The circular economy (CE) is gaining momentum in cities. To ensure a sustainable CE, it is crucial to measure the environmental performance of CE strategies. However, environmental assessments overlook several strategies that are a key feature of urban CE practice. These include reuse and repair, sustainable built infrastructure and urban land use, green public procurement, smart information and access technology.
To provide insights into the environmental performance and potential of these strategies, industrial ecologists and municipalities should:
collaborate with urban systems experts
quantify the environmental impacts of entire urban systems
combine environmental assessments with social and economic feasibility ones.
Circular Cities offers grants for start-ups combined with a tailor-made accelerator programme with circular focus and climate impact. They connect start-ups with the largest climate-focused community in the world powered by EIT Climate-KIC ClimAccelerator as well as investors, partner cities, corporates and ecosystem partners. The programme will be run virtually, free of charge and in English.
This book provides answers on how to govern the transition to a circular economy in different socio-cultural and political contexts.
It is intended to help the global changemakers who are building our circular future. Author Jacqueline Cramer spoke with 20 representatives of circular hotspots worldwide, thoroughly analysed their different contexts and extracted 10 key takeaways. Everyone working on circular initiatives can use these and adapt them to their own socio-cultural and political contexts.
In this book, Jacqueline Cramer shows how network governance can power the circular economy. Network governance is about building a coalition of partners, which all fulfill a specific function in the network and are aligned by so-called transition brokers. By complementing conventional, public governance with this new form of governance, the best of both worlds is created.
Prof. Cramer shares her huge experience of implementing numerous circular initiatives in the Netherlands. As a practitioner and scholar, she has identified ten guiding principles for building circular initiatives, based on network governance. These guidelines can support everyone who wants to start or expedite a circular initiative.
In 2017, Poland was the third most carbon–intensive economy in Europe. The five main contributing sectors are power, industry, the built environment (mainly heating), agrifood and transport.
Poland is home to 33 out of 50 cities with the highest air quality concerns in the EU, according to the WHO. The two major sources of pollutants are motor vehicles and the burning of coal in domestic solid fuel furnaces.
Recent action by Poland's cities, governments, and local communities indicate that change is sought after. The acceptance of the circular economy roadmap at the national level in 2018 and city development strategies emphasize readiness for a transition towards a circular economy. This transition could help tackle some of the country's greatest social and environmental challenges.
In 2022, the Procura+ Awards, an ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability initiative, will for the first time feature a category on "Circular Procurement of the Year". The deadline for submitting applications is 31 March 2022.
This workshop used the concrete example of procurement of charging stations for electrical vehicles to link circular procurement to the energy transition.
The Cities & Regions Leadership Group in 2021 continued the work on the analysis of indicators to measure the transition to the circular economy in cities and regions.
This workshop capitalized on those discussion points, gearing the discussions towards the definition of operational cooperation leads between different initiatives supporting CE transition in cities and regions.
RECICLOS provides incentives for recycling cans and plastic beverage bottles. When people recycle using the app, they receive points that can be used to try to win prizes or given to local projects.
