applications via open calls. The first call opened on 28 April and applications must be submitted by 30 June 2023. All applications must be filed through the CircularInvest platform. Follow the CircularInvest platform to stay up to date on all developments.