It is possible to make products safer and more sustainable by assessing their performance at the design stage of product development, according to the EEA. This approach would reduce risks from chemical pollution and support Europe’s transition to a circular and low-carbon economy.

Major Cities in Europe - like Budapest, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Ljubljana, Oslo, Prague and Tirana - have signed the European Circular Cities Declaration inviting peers to join them! The have committed themselves to leading the circular transition and to new models of production and consumption, whilst improving human wellbeing and reducing emissions.

In March Ecopreneur.eu published the preliminary results of a study on the potential impacts of an EU circular fashion industry on non-EU textile producing countries.

The French "Institut National de l'Economie Circulaire" (INEC) and Orée have published a co-authored study to better understand circular economy initiatives dynamics at work in different countries.

Check out the Circular Conversation - A Circular Bridge for Europe - with Ladeja Godina Košir, Chair of the Coordination Group of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP).

The Beyond Growth -conference was held in Helsinki in October 2019. The conference report has been published.

A new web-portal to help cities become circular: the Circular City Funding Guide was launched 31 January 2020 at the Cities Forum in Porto, Portugal.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the UN Environment Programme have published the first annual New Plastics Economy Global Commitment progress report. Presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Oslo, the report provides an unprecedented level of transparency on how almost 200 businesses and governments are reshaping the plastics system.

At the beginning of June, Circle Economy and Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA) released the Circularity Gap Report Austria, which makes Austria the first nation to measure the Circularity Gap. This landmark report paves the way for nations to lead the transition from a linear economy of Take-Make-Waste to a circular economy.
 

The updated bioeconomy strategy for Europe was launched on Monday 22 October as part of an event held under the Austrian Presidency.