Article / Report

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

Producing transporation equipment and providing services for thetransportation of goods and people

Transportation and Logistics

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

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

Regenerative energy

Recover waste energy or generate fuels and energy from waste streams

Energy recovery from waste

Industry peers to industry peer collaboration to create joint value and identify synergies

Industry collaboration

Develop regenerative infrastructure

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

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

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

Impacts

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Industries

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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 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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Sustainability experts from six multinationals identified opportunities to enhance urban sustainability in Turku, Finland. Collaborating under the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's (WBCSD) Urban Infrastructure Initiative, this is the first time a city has worked with global businesses to achieve sustainability goals.The UII team comprises GDF Suez, Toyota, TNT, Acciona, Siemens, and UTC. In series of workshops the UII team and Turku city officials debated the merits and practicalities of energy saving initiatives. This resulted in the identification of three broad areas where businesses could bring expertise to support the city's ambitious goals. They are city centre development, land use and energy. These will be achieved through better traffic management, building control systems and municipal energy management.The WBCSD UII project director, Christian Kornevall, said: "Working on this project has been enriching: we drew on our members' cross-sectoral knowledge and expertise to come up with workable, practical solutions. Their impacts will be felt by Turku's citizens as their quality of life improves. Very soon the majority of the world's population will live in cities. In order for urban environments to be both livable and sustainable, they need investment. This is why we are developing a suite of initiatives. Reviews are already underway for a number of cities across three continents."Turku's deputy mayor in charge of infrastructure, Jarkko Virtanen, said: "We have ambitious sustainability targets and this strategic, early-stage collaboration has helped us see how to achieve our vision. Sustainability cuts across different departments and working with companies from several sectors has helped us make the necessary connections and find the right solutions."Willfried Wienholt, the head of urban and corporate development for Siemens, said: "This first engagement in the UII project has proved the value of businesses being involved early in a city's sustainability planning. Our combined skills and experience, together with the city's knowledge, help transform cities' progress towards a sustainable future."In order to achieve the goals set out, seven high priority actions are recommended by the team. At the same time as being relatively easy to implement, they will have a high impact on Turku and comprise:• Biogas production – generating clean energy and producing compost by burning methane from decomposing vegetation, garbage and manure• Building automation – cutting energy used by systems such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning through electronic communication between equipment• Energy management – improving governance of the city's energy use to achieve consistent performance in areas such as public lighting and public buildings• Green logistics – cutting congestion by innovating with technology, supply chain features and collaborations• Green procurement – using the city's purchasing power to choose goods and services with lower impacts on the environment• Material flow analysis – analysing policies and performance to identify potential improvements, including necessary changes in people's behaviour• Traffic management systems – reducing bottlenecks and encouraging people to use multiple transport modes by providing real-time information on current conditions.UII provides multi-sector expertise to help transform cities' sustainability visions into effective and affordable plans.For more information visit our websiteCopy on this page is provided by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, sponsor of the Business on the Road to Rio hub

Turku

Toyota

UTC 

Siemens 

City of Turku

GDF Suez

Acciona

World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Sustainability experts from six multinationals identified opportunities to enhance urban sustainability in Turku, Finland. Collaborating under the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's (WBCSD) Urban Infrastructure Initiative, this is the first time a city has worked with global businesses to achieve sustainability goals. The collaboration's focus is city-centre development, land use and energy. These will be achieved through better traffic management, building control systems and municipal energy management. More specifically, the programme has seven priority areas such as green procurement, clean energy, clean mobility and traffic management systems, and green logistics.

Collaborative sustainability programme in Turku

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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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Reduced use and withdrawal of water and rate of recycling and reuse of water

Save Water (SDG6)

Replace freshwater with less impactful alternatives and enact water efficiency measures

Regenerative water

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Institutional design to enable circularity

Site planning for circular material use

High-level changes to policy and practice (such as taxation systems, investment and procurement guidelines and criteria) that disincentivize activities that perpetuate linear economic systems, as well as vision-setting (goals, roadmaps) to catalyze
action on circularity across the city

Eliminate linear incentives and set goals and incentives for circularity

Governments

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

City Stakeholders

Turku intends to be carbon neutral by 2040. In an international assessment that compared the climate goals of different cities, Turku ranked sixth. Its climate measures also led to Turku being the only city in Finland to be invited to the Cities & Regions Pavilion of the Transformative Actions Programme that was held in connection with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.Development Manager Risto Veivo says that the actions Turku has taken to reach this goal include a major restructuring of the energy system that makes it possible to efficiently utilise new sources of energy.‘Renewable energy is set to overtake fossil energy sources in the Turku region’s energy system later this year, once the multi-fuel power plant in Naantali is put into service. Renewable energy, i.e. wood chips from nearby areas, will account for roughly 40 per cent of the plant’s energy production in the start-up phase.’Energy efficiency and cleaner watersTurku has taken important steps even before this.The Kakola waste water treatment plant has brought a significant reduction in the amount of phosphorus and suspended solids that cause eutrophication in the Archipelago Sea. The plant also produces district heating and cooling in a very energy-efficient manner, and the sewage sludge is used to produce biogas.The Luolavuori pellet-fired district heating plant has reduced the use of oil in the backup and peak production of district heating.Turku Energia has also invested in solar energy, for example, in addition to expanding its ownerships in the production of wind power and renewable hydropower.  



 

 Trends in greenhouse gas emissions in Turku. Emissions in total per resident, excl. industry.Veivo counts that there are currently dozens of different climate projects underway.‘Among other things, we are boosting the energy efficiency of the city’s properties and improving their energy control. We are also working in cooperation with Sitra, for example, in order to develop the circular economy. A circular economy is a model where materials circulate and added value is created for products through services and intelligence.’Cooperation with companies also plays a key role.‘For example, companies in the Skanssi district are involved in the development of a new district heating network that will make it possible to increase the use of renewable energy sources.’The Vancouver of Finland?Turku is a member of the Climate Leadership Council (CLC). The Council wants to promote the preparedness of the Finnish business sector to respond to the threats of climate change. It also encourages companies to invest in clean technology. Today, the global market for cleantech may be as much as €2,000 billion.Jouni Keronen, Executive Director of CLC, thinks that Turku has a good chance of establishing a profile for itself as a city of a carbon neutral maritime industry.Perhaps Turku could even follow the steps of Vancouver, Canada, and become a pilot city for clean technology.‘Everyone can contribute with their choices, for example in traffic, housing and food. If the residents of Turku began taking climate actions as a large group, it would also attract interest globally. It could also bring in new innovations and investments to Turku,’ ponders Keronen.Text and image: Matti Välimäki

The city of Turku is becoming a leader in sustainable city planning. The city has already invested in various sustainability schemes, such as investing in solar energy, wind power and renewable hydropower. In addition, dozen of other climate projects are underway and Turku plans a major restructuring of the energy system that would make it possible to efficiently utilise new sources of energy.

Turku, carbon-neutral by 2040, a leader in sustainable city planning

Policy case

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

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

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

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

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

The food system nourishes populations and employs 50% of the global workforce, but:
- it currently drives a quarter of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its greenhouse gas (GHG) production, 
- animal farming alone uses over one-quarter of all land, equivalent to the size of the Americas,
- nearly a quarter of freshwater resources are lost due to rampant food waste, and
- it is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss.

A circular food system must address the whole value chain, from production to consumption to waste management. The four key solutions for the food system are:
- Put healthier, satiating foods first: Prioritise satiating and healthy foods with a lower environmental impact—ideally shifting calories from meat, fish, and dairy towards cereals, fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
- Go local, seasonal, and organic: Prioritise the production and consumption of local, seasonal, and organic produce (sometimes in combination with GMO to reduce pests and disease loss on crops), which can lead to a significantly reduced need for chemical inputs, fuels, and processing services that contribute to environmental impacts.
- Mainstream regenerative agriculture: Scale up agricultural practices that regenerate ecosystems, recirculate nutrients and sequester carbon by design. 
- End avoidable food waste: Minimise food loss and valorise waste following the food waste hierarchy along the supply chain and at the consumer level through better management of transport and storage, more refrigeration and smart planning, and technology at the consumer and food service levels.



🍏 Food Systems

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

The built environment, including housing, commercial buildings, and the necessary infrastructure for mobility, is essential for our livelihoods, but:
- the extraction of minerals used to produce construction materials is responsible for a quarter of global land use change,
- approximately 40% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to buildings’ construction, use and demolition, and
- construction and demolition processes drive nearly one-third of all material consumption. 

Making the built environment more circular must prioritise a heavy reduction in material use—while also closing the loop on materials and bringing secondary and renewable material choices to the fore. Our four key solutions for the built environment are:
- Make the most of what already exists: Make the most of existing materials by reusing, repurposing, upgrading and renovating following circular approaches. Where new builds are needed, use secondary materials and be as efficient as possible with urban planning solutions that follow circular design principles so that buildings can be reused, repurposed, and easily disassembled in the future.
- Be as energy efficient as possible: From the design phase, utilise circular strategies to create material- and energy efficient buildings. Couple these designs with a rollout of clean energy solutions, and prioritise energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting. 
- Utilise secondary materials: Maximise the high-value reuse of buildings and components where possible. Ideally, enable the utilisation of construction and demolition outputs and ensure that as much of it as possible is recycled to avoid the need for virgin materials, such as sand and gravel.
- Prioritise circular materials and approaches: Transition to using renewable wood, timber or cross-laminated timber instead of steel and concrete, or move to other locally available materials. Utilise mainstream modular construction and prioritise lightweight frames and structures to reduce cement and steel use, as well as green roofs where possible.



🏢 Built Environment

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

Thematic Areas

      A project by ICLEI and the City of Turku, Finland    
  The current linear economy relies on intensive resource extraction where the majority of materials are wasted after a single use. This generates huge amounts of emissions, destroys ecosystems and threatens the long-term availability of key resources. The Circular Turku project aims to design a regional roadmap to operationalize circularity in the Turku region with the support of local stakeholders and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and to equip local governments around the world with tools and methodologies to design their own circular transitions.      The Circular Turku project builds on four pillars:Ambition: Turku and ICLEI are elevating the level of ambition of circularity in cities by focusing on the circular transition of infrastructures, city operations and services, businesses innovations and lifestyles.Integration: Turku is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2029 and is using circular economy principles to address GHG emissions in a systemic manner. The Circular Turku project showcases how circularity supports climate action in practice. Collaboration: Turku prioritizes a bottom-up and multi-stakeholder approach to the circular economy, based on the needs and strengths of regional stakeholders. The city also collaborates with other local governments of the Green Circular Cities Coalition to ensure local efforts can be inspired by and inspire circular economy efforts elsewhere. Inclusion: Turku is working with ICLEI to ensure the actions identified as part of the roadmap are inclusive, build on community initiatives and create opportunities for all residents. This will offer tangible learnings for other local governments globally and replicable guidelines to incorporate social equity into circular economy planning.  
    Through Circular Turku, ICLEI is:Supporting the identification of circular economy interventions across 5 priority sectors (food, water, buildings and construction, energy, transport and logistics) through multi-stakeholder engagement and international knowledge transferInforming the design of residents and businesses engagement campaigns to facilitate the uptake of Circular Turku by local communitiesDeveloping a framework and advocacy strategy for Turku and peer cities to integrate circular economy interventions and considerations into its climate planning Designing a tool to embed social equity into the Circular Turku roadmap to ensure each interventions outlined in the roadmap is inclusiveIdentifying best practices and learnings from Turku for international dissemination        Report 30 July 2020 Circular Turku: A blueprint for local governments to kick start the circular economy transition      Policy brief 30 July 2020 Towards carbon-neutral circular economies at the regional level      Case Study 30 July 2020 Multi-stakeholder collaboration for a Circular Turku      Case Study 30 July 2020 Supporting circular food systems through public procurement      Case Study 30 July 2020 From extraction to resource recovery, a systemic water concept in Turku  
  ICLEI World Congress 2018      Tabs Opener  agenda practical info resources register      Agenda Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum.     
  Associate Partnership     Tabs Opener  About Rates and Dues Application Form Contact      Associate Partnership is available to non-governmental organizations, universities, state and national government agencies and not-for-profit research institutions. The purpose of Associate Partnership is to facilitate dialogues between local governments and these partners, to provide knowledge transfer in line with ICLEI's Mission and Charter, and an avenue for which partners can support ICLEI's work and mandate.       HARNESS the power of the ICLEI Network! " Governments need to give (the sense of) direction, as Business leaders we don't make the wind, we sail the boats. So policy should set the winds in the right directions if you want the boat going fast to the right harbor."  Philippe Joubert Senior Advisor, World Business Council on Sustainable Development     Click here to view a full list of our associate partners    All India Institute of Local Self Government Center for Environmental Studies Foundation Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board China Center for Urban Development (CCUD) Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission Council of Wards in Tokyo Fondation Biladi pour le Developpement Durable German Federal Association for Sustainability The Guangzhou Award ICDI - International Climate Development Institute IGOB-lnteressengemeinschaft okologische Beschaffung International Association for Medina-Mary Local Government Network-LG Net National Institute of Urban Affairs National Procurement Ltd.- Denmark Natureparif North-West University, Potchefstroom RADP - Rural Area Development Programme Selenyi Kirov Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition Taiwan Environmental Action Network TCO Development The Ideas Bank Foundation VITO-Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek Water Research Commission          


ICLEI

Turku is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2029 and is using circular economy principles to address GHG emissions in a systemic manner. The Circular Turku project showcases how circularity supports climate action in practice with priority areas in food, water, construction, energy, transport and logistics. This collaboration with ﻿ICLEI&nbsp;ensures the actions identified as part of the roadmap are inclusive, build on community initiatives and create opportunities for all residents. This will offer tangible learnings for other local governments globally and replicable guidelines to incorporate social equity into circular economy planning.

Circular Turku project

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)

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

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

Rethink the business model

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

Putting in place purchasing guidelines for procurement departments and evaluating suppliers on circular economy principles

Circular procurement

 Public Procurement

Develop circular criteria for public procurement of assets

Redesign systems to lay the foundation for circular activities and enable the transition to a circular economy 

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Rethink

Local governments can act as the first movers, and accelerate the transition towards a more circular food system through integrating circular criteria into public procurement policies for food. Purchasing decisions by local governments, -such as buying food for canteens in municipal offices and schools-, have a large economic influence in the region, and create important market demand for circular businesses and products.

Criteria within public procurement could, for example, prioritise regionally and organically produced foods, encourage the use of recyclable packaging and assess food waste prevention. Low-carbon and plant-based menus could also be developed. Used strategically, public procurement can be used to drive innovation in the sector to meet these circular demands,for example, new circular cultivation techniques and technologies, and low-impact food and packaging products.


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🍏  Circular public procurement of food products and services

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Turku has committed to decreasing lifecycle food service greenhouse gas emissions via circular procurement. To achieve this goal, the city's strategic procurement department set targets for food waste reduction and percentage of vegetarian meals served. The department also uses an emission monitoring tool to track emissions connected to its food service contracts. To contribute to the city’s carbon neutrality goal and decrease the lifecycle emissions of food services in the city group, the strategic procurement department set the following objectives:- 25 percent reduction of GHG emissions of food services by 2029- Reducing food loss from 12% to 6%- Doubling the proportion of vegetarian meals from 24% to 48%. According to the project, the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the food service industry in Turku are the production of ordinary mixed food&nbsp;and food waste.

Turku embraces circular food procurement

Producing and providing leisure and personal products and services for consumers, such as cleaning products, sports equipment and toys, personal and beauty care products, as well as domestic and personal services such as caretaking, cleaning, hairdressing and other beauty treatment, funeral and related activities

Personal Products and Services

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

Information campaigns

Includes a variety of actions (e.g. campaigns, information sharing, public events) that encourage city residents and visitors to build sustainable practices into their daily lives

Enable sustainable lifestyles

Manufactured goods, such as vehicles, textiles, appliances and equipment and their associated production processes are big employers but:
- production processes often rely on fossil fuels and currently drive one-third of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its GHG production, 
- material- and energy-intensive industrial activities are linked to deforestation and drive 15% on both the land use and freshwater planetary boundaries, 
- manufacturing goods results in substantial amounts of hazardous industrial waste and leaks chemicals into the environment.

Here, circular solutions must tackle the full value chain, but material demand must also shrink: this will necessitate a societal shift to favouring sufficiency over excess and reducing consumption to sustainable levels. Our four key solutions for manufactured goods are:
- Mainstream industrial symbiosis and efficiency : Achieve process improvements, scrap diversion and reduction in yield losses through greater industrial symbiosis and efficiency. Foster tighter collaboration within and between industries to deliver powerful material and emissions savings.
- Extend the lifetime of machinery, equipment, and goods: Maximise the lifetime of goods that serve our daily needs to bring a number of environmental benefits. 
- Buy what's needed: Reduce the number of purchases of common electronic goods, appliances, and other equipment to sufficiency levels. 
- Eschew fast fashion in favour of sustainable textiles: Drastically reduce new clothing purchases. All used clothing should go on to be repaired, reused or, if needed, recycled appropriately. Prioritise natural and local textile manufacturing, as well as higher-quality and more durable garments. 




👕📱 Consumer Goods

Communities

Redesign systems to lay the foundation for circular activities and enable the transition to a circular economy 

△Rethink

△Sustainable lifestyles

The industrial production and consumption of highly processed food products places increasing pressures on land- and water use and is a driving cause of global greenhouse gas emissions. Local governments can play an important role in encouraging residents to shift towards local, healthy, and sustainable diets that can improve the health of the planet, as well as residents. Particularly, plant-based food choices have relatively low ecological impacts. 

Some examples of how cities have supported healthy and sustainable food choices include:


Low-impact food choices

This is a survey that dives into understanding the policy environment around specific circular solutions. 

The survey is divided into five sections, based on the five key elements of the Circular Cities Action Framework. 
Each section asks 2-3 questions to explore which policies may or may not be present within your city to support a transition towards a circular economy. 

You are not alone! Each question provides some practical examples from cities around the world that have adopted a certain policy to support their transition. This can help to compare with your city - is your city doing something similar?

The survey answers should be based on your current knowledge, and not illicit additional research - ! Please make use of the Not sure option as appropriate.


Ganbatte Cities Policy Tracker [Food]

  Consumption-based emissions—the so-called indirect emissions associated with food choices, travel habits, supply chains and many more activities that keep cities running but are not directly tied to local production—are proving to be the blind spot of current mitigation efforts.
Cities eager to target consumption-based emissions should focus on the transition to sustainable lifestyles at the local level. Some cities are already working with experts and learning how to communicate efficiently about lifestyle shifts to a local audience – and there’s a lot more to learn.
For instance, at the end of last year, Turku, Yokohama and Nagano launched the 1.5-Degree Life Campaign, a global campaign that engages with youth groups to address consumption-based emissions. The campaign invites youth to creatively showcase how they lead their 1.5 degree lives in order to inspire others to also make lifestyle changes.
This campaign is inspired by the data about how much consumption-based emissions must be reduced if we are to achieve the goal laid out in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To reach that goal, per-capita lifestyles carbon footprints need to reach 2.5 (tCO2 e) by 2030, 1.4 by 2040 and 0.7 by 2050. 
As of 2017, per capita lifestyle carbon footprints were estimated to be 10.4 tCO2e in Finland and 7.6 t CO2e in Japan. With these numbers in mind, Turku, Nagano and Yokohama are aiming to use all tools at their disposal to address this challenge, starting with the 1.5-Degree Life Campaign.
In each city, youth were invited to submit videos that showcased their 1.5-degree lifestyle, the videos were shared widely across social media and finally, a winning video was selected.
“One of our main goals when starting this campaign was to showcase that there are many ways to transition to a 1.5-Degree Life. For some it is changing to use a hybrid car or to share rides, for some adding vegetables to meals and for some changing to a smaller apartment. We also wanted to showcase through videos that these lifestyle changes are not only good for our environment, they are also linked to health and well-being benefits and they can be fun!” says Lotte Suveri from the city of Turku.
Turku launched the campaign as a part of the Circular Turku project, reaching an audience of 215.000 people on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok between Oct 2020 – February 2021. 12 videos were submitted, which by the end of the campaign had combined a total of 5000 views. The final ranking of the videos was based on the “Likes” on YouTube and the assessment of a local jury, composed of representatives from the city’s climate team and Turku´s Youth Council. 
In Yokohama, the top three videos pre-selected by a jury were seen over 2000 times. “We are very pleased that many young people participated in this video competition and thank all participants for their wonderful work. Through these efforts, I would like to continue to create the opportunities for people to enjoy learning about climate change mitigation.” says Eriko Yakushiji, Director General of the Climate Change Policy Headquarters for the city of Yokohama.
In Nagano City, 161 videos were submitted and collected over 1500 views. “In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, various public awareness events continued to be impossible, but the city of Turku proposed this project as a new method of enlightening global warming countermeasures, and Nagano City decided to join. One of the major achievements of the campaign is that so many people investigated the problem of global warming and thought about counter measures. In the future, we would like to make use of the submitted works to create an opportunity for more people to be aware of the problem of global warming” says Saori Matsuda from the Environment Department of Nagano City. 
Through the Circular Turku project, the ICLEI network has been supporting the campaign and connecting it to global climate action processes such as the UN Climate Change Conference COP26, during which ICLEI will convene a group of experts to discuss the challenges linked to localizing the transition to sustainable lifestyles and lessons learned on engaging with youth groups.
Watch the winning videos from Turku, Nagano and Yokohama.  

Yokohama

Nagano

Municipality of Yokohama

City of Nagano

The three cities of Turku, Finland, and Yokohama and Nagano, Japan, launched the 1.5-Degree Life Campaign at the end of 2020. The campaign aims to work with youth groups to reduce emissions stemming from consumption. Youth are invited to make creative materials on their "1.5 degree lifestyles", aimed at encouraging others to adopt similar practices.

Turku, Yokohama and Nagano launch the 1.5-Degree Life Campaign

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

'Mobilise' sets the direction of and builds momentum towards long-term change, while also determining how this direction is determined and governed.

Mobilise

Govern the Transition

Cross-departmental collaboration and engagement

**Harmonize with nature** by promoting infrastructure, production systems and sourcing that allows natural ecosystems to thrive




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Includes measures that protect and enhance ecosystems and biodiversity both within and beyond city boundaries, as well as actions to restore degraded ecosystems.


Protect and restore local ecosystems

The city of Turku, Finland, collaborates with surrounding municipalities to protect the condition of groundwater aquifers and water availability through aquifer recharge techniques.

Cooperation for groundwater recharge in Turku

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

Generating energy from waste through processes such as anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration, etc.

Generating energy from waste

'Manage' influences the use and function of physical and material elements within the urban environment. 

Manage

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

The Kakolanmäki wastewater treatment plant in Turku features a heat pumping station. Turku Energy Ltd. uses the station to extract some of the thermal energy from the wastewater to produce heat for district heating purposes (160 GWh / year) of 15.000 households. The water that is cooled down by the pumping station is also used for district cooling (30 GWh / year, or almost all of the need in Turku city). The heat recovery system has been made particularly efficient by several investements in research and development: one unit of electrical energy used at the station produces three units of district heating and two units of district cooling. It is estimated that carbon emissions in the Turku region are 80.000 tons lower per year because of the use of the heat pump station. Moreover, the Kakolanmäki wastewater treatment plant transport sludge to the Topinoja waste treatment center in Turku where the sludge is processed using anaerobic digestion. The plant processes 50.000 tons of sludge from Kakolanmäki per year, producing 30 GWh / year used in various regional transport needs. One third of the nutrients from the digestate are used as fertilizers in agriculture and two thirds in landscaping. Nitrogen products produced from the sludge and sold to chemical industries. The sludge treatment process, it is considered CO2 negative and energy positive.