The EPA is seeking proposals from the research community to help identify solutions to climate change and other emerging and complex environmental problems.The funding will be provided under the four EPA Research 2030 interconnected research hubs, including "Facilitating a green and circular economy".
This E-Learning module on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement guides learners, for instance, through the process of building a procurement strategy and procuring in a circular way.
Circular Gothenburg focuses on resource efficiency to reduce climate change and achieve circular material flows.
It has three target groups: citizens, city departments and businesses. For all three target groups, the goal is to make it simple, straightforward and attractive to participate in transformational circular work. This includes the municipality’s in-house processes and activities which help people to live in a more circular way. One of these activities is the Fixotek: staffed facilities, close to where people live and open to everyone, where people can meet, learn, repair and redesign products, borrow tools and swap toys, clothes and books.
The Sustainable Procurement Platform is managed by ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. It provides up-to-date news, case studies, events and guidance on sustainable procurement from across the world.
Its focus is sustainable and circular procurement. Circular procurement involves considering the whole lifecycle of products throughout their supply chain and ensuring that the products and services acquired generate benefits not only for the buyer, but also for the environment, society and the economy.
The platform showcases replicable sustainable, circular and innovation procurement approaches and strategies. Its resource centre contains over 200 case studies setting out the methods used, the obstacles overcome and successes achieved in implementing sustainable public procurement.
Mutualia, a social services and medical care provider in the Basque Country, Spain, has installed water fountains connected to the public water network to use tap water instead of buying bottled water.
In 2018, Hjørring Municipality decided to embark on a pilot project to increase the recovery and recycling of bricks when procuring demolition services for two buildings at the end of their functional life. Once cleared, the sites were destinated to be a part of a new climate adaptation project including a new rainwater collection basin and a recreational area.
The city of Ludwigsburg in Germany has a sustainable development strategy that includes the use of procurement to achieve its sustainability goals, instructing all public procurement departments to follow “Cradle to Cradle”principles in their procurement and awarding criteria.
In 2018, the Croatian city of Koprivnica needed to replace a prefabricated kindergarten. Instead of demolishing the building entirely, Koprivnica opted for Green Public Procurement (GPP) and aimed to maintain as much of the physical structure as possible, while refurbishing and improving it.
As part of the Circular Public Procurement project, the City of Aalborg (Denmark) has established a new innovative approach to buying playgrounds, based on the principles of a circular economy, as well as grounded in a pedagogical understanding of creative play as an important part of a child’s development.
