This webinar, on Thursday 25 February from 9 to 10.30 a.m. EST, is a pre-event of the World Circular Economy Forum + Climate (WCEF+Climate), co-hosted by the EU Delegation and the Permanent Missions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Singapore, Kenya and Finland. It aims to discuss the potential of the circular economy as an essential tool in a comprehensive climate policy.
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra is a future fund collaborating with partners to research, trial and implement bold ideas that shape the future. It aims to make Finland a pioneer in sustainable well-being.
Since 2015, Sitra has been working to lead the way to a circular economy – a new kind of society in which everyday lives and well-being are no longer based on excessive consumption and fossil fuel use.
Currently, Sitra’s work focuses on supporting a fair transition to a circular economy and investigating how business can be based on sharing instead of ownership. Sitra is also working to advance circular trade policies, to increase the understanding of environmental effects of digitisation and to explore the potential of the circular economy to safeguard biodiversity.
At 12.00 CET today, watch the launch of the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE). The alliance brings together governments and relevant networks and organisations to provide a global impetus for initiatives related to the circular economy transition, resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production, building on efforts being deployed internationally.
The European Green Deal provides the impetus to find more resilient, fair and sustainable economic systems. To deliver this ambition and recover from the economic impact of COVID-19, a systemic approach is needed.
The System Change Compass re-examines the driving forces of our socio-economic system, addressing the issues of resource consumption and environmental pressures.
The report presents future-fit policy directions and economic ecosystems (among them, nature-based, circular materials), and shows how these can better serve our societal needs and work within planetary boundaries. It also highlights 50+ champion orientations outlining a next-generation industrial landscape, with investable opportunities for jobs and a more sustainable future via COVID-19 recovery funds.
Have your say on industry’s role in supporting the circular economy and improving the EU’s environment! Take part in the public consultation on the revision of the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. The feedback period closes on 23 March 2021.
Have your say on industry’s role in supporting the circular economy and improving the EU’s environment! Take part in the public consultation on the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive. The feedback period closes on 23 March 2021.
The Nordic working group on Circular Economy and Nordic Swan Ecolabel have investigated the potential for developing ecolabels for the growing sharing economy. Their findings are set out in a Study into the Potential Framework for Ecolabelling of Sharing Based Services in a Circular Economy Perspective.
The study examines sharing economy sectors and gives some recommendations:
This COSME project aims to implement a capacity building and support scheme for SMEs in the tourism sector that will lead them to reach different levels of Circular Economy innovations within a transition system.
The project :metabolon has created an innovation site with a focus on research, education and circular economy on the Leppe landfill in Lindlar, Germany, where a competence centre for circular economy, resource management as well as environmental and landfill technologies has been established.
Plastics play an essential role in modern society, but they also lead to significant impacts on the environment and climate. Reducing such impacts while retaining the usefulness of plastics requires a shift towards a more circular and sustainable plastics system.
This report tells the story of plastics and their effect on the environment and climate, and looks at their place in a European circular economy.
Specialized in establishing and nourishing dialogue between different stakeholders particularly in the process of creation of circular economy (CE) roadmaps, it is promoting new narratives, orchestrating interests, exchanging knowledge and enabling innovation.
CIRCULAR STRATEGIES
ROADMAPPING PROCESS
EXPERT CONTRIBUTION
Circular Point is a service hub set up by Geonardo Ltd to provide practical and business circular economy solutions for companies and organisations. Its versatile services allow its clients to choose the most suitable and relevant support their company or organisation needs to apply circular economy principles in their daily practice or product development.
Circular Point has a mission to serve both the efficiency and profitability of its clients, while creating a positive environmental, social and consumer impact as well. The circular economy offers a wide range of opportunities for innovation, better and long-term consumer relations as well as for reducing the negative ecological footprint and for the sustainable management of natural resources.
Circularity can reduce the land consumption footprint and contribute to ecosystem restoration. Safe, sustainable and circular use of excavated soils can reduce pressures on biodiversity. The European Commission has therefore launched an online public consultation on the development of a new EU Soil Strategy.
Baterkaren's mission is to make sustainability (circular economy principles and associated environmental protection) accessible to the general public, in order to render communities capable to adapt as effectively as possible to the potential impacts of climate change in the area.
Together with the students for furniture design of VOMO the CiLAB collective started a journey creating new circular concepts based on textile and furniture waste. The concepts do not only facilitate awareness but also link with the local community and the city of Mechelen.
On 26 January 2021 Circle Economy will launch its annual Circularity Gap Report during the Virtual Davos Agenda Week hosted by the World Economic Forum.
The transition from a linear to a circular economy is one of the most important imperatives of our time: it requires a fundamental change in the way we produce and consume. A circular approach to production and consumption reduces emissions and pollution, increases competitiveness, and boosts innovation.
Being part of EU Green Week is the opportunity to showcase the achievements of your organisation or city to a wider audience. The 2021 edition will highlight the role that the EU Action Plan Towards a Zero Pollution Ambition can play in creating toxic-free environment across the EU. If you are planning an event on this theme, why not register it as an EU Green Week partner event?
The Netherlands faces major challenges in the domain of sustainability. Its ambition is to create a circular economy and ultimately eliminate CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases altogether. What does that mean for Rijkswaterstaat?
This report contains a selection of sustainability highlights by Rijkswaterstaat (Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management). Inspiring tales of what can be achieved by making full use of everyone’s knowledge and experience, but also a fascinating description of how Rijkswaterstaat has evolved into a sustainable executive organisation for the entire national government.
The intention of EIT Climate-KIC's City Loops Programme is to build circular capacity by addressing cross-sectoral collaboration on a system-level, and within an urban context. To achieve this, each of the five project partners - Circular Berlin, Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI), Provadis Hochschule (Frankfurt), Cleantech Bulgaria (Sophia) and Wuppertal Institute - held various workshops in 2020 implementing a 'Circularity Thinking Innovation Process'.
The following case studies give an overview of the different situations circular economy innovation tools can be applied to and the value it creates.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is composed of both government and civil society organisations. With over 1400 member organisations, it is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. The European Regional Office in Brussels represents IUCN at EU level and works with Member States to help deliver EU goals.
IUCN has been focusing on the circular economy (CE) debate for some years now, including addressing marine pollution issues (e.g. plastics).
IUCN brings knowledge, expertise and convening power on biodiversity and nature-based solutions to the CE debate, aiming to establish the link between both environmental priorities: conservation of nature and transition from a linear to a circular model.
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability is a global network of over 1 750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Active in 100+ countries, ICLEI influences sustainability policy and drives local action for low emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development.
To live in a truly sustainable society, we need an economic model that separates economic growth from resource depletion and environmental degradation, replacing the linear “produce, consume, discard” model. ICLEI focuses on how local governments can lead the transition to a circular economy.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is Europe’s largest network of environmental NGOs working for a better future where people and nature thrive together.
Recovery from the Covid-19 crisis presents an important and unique opportunity for the EU to accelerate its transition towards a climate-neutral and circular economy. While there is little dispute about the opportunities offered by the funds available for the low-carbon and circular economy, the longer-term impact on Europe’s decarbonisation trajectory will depend on the choices made in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans and on how the overall policy framework is adapted.
After describing the EU recovery plan, this paper discusses various policy instruments – both new and existing – to create demand for circular materials and lower-carbon products, illustrated by examples of four resource and carbon-intensive sectors, namely construction, steel, textiles and plastics.
The European Sustainable Business Federation Ecopreneur.eu features six national associations with 3000 sustainable companies - mostly SMEs.
A member of the ECESP Coordination Group, Ecopreneur.eu is the international business organisation in Brussels committed to ambitious measures, rules and regulations for a low-carbon circular economy. Ecopreneur.eu advocates a new economic framework by bringing concrete experience from pioneering companies into the political debate, showing best practice examples and advocating the needs of green SMEs in a credible way.
The Ecopreneur.eu Low-Carbon Circular Economy Advocacy Group is a sounding board of circular economy pioneers, including Tarkett, Werner & Mertz, Interface, REMONDIS and HUMANA Kleidersammlung.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy. It works with, and inspires, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally.
Its vision is a new economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. Business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, replicating the balance of the natural world, where nothing becomes waste and everything has value.
A circular economy, increasingly built on renewable energy and materials, is distributed, diverse, and inclusive. The Foundation’s work focuses on six interlinking areas:
