Business case

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Providing public and private education and support services at any level or for any profession, and governmental and public administration services, including judicial, regulatory, and legislative activities, taxation, defence, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs and the administration of government programmes

Education and Government Services

Operating networks and software that enable the exchange and broadcasting of information, such as entertainment and internet software, television, cable, satellite or radio broadcasting systems, and cellular, wireless and/or fixed-line telecommunications services

Software and Communications

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation and related services for the distribution of goods, such as air freight, air courier and logistics services, maritime freight, marine courier and logistics services, rail freight, rail courier and logistics services, land freight, land courier and logistics services, including package and mail delivery and customs agents, as well as storage and warehouse facilities

Logistics Services

Producing transportation equipment for the movement of goods and people by air, rail, sea, and land, including airplanes, spacecraft and military equipment, ships, boats, rail locomotives and rolling stock, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, and related equipment, as well as repair services for such equipment

Transportation Equipment

Employing artificial algorithms and robotics to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Advanced robotics, artificial intelligence

Utilising data and models to to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Data analytics, modelling

Connecting products and services into the internet of things to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Internet enabled, connected operations

Installing sensors to gather data from products and services to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Sensors, monitoring systems

Developing or utilising online platforms to enable circular economy opportunities through information, product or service offering

Online platforms

Other

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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MIT has signed an agreement to engage in research collaborations with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) in the Netherlands. The collaboration’s flagship project, led by researchers from multiple departments at MIT, will be to develop a fleet of autonomous boats for the city’s canals.
Based in Amsterdam, the AMS Institute brings together a consortium of public and private partners to tackle complex urban challenges such as water, energy, waste, food, data, and mobility. MIT joins with two research institutions in the Netherlands — the Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University and Research Center — as the core academic partners who will use the city as a living laboratory and test bed.
An interdisciplinary team from MIT has assembled to lead the collaboration’s first project: ROBOAT, an effort to develop a fleet of autonomous boats, or “roboats,” to investigate how urban waterways can be used to improve the city’s function and quality of life.
The ROBOAT project will develop a logistics platform for people and goods, superimposing a dynamic infrastructure over one the world’s most famous water cities. “This project imagines a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people that can also cooperate to produce temporary floating infrastructure, such as on-demand bridges or stages that can be assembled or disassembled in a matter of hours,” says Carlo Ratti, professor of the practice of urban technologies in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP).
In addition to infrastructure and transport, ROBOAT will also deploy environmental sensing to monitor water quality and offer data for assessing and predicting issues related to public health, pollution, and the environment. “Water is the bearer of life. By focusing on the water system of the city, ROBOAT can create opportunities for new environmental sensing methods and climate adaptation. This will help secure the city’s quality of life and lasting functionality,” says Arjan van Timmeren, professor and scientific director at AMS, who also envisions a multitude of possibilities for a network of roboats, from real-time sensing similar to the MIT Underworlds project to retrieving the 12,000 bicycles or cleaning up the floating waste that ends up in the Dutch city’s canals each year.
Joining Ratti from MIT as co-principal investigators are Daniela Rus, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); Andrew Whittle, the Edmund K. Turner Professor in Civil Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Dennis Frenchman, the Class of 1922 Professor of Urban Design and Planning and director of the DesignX program in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning.
At AMS, Van Timmeren and Stephan van Dijk, research program manager, will coordinate the involvement of another 12 groups of researchers from TU Delft and Wageningen UR. Along with the City of Amsterdam, Waternet, the public water utility of Amsterdam and surrounding areas, will participate in the research.
The first prototypes of autonomous boats, or “roboats,” are expected to be tested in Amsterdam in 2017. The project’s initial phase will last for five years. 
With nearly one-quarter of the city covered by water, Amsterdam is an ideal place for developing ROBOAT, according to the researchers. The canal system was once the key functional urban infrastructure of the city and today still plays a major role in recreation and tourism. Amsterdam’s waters, including bridges, canals, and the IJ river and its docks, offer plenty of opportunity to help solve current issues with transportation, mobility, and water quality.
With 80 percent of global economic output generated around coasts, riverbanks, and deltas and 60 percent of the world population living in these areas, researchers anticipate that outcomes from the ROBOAT projects could become a reference for other urban areas around the world and a source of international entrepreneurial initiatives and start-ups in which autonomy enters the marine world.


Amsterdam

Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Roboat is a 5 year research project and collaboration between the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The ROBOAT project will develop a logistics platform for people and goods, superimposing a dynamic infrastructure over one the world's most famous water cities. The project imagines a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people that can also cooperate to produce temporary floating infrastructure, such as on-demand bridges or stages that can be assembled or disassembled in a matter of hours. In addition to infrastructure and transport, ROBOAT will also deploy environmental sensing to monitor water quality and offer data for assessing and predicting issues related to public health, pollution, and the environment. Read more at:

Autonomous boats

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Circle Economy and ICLEI have partnered up to initiate the go to knowledge hub of case studies about the circular economy in cities. The Cities Collection is a repository of case studies that demonstrate the role of cities in the circular transition, and includes policies, business cases and research articles. Cases in the Collection flow into an ecosystem of digital products which support users in transitioning cities to circularity, for example [Ganbatte](https://ganbatte.world/cities/) and <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/" target="_blank">ICLEI Circulars</a>, both part of the <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/circle-lab-for-cities/" target = _blank">Circle Lab for Cities Programme.</a>

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Circular Cities

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Article / Report

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Providing electricity and gas services, including traditional and renewable energy generation, natural and manufactured gas and operating gas networks

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

Data, knowledge & information sharing

Conduct research

Awareness raising events

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

Incorporate extended use in project planning phases; create or update city policies to allow for extended use.


Design and regulate for separation and recovery

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases (UN-Habitat). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions.

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


⚡ Energy Systems

Businesses

Communities

Governments

Renewable energy already accounts for over 50% of the newly installed power generation capacity ([IRENA](https://www.irena.org/publications/2019/Apr/Global-energy-transformation-A-roadmap-to-2050-2019Edition)). As the power generation shifts towards renewables, oil and gas assets will need decommissioning and demand for materials will increase to meet the need for new energy infrastructure. However, secondary materials are rarely available. The majority of materials and equipment from old energy infrastructure is downcycled rather than reused or repurposed. Whereas recycling processes for renewable energy equipment are not widespread yet, mainly because until now, the issue of their disposal and recycling has not existed on a large scale. 

The circular economy could reduce virgin material extraction and offer high-value alternatives through recycling and decommissioning old energy infrastructure—from recycling glass in solar panels to repurposing wind turbines into bikeshed and bridges. The global market for disposal and recycling of solar and wind equipment could be worth upwards of $360 million by 2024, meaning great opportunities for green job and workforce development ([Better Energy](https://www.betterenergy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Waste-and-Recycling-Fact-Sheet.pdf)). Repurposing and recycling these assets can also reduce emissions associated with the disposal of their components and create revenue to finance decommissioning through the reselling of components at end-of-life.

Local governments can facilitate this transition by setting the right regulations that enable repurposing and recycling of these assets, offer upskilling and reskilling opportunities for workers that could focus on decommissioning and recycling assets as we move away from building new facilities, and require approved end-of-life management plans to be included in tenders for energy projects managed by the city. Governments can also support research on recycling technologies and ensure that financial resources are available for end of life handling of the equipment even if the original parties are unable to perform it (e.g. if they have gone out of business)—via a performance bond or other surety.


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⚡  Recycling and repurposing energy equipment

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policies

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

   The production of solar panels requires a great amount of resources. So, how can we increase circularity of solar panels? During the last edition of Circular Economy Lab, we focussed on circular solar panels, and discussed existing applications and future steps. Participants explored the following questions:How can we properly prepare for the flood of used solar panels that will enter the market en masse?What innovative solar panels are currently in development that meet the high(er) circularity standards in terms of design?Can the Netherlands be a leader in this transition?Recently, magazine 'Milieu' published this article (in Dutch, pages 30-31) written by Jacqueline Cramer and Joppe van Driel, who shared their main take-aways from the Lab. Let's zoom in on their highlights for you below. 
      “We can significantly increase the circularity of current and new generation solar panels in the Netherlands. The opportunities are there for the taking. It is just a matter of doing it.”   Program Developer Circularity in Urban Regions            
   Reuse and recycling of current solar panels is currently done on a small scale. A reason for this is because the flow of discarded solar panels is still relatively small, and as such investors are reluctant to focus on this market.However, there are now about 7 to 8 million solar panels sold annually on the Dutch market. These used solar panels are expected to be released on a large scale from 2026 onwards. Hence, the urgency to start investing in reuse and development of high quality recycling technology is increasing.Reuse of solar panelsAfter passing thorough testing, used panels that are still good enough can be certified and then put back on the market as a cheaper, refurbished panel. To start this, supplier Sungevity, in collaboration with among others WEEE NL and Urgenda, has launched ZonNext - a platform that matches supply and demand of used solar panels. 
      “Consider, for example, a government building that is being demolished with solar panels on its roof; the panels that are released can be made available to low-income households.”   Program Developer Circularity in Urban Regions            
   Recently a partnership has been set up between WEEE NL, Consultancy bureau Pastoor and TNO, among others. Their aim is to remove the aluminum profile and make it suitable for reuse. Also, the glass plates can be carefully disassembled and processed into clean materials for new plates. The plastic sheets and the actual solar cells - iron wires with solar collectors - can be separated in a pyrolysis plant, this also allows the plastic to be fully recycled. From the remaining solar cells, the silicon can be separated from the silver and other metals to serve as a circular raw material for new panels.The consortium wants to have this new recycling technique operational by 2026 at the latest, so that from then on the rapidly increasing flow of solar panels can be recycled at a high level. This mainly requires innovation funds and a company that is willing to invest in the recycling plant. 
      “Recycling of the current generation of solar panels is difficult because all components are often packed and glued together. Despite these limitations, these solar panels can be recycled in a higher quality than is currently the case.”              
   Fortunately, the production of new solar panels is increasingly taking circularity into account. A number of Dutch companies are leading the way in this regard. One example is the company Solarge. In their panels, glass and aluminum have been replaced by innovative fiber-reinforced synthetic materials derived from recycled plastics or bio-based sources.The panel can last at least 25 years, is super-light (thus suitable for less load-bearing roof structures) and has a low CO2 footprint. The used PV modules can easily be thermally dismantled into (whole) solar cells and polymers, which can be continuously reused in the same type of solar panel.Exasun is another Dutch company that produces a new generation of circular solar panels. It sells the panels in the form of roof tiles that immediately serve as waterproof roofs. The roof tiles are free of lead and PFAS and circularly designed. Both examples fit seamlessly with the European Solar Manufacturing Accelerator program to stimulate the production of sustainable solar panels and thereby increase the security of supply of raw materials in Europe.The importance of scaling upPanels of both Exasun and Solarge can become competitive with the now dominant Chinese panels in the foreseeable future. The process of scaling up, i.e. sufficient customers, is a key factor. Only when there is a guaranteed volume of sales will it be profitable to build a production facility and only then will financiers be willing to invest in it. 
      “This "chicken and egg" problem can be overcome by circular purchasing policies. It helps enormously when buyers include contractual requirements in their tenders for solar panels, for example by stating that solar panels must have a low carbon footprint and be PFAS-free.”   Program Developer Circularity in Urban Regions            
   A guide to the circular procurement of solar panels aimed at municipalities and other public commissioning authorities will be available in the autumn of 2021. It is proposed to link this to the buyer groups of PIANOo and Rijkswaterstaat, which are developing nationally harmonized circular procurement criteria for various product groups. The governments, companies and knowledge institutions in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area could be joint launching customers.What about leasing solar panels?In addition to including circular requirements, it is important to consider total lifetime costs. Customers often only look at the purchase costs, is the experience of Wocozon, a foundation that installs solar panels in approximately 1000 houses per month in the social rental sector. Over the entire lifecycle cheaper offers are actually more expensive, because parts soon have to be replaced. If a housing corporation has bad installations installed, for example, service teams have to constantly drive around the city to solve problems.Suppliers like Wocozon often work with lease constructions. They can then continue to steer the quality and sustainability of the panels themselves. Producers such as Solarge and Exasun are also in favor of energy-as-a-service contracts, because they then retain responsibility for the life cycle of their product.After the first use, they can take back the materials and guarantee reuse or high-quality recycling in new panels. The disadvantage of energy-as-a-service contracts for clients is that you have to arrange more at the front end. 
      “There are legal issues involved, it requires a different attitude, lots of questioning and different contract management, so you have to set up your organization differently. However, the unanimous conclusion of the Lab participants was: let's work together from now on to give the circularity of solar panels a boost.”              
   Amsterdam's Deputy Mayor: why circular solar panels are crucialThe 24th session for Circular Economy Lab was organized together with Utrecht Sustainability Institute, Amsterdam Economic Board, the City of Amsterdam and Alliance Circle Region Utrecht. The Lab kicked-off with a video message from Marieke van Doorninck, Deputy Mayor for Spatial Development and Sustainability of the City of Amsterdam.The Deputy Mayor among others stated that the next crucial step is to make solar panels circular on a large scale, to prevent toxic PV waste, keep critical raw materials available and prevent forced labor in the production chain in China. 
  Opening of the Circular Economy Lab by Marieke van Doorninck, Deputy Mayor for Spatial Development and Sustainability of the City of Amsterdam
 

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The production of solar panels requires a great amount of resources. Through its&nbsp;Circular Economy Lab, the Amsterdam Institute or Advances Metropolitan Solutions discussed existing applications and future steps for circular solar panels. Participants explored the following questions:1. How can we properly prepare for the flood of used solar panels that will enter the market en masse?2. What innovative solar panels are currently in development that meet the high(er) circularity standards in terms of design?3. Can the Netherlands be a leader in this transition?The Lab was organized together with Utrecht Sustainability Institute, Amsterdam Economic Board, the City of Amsterdam and Alliance Circle Region Utrecht.

How to increase circularity of solar panels

Policy case

Work together throughout the supply chain, internally within organisations and with the public sector and communities to increase transparency and create joint value

Team up to create joint value

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

Municipality of Amsterdam

OUR MISSION IS TO ACCELERATE THE PRACTICAL AND SCALABLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

At Circle Economy, we believe in a visionary future for our planet — one in which we do not have to compromise in order to achieve economic, social, and environmental prosperity. As an impact organisation, we connect and empower a global community to create the conditions for systemic transformation. With nature as our mentor, we work alongside businesses, cities and governments to identify opportunities to make the transition to the circular economy, and provide a powerful combination of practical and scalable solutions to turn these opportunities into reality.
‍
Our mission is to empower a global community of businesses, cities and governments to accelerate the transition to the circular economy through practical and scalable insights and solutions that address humanity’s greatest challenges.

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Circle Economy

The City of Amsterdam, which is one of the finalists in this year’s <a href="https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists-listing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Earthshot Prize</a>, first unveiled its <a href="https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/policy/sustainability/circular-economy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">circular strategy</a> in 2020, four years after the Dutch government set the same goals nationally. Amsterdam’s vision embraces what the British economist Kate Raworth calls the <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90497442/amsterdam-is-now-using-the-doughnut-model-of-economics-what-does-that-mean" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“doughnut” model of economics</a>, which looks at both environmental and social goals. The outer edge of the doughnut represents the ecological limits of the planet, including biodiversity loss and climate breakdown. The inner ring represents basic human needs, from food to adequate housing, that everyone should be able to access. To live sustainably, society needs to exist inside both limits.“We don’t just talk about technical solutions, or what’s the best way to [move] materials from here to there,” says Ilektra Kouloumpi from <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Circle Economy</a>, the organization that helped the city build its short-term road map, including which types of waste it’s focused on reducing over the next few years. “We also talk about, ‘Hey, how can we make a city that is inclusive and just for all, while respecting the planetary boundaries?’ That has become the new vision for the City of Amsterdam.” It still isn’t clear exactly how that long-term vision will work in practice. But multiple circular initiatives are underway. In one project, researchers are studying how concrete paving stones on streets can be recoated and reused, rather than replaced, when a road needs to be repaved. In another, they’re studying how plants that were once grown in the area—flax and hemp—could be used to make new biodegradable building materials. “We always look at, ‘Okay, how can science help?’” says Joppe van Driel, the program developer for circularity at the <a href="https://www.ams-institute.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS)</a>, an organization that connects university researchers with urban challenges, including the studies on pavement and bio-based building materials. “Different kinds of technological innovation are needed to move forward.” Another AMS Institute study is examining how building products could be made from organic waste, and is bringing potential manufacturers and customers into the R&amp;D process from the beginning. “When a new innovation is being developed, we try to make sure that it is being tested in a real-life environment as soon as possible,” says van Driel. The aim is to get new products to market quickly.