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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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Policy case

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

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

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

Rethink the business model

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

Public-private partnerships

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

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Rethink

Facilitate cross-collaboration by engaging city departments, industries and businesses on ambitious, closed-loop circular projects.

Support closed-loop systems and cross-sectoral synergies

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

As much as 90% of world energy use comes from fossil sources. Meanwhile in 2017, only 0.7% of global energy use derived from solar power and 1.9% from wind ([Statistical Review of World Energy, 2021](https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html)). Some of the highly contested issues stopping the energy transition from materialising are land requirements and high upfront investment costs. Decentralising renewable energy production through cooperatives could be a solution to both. Local renewable energy cooperatives allow the financial burden of purchasing renewable energy equipment to be spread amongst a voluntary group of people, all while relying less on new land.

Cooperatives, then, allow residents without renewable energy potential, perhaps due to lack of space or property rental restrictions, to gain the potential through others. A cooperative project, for instance, may involve a street of houses in which the participants collectively decide to install solar PV panels on the roofs of suitable participating homes, whilst all participants' equally benefit from the renewable electricity production. This enables more people to consume renewable electricity and save on costs. Furthermore, all participants have a democratic say within the decision-making of the project, unlike a traditional electricity utility contract. This type of model can also be applied for microgrids, local biogas installations, gasifiers and other projects.

Local governments can support and facilitate such initiatives. They can set up a so-called “support coalition” that can support experiments, aid cooperative agreements, mobilise resources and provide regulatory support, such as subsidising part of the energy system. Municipalities can also become cooperative members themselves, directly consuming or selling the energy produced and gaining an additional instrument to implement municipal energy policy. 

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⚡  Support local renewable energy cooperatives

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

Policy Instruments

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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

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

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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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         The city of Leuven, the AGSL (Autonomous Urban Development Company), Museum M and Zorg Leuven are making ten public roofs available to install solar panels. The city is calling on its inhabitants to become fellow investors in the project, to boost the local production of renewable energy. The project will be 100% financed by citizens through the citizen cooperatives ECoOB and Ecopower, which are responsible for financing, supplying, installing and operating the solar panels. 
The solar panels will be installed in Spring 2021, on the rooftops of the police building, community halls, a sports hall, a nursery, a museum, a library and residential care centres.
Together, these solar panels will have a total capacity of 850 kWp, generating some 740,000 kWh per year, enough to power the equivalent of over 200 households. The result will be an estimated 180-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions annually.
Citizens’ cooperatives as a partner: joint expertise
The city selected two citizen cooperatives as partners. The broad experience of the established Ecopower and ECoOB’s more local focus make for well-rounded expertise.
Ecopower is one of the ground-breaking pioneers in the renewable energy industry in Flanders, and has a habit of cooperating with local authorities and citizens on all its projects. ECoOB is a recently established cooperative from the Leuven area, looking to make a meaningful contribution to climate-neutral energy supply in the region.
                  
The city is calling on as many city residents as possible to help finance the solar panels – which represent an overall investment of €850,000. Private residents, companies and civil-society organizations can contribute towards the solar panels through the purchase of ECoOB and/or Ecopower shares. By buying shares at €250 a piece, they become co-owners of all the cooperative’s installations. Profits permitting, a dividend of up to 6% can be paid out.
What’s in it for the stakeholders?
Thanks to this direct participation system, shareholders become co-owners of the solar panels in Leuven and thus of the energy produced. They gain democratic control over their management and will have a say in the cooperative’s policies – a valuable way of contributing to the long-term vision and objectives of the energy transition. Once profits are realized, they will flow back to the local community.
“Investments in local renewable energy also benefit the local economy and residents’ prosperity. Renewable energy production is best done locally as much as possible: for example, investments in green electricity and heat have a positive impact on local businesses and the broader economy” – David Dessers, alderman of the Leuven city council.
Want to find out more about the project? Get additional information here (Dutch only)
https://www.ecopower.be/nieuws/stad-leuven-ecoob-en-ecopower-nodigen-uit-om-mee-te-investeren-in-zonnepanelen-op-10-publieke-gebouwhttps://www.ecopower.be/over-ecopower/productie-installaties/stad-leuven
https://www.ecoob.be/projecten.php#L11DAKEN
                   

Leuven

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City of Leuven

Ecopower

ECoOB

<p>Ecopower, a cooperative from Flanders, was recently chosen by the city of Leuven to help them prepare for the energy transition. The City, the AGSL (Autonomous Urban Development Company), Museum M and Zorg Leuven are making ten public roofs available to install solar panels, calling on its inhabitants to become fellow investors in the project, to boost the local production of renewable energy. The project will be 100% financed by citizens through the citizen cooperatives ECoOB and Ecopower, which are responsible for financing, supplying, installing and operating the solar panels.</p>