This working paper outlines how a circular economy (CE) can help avert the climate crisis. It outlines nine calls-to-action to take to maximise CE benefits in order to help limit warming to 1.5 ̊C and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Shift consumption patterns
Stimulate product circularity from the design phase
Incorporate circularity across clean energy value chains
Integrate CE strategies into national climate policies and plans
Incentivise cross-border greenhouse gas emission reductions
Connect CE metrics with climate change impacts
Increase transparency and comparability in modelling methodologies
Apply systemic and context-specific impact assessment to inform decision-making
Investigate the role of CE in climate change adaptation.
The World Circular Economy Forum 2022 presents circular economy game-changers. Hosted in Kigali and online on 6-8 December 2022, WCEF2022 is co-organised by the African Circular Economy Alliance, the Republic of Rwanda, the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN) and The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, with international partners. The title for this year's event is 'From Africa to the World'.
Circular Buildings: constructing a sustainable future is the latest addition to a series of publications from Holland Circular Hotspot about circular challenges and opportunities in different sectors including infrastructure, plastics, manufacturing and textiles and apparel industries.
It explores how circular economy concepts can help tackle challenges in the building sector, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and futureproof industry. It provides 25 good practices from the construction value chain and offers a framework for an international shift towards circular construction comprising policies, measurement standards, collaboration initiatives and knowledge exchange.
Small Scale Actions (SSA) are a new element introduced for this round of URBACT action planning networks (2019-2022). This compendium summarises all of the SSAs carried out within the Resourceful Cities Network. It aims to support and inspire other cities which want to accelerate their circular transition.
A wide range of SSAs were carried out by Resourceful Cities partners, each one responding to an identified need within the individual city context. Actions included promoting citizen engagement and participation, enhancing knowledge and raising awareness of the circular economy, business support, data collection and monitoring and trialling new business models.
Testing solutions on a small scale is a valuable way for cities to learn, measure results and adapt the solutions before committing investment on a bigger scale. This document summarises 14 small scale test actions carried out by the 9 partner cities of the URBACT Resourceful Cities network. It's aim is to support & inspire other cities who want to accelerate their circular transition.
The Balearic Islands have adopted a new law on urgent measures to promote the sustainability and circularity of tourism, introducing a strategy for circularity.
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.
This workshop brought together experts from various organisations to discuss topics like the undervalued importance of infrastructure in tackling climate change, discuss the markets for secondary resources, the relevance of deconstruction design to enable the renovation wave, and stress value-chains collaboration.
This report assesses how the circular economy contributes to reaching climate goals with regard to residential housing.
The draft Flemish climate policy plan covers the operational phase of housing and the material and carbon footprints of building and renovation. The report explores two ways to reduce these footprints: reducing the size of new housing and splitting existing buildings, and applying alternative construction methods or building materials and increasing the use of recycled and reused materials.
