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This collection was curated by the Circle Economy team from Knowledge Hub case studies for businesses, local and national governments around the world to find inspiration in practical examples of the circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://circle-economy.com" target="_blank">Circle Economy website</a> for more information and for more publications on the circular economy.

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Circle Economy

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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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Business case

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use of fossil fuel energy sources and/or increased use of renewable energy

Reduce Energy Consumption

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation for passengers, such as airlines, airports, ferries, cruise-ships, tour boat operators, marine ports, railways, train stations, tour bus operators, vehicle rental, and taxi companies, travel agencies and related services

Passenger Transport 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

Replace energy sources with less impactful alternatives and enact energy efficiency measures

Regenerative energy

Converting fossil fuel based operations to electric

Electrification

In the context of cities, regenerating ecosystems refers to the active protection of native habitats or the conservation and restoration of natural habitat analogues. Examples: reforestation and afforestation in urban contexts, protection of birds and local wildlife, management of green spaces, and removal of waste and plastic (or other anti pollution measures).

Regenerate ecosystems

The circulation of materials and products may result in an increased demand for energy usage overall, therefore it is especially important to provide energy from regenerative sources, and to utilise regenerative and cyclable materials in the production of parts and the required infrastructure.  Energy efficiency is an important step but does not bring about a fully circular economy at a bigger scale or in the longer term. 

ENERGY

Grow countries globally account for 55% of all raw material extraction and 52% of the material footprint, while housing around 37% of the global population.

These are larger Southeast Asian countries and countries in Latin America and Northern Africa, as well as those with an economy in transition in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Examples include :
- China
- Indonesia
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Vietnam
- Myanmar
- Egypt, ...

Large contribution to the overshoot of planetary boundaries—largely due to the consumptions of local materials in higher-
income (Shift) countries: these countries contribute 50% of climate change, 62% of nitrogen, 60% of phosphorus, 53% of freshwater use and 42% of land use change.

To find out what country profile your country belongs to, explore [this interactive story](https://circularity-gap.world) and search for your country on the final map.

Grow

Local government

Prioritize solutions that use the power of functioning ecosystems as infrastructure to provide natural services to benefit society and the environment; consider nature-based replacements for grey infrastructure.

Prioritise renewable resources 

The demand for transport is rising globally—but current modes are heavily material- and fossil-fuels-intensive. Emissions from the transport system could grow by 60% by 2050, and transport is the number-one user of oil worldwide. GHG emissions result not only in warming global temperatures, but also in ocean acidification, which has severe consequences for entire ecosystems and further destabilises our climate. The transport system also drives land-use change and biodiversity loss through the development of infrastructure—also releasing harmful pollutants into the ocean. Key circular solutions:

- Embrace and enable car-free lifestyles
- Invest in high-quality public transport
- Rethink unnecessary air travel
- Electrify remaining vehicles

🚌 Mobility Systems

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

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

Urban Opportunities

Whilst no two countries are the same, there are still obvious similarities between some of them, with discernible development patterns and parallels in evidence. Common problems and shared solutions help place unique country identities and individual issues in context.

Whilst this classification is far from clear-cut and exhibits some overlap, it does underline how the discourse on transitioning to a circular economy needs to account for both differences and commonalities, if we are to arrive at a more strategic and instructive analysis. It also allows to highlight a set of key themes that are likely to be central to the countries that fall under the respective profiles. 

Country profiles (Build, Grow, Shift)

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A framework to distinguish between different country profiles and their circular transition needs.

Browse case studies by type of implementing stakeholder.

Implementing stakeholders

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

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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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You have to keep your eyes peeled for the bus at the station in Shenzhen’s Futian central business district these days. The diesel behemoths that once signalled their arrival with a piercing hiss, a rattle of engine and a plume of fumes are no more, replaced with the world’s first and largest 100% electric bus fleet.Shenzhen now has 16,000 electric buses in total and is noticeably quieter for it. “We find that the buses are so quiet that people might not hear them coming,” says Joseph Ma, deputy general manager at Shenzhen Bus Group, the largest of the three main bus companies in the city. “In fact, we’ve received requests to add some artificial noise to the buses so that people can hear them. We’re considering it.”We’ve received requests to add artificial noise to the buses so people can hear themJoseph MaThe benefits from the switch from diesel buses to electric are not confined to less noise pollution: this fast-growing megacity of 12 million – which was a fishing village until  designated China’s first “special economic zone” in the 1980s – is also expected to achieve an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions of 48% and cuts in pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, non-methane hydrocarbons and particulate matter. Shenzhen Bus Group estimates it has been able to conserve 160,000 tonnes of coal per year and reduce annual CO2 emissions by 440,000 tonnes. Its fuel bill has halved.Shenzhen was a fishing town of 30,000 people in the late 1970s. Photograph: Getty Images“With diesel buses I can remember standing at the bus stop and the heat, noise and emissions they generated made it unbearable in the summer,” says Ma. “The electric buses have made a tremendous difference.”China’s drive to reduce the choking smog that envelops many of its major cities has propelled a huge investment in electric transport. Although it remains expensive for cities to introduce electric buses – one bus costs around 1.8 million yuan (£208,000) – Shenzhen was able to go all-electric thanks to generous subsidies from both central and local government.“Typically, more than half of the cost of the bus is subsidised by government,” says Ma. “In terms of operation there is another subsidy: if we run our buses for a distance of more than 60,000km we receive just under 500,000 yuan [£58,000] from local government.” This subsidy is put towards reducing the cost of the bus fares: “The government looks at the public transport very much as social welfare.”To keep Shenzhen’s electric vehicle fleet running, the city has built around 40,000 charging piles. Shenzhen Bus Company has 180 depots with their own charging facilities installed. One of its major depots in Futian can accommodate around 20 buses at the same time. “Most of the buses we charge overnight for two hours and then they can run their entire service, as the range of the bus is 200km per charge,” says Ma.Availability of charging stations is a major factor in why it is it difficult for other cities around the world to switch to all-electric bus fleets, but China being a one-party state hasn’t necessarily made it any easier in Shenzhen. “We have some of our own depots, but we also have to rent some from the municipal government, as well as from the private sector,” says Ma. “Aside from the subsidies in terms of purchasing the buses, we are very much left to ourselves to how we look for resources for our charging infrastructure.”Shenzhen Bus Company deputy general manager Joseph Ma. Photograph: Matthew KeeganGetting the required charging infrastructure for taxis is proving more challenging. By the end of this month, all of Shenzhen’s 22,000 taxis are required to switch to electric. Shenzhen Bus Company has switched its entire fleet of 4,600 taxis to electric ahead of schedule.“For taxis it’s more about distribution than the number of charging pillars because taxis run all over the place and they have no fixed routes,” says Ma. “We are looking at all sorts of different solutions – from parking spaces in public areas like municipal parks and some of the major government venues, as well as temporary sites in local villages that might have communal land we can hire.”The lack of charging stations is causing friction between taxi drivers. “You always hear about fights between taxi drivers trying to get into the charging stations and things like that,” says Ma. “It’s difficult for the drivers because obviously they can’t go too far out of the way to charge the taxis.”His firm is developing an app to track where charging spaces are available and notify drivers in real time.Too expensive outside China?More than 30 Chinese cities have made plans to achieve 100% electrified public transit by 2020, including Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Foshan and Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta; and Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shaanxi and Shandong.But with central government planning to withdraw subsidies by 2020, introducing electric buses elsewhere could be too expensive.There is also geography to consider. Shenzhen is fairly flat, but the hills of nearby Hong Kong have proven too much in trials of electric buses. Other cities in northern China have struggled with battery power in the extreme cold of winter.A hybrid electric bus in midtown Manhattan. Photograph: Peter Foley/EPAMeanwhile, cities such as London and New York are accelerating their drive towards electric buses. London plans to make all single-decker buses emission-free by 2020, and all double-deckers hybrid by 2019. New York plans to make its bus fleet all-electric by 2040.Riding the 222 bus the length of Shenzhen’s CBD, you hear little sound other than a soft whine when the driver accelerates. The easy-to-clean hard plastic seats are not the most comfortable but most passengers opt to stand anyway – a choice made easier by the smoothness of the ride.Rolling into our destination, the doors open with a beep, beep, beep – the loudest noise the bus has made the entire journey.“It’s quieter, smoother and I only pay the same fare as before,” says Lai, a regular passenger. “I would say most people here are happy with the switch.”Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion, and explore our archive here

Shenzhen

Shenzhen city government

<p>The city of Shenzhen, China, has replaced its entire diesel bus fleet with 16,000 electric buses: the world’s first and largest all-electric fleet. The buses serve Shenzhen’s fast-growing population of 12 million, and have already made a noticeable impact on noise and air pollution; CO2 emissions from public transport are expected to decrease by 48%, as are pollutants like nitrogen oxides, non-methane hydrocarbons and particulate matter. The bus company approximates that 160,000 tonnes of coal per year have been saved and annual CO2 emissions have been reduced by 440,000 tonnes. The bill for fuel has also dropped by 50%. While it is expensive for cities to switch to electric buses, Shenzhen was subsidised by both the central and local government to introduce the new fleet—and much of this financial aid went towards reducing bus fares. The switch has been on the whole successful, in part due to the city’s relatively flat topography and milder winter temperatures.</p>