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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

Scalability

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

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)

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

Transportation and Logistics

Societal Services

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


Construction and Infrastructure

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

Use waste as a resource

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

 Public Procurement

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

Businesses

Governments

Globally, 13% of global resources consumed relate to mobility. This includes transport infrastructure, from roads, to rail, to cycle routes ([Ellen MacArthur Foundation](https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy-opportunity-and-benefit-factsheets)). Virgin materials sourced to build mobility infrastructure often include cement and asphalt, which are responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions (cement—a constituent component of concrete—is responsible for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions) ([BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46455844)). 

The materials that are required for the construction of transport infrastructure can be sourced from residual materials, to offset the demand for virgin resources. Construction techniques that utilise residual material are often less intensive in relation to greenhouse gas emissions, and can help to lower the material footprint of mobility infrastructure. A range of residual materials can be used within mobility infrastructure. These can come from conventional materials, such as cycled concrete and other stones and aggregate. As well as other residual materials such as plastics and rubber from end of life tyres. 

Local governments can support the cycling of materials for mobility infrastructure by mandating a certain proportion of recycled material input in tenders for new developments or renovations of existing infrastructure. For example, criteria could stipulate that all residual materials within renovations must be cycled back into the project, for example as aggregate. Alternatively, criteria could stipulate a minimum proportion of material inputs from cycled sources, or ban the landfilling of certain residual materials. Collaboration and engagement with local businesses can help local governments to identify the most appropriate criteria that the local market is able to satisfy, and support the most effective transition towards a more circular economy. 


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🚌  Cycled materials for mobility infrastructure

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

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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 More than 50 domestic cities will follow Shanghai’s initiative to develop 15-minute community life circles for local residents. The concept implies that within a 15-minute walk, residents can have access to various services related to living, working, studying, traveling and elderly care. The 52 cities, mainly municipalities and provincial capitals, have signed the “Shanghai Initiative” that was released at the closing ceremony of Shanghai’s biennial urban space art season. “We propose to launch the ‘15-minute community life circle’ campaign to enhance the quality of the cities and provide more Chinese practices and wisdom on urban sustainable development to the world,” the initiative said. Representatives from some of the cities, including northern Tianjin Municipality, Nanjing in neighboring Jiangsu Province, Hangzhou in neighboring Zhejiang Province, Hefei in neighboring Anhui Province, Wuhan in central Hubei Province and Chengdu in southwest Sichuan Province, jointly released the initiative with local government officials. “The concept of the community life circle has become known to more people through the two-month art season,” said Li Feng, a Ministry of Natural Resources official. “An increasing number of cities are participating in the campaign,” Li said in a video speech for the closing ceremony of the urban space art season in Putuo District. The Shanghai Urban Space Art Season 2021, the third since it was initiated in 2015, held over 500 academic seminars, workshops, community tours, performances and education sessions between September 25 and November 30. More than 20 local model communities, such as Xinhua in Changning District and Caoyang in Putuo, unveiled exhibitions on the theme of “15-Minute Community Life Circle: People’s City.” Shanghai initiated the idea to build a “15-minute community life circle” in 2014 and included the concept in its master plan for 2035. 

Hamburg

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Municipality of Hamburg

Hamburg prescribes the use of a minimum 35% white aggregates in order to brighten road surfaces and to have a colder, deformation resistant road surface in summer. The high cost of these aggregate materials increased the incentive to recycle more than just base courses. A more careful consideration of the whole process of asphalt production was also triggered by recent dramatic increases in bitumen prices. The City allowed a group of private companies, who originally came up with the full recycling technology, to test its use on public roads owned by the City State. After the quality was then tested by Hamburg’s road construction authority, the City was reassured about the use of the 100% recycling process. Having renovated two other roads using this technique, a restricted tender procedure was conducted, with five companies invited to bid. The process described in this example is considered to be very innovative and other German cities have already voiced interest in doing the same or have already built similar roads. In the future, the City of Hamburg intends to issue open tenders, rather than using restricted tenders for similar works.&nbsp;

Recycled asphalt used for road resurfacing in Hamburg

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This collection features a selection of case studies, mainly based on the [2024 Circularity Gap Report](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2024). 

In this year’s Report, we shift from exploring the what to the how: exploring the different ways that we need to ‘change the rules of the game’ and create a set of conditions that discourage the overshoot of planetary boundaries and ‘undershoot’ of human development. This process has resulted in us spotlighting 12 of the original 16 solutions, highlighting the country profile that they are most relevant to, as well as placing people at the centre of this story for the first time. Based on extensive interviews and desk research, this Report aims to show governments and industry leaders that if they want to turn theory into action and scale an economy that delivers on needs within the safe limits of the planet, they need to dismantle harmful entrenched processes and align enabling elements. 

[Circle Economy](https://www.circle-economy.com/) is a global impact organisation with an international team of passionate experts based in Amsterdam. We empower industries, cities, and nations with practical and scalable solutions to put the circular economy into action. Our vision is an economic system that ensures the planet and all people can thrive. To avoid climate breakdown, our goal is to double global circularity by 2032. 

Through the *Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative*, our mission is to deliver an annual global Circularity Metric that measures the state of the world economy and identifies key levers to transition to global circularity. 

To learn more about these interventions to accelerate the circular transition, read the [latest Circularity Gap Report 2024](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2024), as well as previous editions of the global [Circularity Gap Reports](https://www.circularity-gap.world/global).

Global Circularity Gap Report 2024

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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 social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

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

Reduce Energy Consumption

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Regenerative energy

Enacting measures that optimise energy use

Energy efficiency

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

Manage

Infrastructure

Develop regenerative infrastructure

These countries are home to around a quarter of the global population, yet consume over one-third (34%) of raw materials. Shift countries’ material footprint per capita is 4.6 times that of Build countries (largely due to the overconsumption of consumer goods imported from Grow counties) and 1.6 times that of Grow countries.

These are high-income countries in the Global North, as well as in the Gulf, Australia, and Oceania. Examples include:
- Member States of the EU
- the US
- Japan
- the UK
- Canada
- Argentina, ...

While much of their infrastructure is already built, they still contribute heavily to the overshoot of planetary boundaries: they contribute 42% of climate change, 27% of nitrogen, 18% of phosphorus, 16% of freshwater use and 38% 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.  


Shift

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

**Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable**

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The pandemic has caused major shifts in migration patterns, including huge movements of people in and out of urban areas. Furthermore, climate change and conflicts tend to have disproportionate impacts on cities. These factors mean that the world is far from achieving the goal of sustainable cities.  
In many developing countries, slum populations have been growing, putting at risk the target of adequate housing for all by 2030. Since 2015, the number of countries with national disaster risk reduction strategies has more than doubled. 

Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, and social, human and economic development. Urban planning, transport systems, water, sanitation, waste management, disaster risk reduction, access to information, education and capacity-building are all relevant issues to sustainable urban development.

This target entails multiple essential concepts such as disaster risk reduction (DRR) and sustainable transport.

To achieve SDG 11, efforts must focus on strengthening capacities for planning for urban development, improving access to public transportation, and enhancing waste management. 

Sources: [https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11)
[https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-cities-and-human-settlements](https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-cities-and-human-settlements)


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11. Sustainable cities and communities

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

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

Based on extensive interviews and desk research, this Report aims to show governments and industry leaders that if they want to turn theory into action and scale an economy that delivers on needs within the safe limits of the planet, they need to dismantle harmful entrenched processes and align enabling elements - policy, finance, and people 

- Create a level of policy playing field: Set the ‘rules of the game’ through policies and legal frameworks that incentivise sustainable and circular practices while penalising harmful ones, thereby shaping the nature and scale of economic activities across industries and nations. 



Policy

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

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.

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**These 17 Goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.**

The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, and especially on the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York which let to the elaboration of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.

In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed. A major blueprint came out of this: The Sustainable Development Goals: 17 overarching goals—and 169 targets—that governments are aiming to meet by 2030. Significant progress has been made in terms of poverty, health and inequality, but there's still a way to go. This is where the circular economy comes in: by circulating resources multiple times, the circular economy tackles issues of scarcity and allows all to access what they need—without overburdening the earth. If it's implemented in a holistic way—affording attention to social considerations and the fair distribution of resources— it also offers a pathway for achieving the SDGs; and the link between the two is ever-growing. To read more about the link between the SDGs and the circular economy, click [here](https://www.circle-economy.com/blogs/how-the-circular-economy-can-help-us-reach-the-sustainable-development-goals).

It is the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) which provides substantive support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues. TheDSDG plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and in advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs. In order to make the 2030 Agenda a reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the global goals. DSDG aims to help facilitate this engagement.
Alongside this, the annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs.
In addition, the UN Secretary-General presents an annual SDG Progress report, which is developed in cooperation with the UN System, and based on the global indicator framework and data produced by national statistical systems and information collected at the regional level.

To read more information: [https://sdgs.un.org/goals](https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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In the 2024 Report, we shift from exploring the what to the how: exploring the different ways that we need to ‘change the rules of the game’ and create a set of conditions that discourage the overshoot of planetary boundaries and ‘undershoot’ of human development. 

This process has resulted in us spotlighting 12 of the original 16 solutions, highlighting the country profile that they are most relevant to, as well as placing people at the center of this story for the first time. 


Based on extensive interviews and desk research, this Report aims to show governments and industry leaders that if they want to turn theory into action and scale an economy that delivers on needs within the safe limits of the planet, they need to dismantle harmful entrenched processes and align enabling elements:

- Create a level policy playing field: Set the ‘rules of the game’ through policies and legal frameworks that incentivise sustainable and circular practices while penalising harmful ones, thereby shaping the nature and scale of economic activities across industries and nations. 

- Get the economics right: Adjust fiscal policies and practices to create true prices and ensure that circular solutions are funded so that they can replace linear norms.

- Build circular expertise and skills: Ensure people are skilled and trained to ensure a just transition where opportunities and decent livelihoods are fairly distributed across and within societies.

Enabling factors

  The Moringa project in Hamburg's HafenCity will not only be the city’s healthiest high-rise building, but also the first Cradle to Cradle residential building in Germany. Together, Drees & Sommer and EPEA GmbH experts are providing a wide range of services for the landmark project.
Moringa is being developed as a pilot project by Landmarken AG, a leading project developer, in partnership with the architectural firm kadawittfeldarchitektur. One of the special features of the residential tower is that at least 50 percent of the building should consist of recyclable materials. All other building products are also tested and optimized for their sustainability and impact on health and the environment. In addition, the planning provides for as many green spaces on and around the building as the property will cover when the land is built on. These areas will provide clean air and transform the building into a green oasis.         
    The project also focuses on social aspects in addition to the ecological factors. This is because subsidized housing construction makes up around 30 percent of the apartments being built. In this way, Moringa brings together sustainable construction and affordable living in a unique way. The diverse mix of apartments is complemented by co-working space, food and beverage outlets and a children’s day-care center. The building comprises a total of just over 20,000 square meters of gross floor area.  

In various areas HafenCity is making big contributions to sustainabilityHalting global warming, protecting biodiversity and tackling a host of other ecological challenges will only succeed if households and companies are in a position to shape lifestyles and commercial patterns in a sustainable way by creating suitable economic parameters and appropriate infrastructure. The development of cities is of particular importance in this context, as 77 percent of the population living in Germany is concentrated in conurbations. Since a large part of our cities has already been built and the existing stock can only adapt gradually, the importance of neighborhoods that are at the planning stage or under construction is that much higher.It is not only urban development and infrastructure that contribute to the sustainability of HafenCity, but also each individual building. The financial amount of approximately €10 billion invested by developers alone, as opposed to approximately €3 billion spent by the public sector, demonstrates the crucial importance of the properties being built in terms of the ecological quality of the district, but also its social and cultural quality. Since an intelligent, advance purchase strategy for existing properties meant most of the land in the HafenCity area was owned by the city at the start of development, it has since been possible to use the allocation of land to developers as a central control mechanism via the process for awarding planning options and via concept tenders. This approach provides, among other things, for high architectural quality in HafenCity, street level space for retail and cultural uses, diversified housing offers with price differentiation, communal areas and the financial costs of neighborhood management. In the following, the focus will be on environmental sustainability aspects. These include the high building standard of the HafenCity Ecolabel in use since 2007, pilot projects that go beyond it, the building certificate launched June 2023, the DGNB special award Ecolabel, sustainable heating supply, and the smart mobility concept.The buildings certified with the HafenCity Ecolabel are models and pioneers of the transformation to sustainable building. They are setting standards and today are already providing answers to important future issues. The sustainable buildings have, for example, lower operating and maintenance costs due to their high energy efficiency and thus offer advantages when it comes to renting and selling. Certification makes these advantages visible for all players, i.e. owners, tenants and users.Since 2007, HafenCity Hamburg GmbH has been awarding an independent certificate for sustainable building, the HafenCity Ecolabel. Certification was made a condition for the award of planning options on building plots in 2010, and since 2017, with Version 3.0 of the Ecolabel, the highest platinum standard has been obligatory for all new buildings in HafenCity. Thus HafenCity Hamburg GmbH was a very early supporter of the development of innovative, climate-friendly building solutions. Hence it has played a key role in anchoring sustainability ideas in the real estate industry and raising sustainability standards to an ever-higher level.Over the years HafenCity has become a test bed for sustainable building. From a timber-built high-rise to the zero-emissions house, many forward-looking projects are bringing new methods and materials into construction practice and thus generating important impetus in the whole real estate sector. Based on the sustainability requirements of the HafenCity Ecolabel that apply to all projects, many of the flagship projects aim to focus more on a life-cycle approach and concentrate on reducing gray energy. Emitted during a building’s construction, this gray energy comprises the energy expended for material extraction, the manufacture of components, the transport of machines, components and materials to the construction site, and their incorporation. The use of regenerative raw materials such as timber and clay, carbon-reduced steel, recycled building materials and modular or reduced-concrete construction methods all contribute to reducing gray energy. Documentation of the materials used and their separability during deconstruction makes it easier for the materials of the new buildings themselves to be recycled and reused later. Additionally, elements such as photovoltaic systems and new options for digital energy metering have a positive impact on economical building operation. Greened roofs and facades are also increasing being used, making an important contribution to the microclimate and biodiversity in HafenCity. Flagship projects in HafenCity provide tangible best practice examples and thus play a pioneering role when it comes to a comprehensive understanding of sustainability in urban development.This success story is being continued with the building certification jointly developed by HafenCity Hamburg GmbH and DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council) and launched June 2023. The DGNB special award Ecolabel was designed specifically for the four inner-city zones of HafenCity, Billebogen, Grasbrook and Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld and gathers together the sustainability requirements for new projects in the areas developed by HafenCity Hamburg GmbH and its subsidiaries. The special award picks up on central aspects of the previous independently-run HafenCity Ecolabel and incorporates them into the DGNB System.The DGNB special award Ecolabel enables building owners and developers to benefit from the advantages of the established DGNB System in its 2023 version within the location-specific award. Through an integrated verification process based on the criteria of the DGNB System, building owners and developers receive regular DGNB certification in addition to the special award, without any additional effort or costs. They not only benefit from a streamlined process that enables them to fall back on a large pool of skilled expert advisers coupled with established methodological and documentation standards, they also receive an internationally recognized, ambitious certificate that is compatible with national and international funding schemes and regulations such as BEG (federal funding for efficient buildings) or ESG verification within the EU Taxonomy.The thematic focus of the DGNB special award Ecolabel is on the ecological aspects of building certification. Accordingly, it primarily addresses the active contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation through the promotion of biodiversity, compatible microclimates and energy generation from renewable sources close to the building, as well as the avoidance of carbon emissions during building construction and operation. A further focus is on conservation of resources and circularity with regard to energy, water, and building materials achieved by circular construction methods. In addition, barrier-free accessibility and socially and environmentally compatible mobility lie at the heart of the special award.So that the high energy requirements for the buildings can also be met in terms of infrastructure, all the buildings in HafenCity must be connected to two district heating networks operated by private network operators. In western HafenCity, this is the Hamburg district heating network operated by Vattenfall, which is supplemented in HafenCity by solar thermal power (1,800 m² of solar thermal systems are installed on rooftops in western neighborhoods, providing 40 percent of hot water requirements there), as well as other CO2-reducing generating plants (such as the steam turbine in the HafenCity heating plant). Since 2002, this has enabled an efficient energy mix that, with CO2 emissions of 175 g/kWh, clearly outperforms the conventional environmental standards-compliant natural gas-based heat supply whose CO2 emissions average 240 g/kWh. Thanks to its decentral, modular local heating supply network, eastern HafenCity can boast contractually guaranteed CO2 emission rates of only 70 g/kWh. Actual CO2 emission rates are considerably lower, at approx. 35 g/kWh under current plans. The concept is characterized largely by the use of emission-free industrial waste heat and renewable energy. The proportion of waste heat in consumption is around 90%. A modern combined heat and power plant in Oberhafen, operated with balanced biomethane, covers part of the remaining heat demand in efficient cogeneration - only the peak load is generated by conventional gas-fired boilers. Industrial waste heat comes from the nearby Aurubis copper refinery, where excess heat from gas scrubbing is now no longer discharged unused into the Elbe. A further energy center at Peute with buffer storage tanks and boilers ensures that the highly fluctuating waste heat can be drawn down evenly and securely. The primary energy factor is 0.17. In eastern HafenCity alone, this will save around 12,000 metric tons of CO2 per year compared with a natural gas-based heat supply when complete.HafenCity’s mobility concept prioritizes walking, cycling and public transport (subway, rapid transit, buses and ferries) not only for ecological reasons but also to enhance the quality of the urban environment. This also includes the goal of substantially reducing car ownership in HafenCity. Firstly, this will reduce the construction costs of large underground garages and the need for parking spaces in public areas. Secondly, people who for various reasons are dependent on a car and own one will then use it for the vast majority of journeys. Since owning a private car entails high fixed costs, the distances traveled in the city do not have a significant cost impact. The purchase of a ticket, on the other hand, is perceived as an additional cost.The smart mobility concept for eastern HafenCity therefore aims to enable residents and workers to dispense with a private vehicle and weigh up the options of cycling, public transport and car sharing according to the situation. In the underground garages of the private buildings, a cross-district station-based car sharing system is being set up as a dependable service for all residents and workers under the terms of the individual property purchase agreements. The system contributes to reducing both moving and stationary car traffic as well as improving the amenity value of public areas through reducing CO2 emissions and noise pollution.Surrounded by water and park, Strandkai offers spectacular views over the port, HafenCity and the Elbe. The world’s largest cruise ships sail right past the office buildings.They include such prominent structures as Marco Polo Tower and the Unilever building. At the tip of the quay, prime residential locations are being builtCentral innovation theme of tomorrow’s city

HafenCity, a former industrial brownfield site turned inclusive ‘city-within-a-city’ is a model for sustainable development.

HafenCity Hamburg: A Paradigm of Sustainable Urban Regeneration and Inclusive Development

The Parliamentary Paper on green procurement is a 150-page catalogue of
criteria that defines ecological standards for purchasing products and
awarding contracts – for goods such as printer paper, light bulbs, cleaning
agents, wall paint and even company cars. Green public procurement principles
are included in the City's overarching procurement policy, which includes
procurement of recycled asphalt for road surfacing.



Green Procurement Guidelines

The Hamburg Ministry for Environment and Energy is providing financial support
for the creation of green roofs to the sum of € 3 million until the end of
2019. Building owners can receive subsidies to cover up to 60% of installation
costs.



Green Roof Strategy

Hamburg has announced a plan to implement a citywide network of green spaces
by 2030, linking the city’s outer ring with its dynamic centre through a
series of walking- and cycling-friendly regenerated habitats. The changes are
envisaged to be far more than aesthetic; such a widespread network of green
spaces would allow Hamburg to better address impacts of climate change. The
green network could at once provide flood mitigation for vulnerable spaces
around Hamburg’s vital ports, reduce urban heat island effects, improve air
quality, and provide manifold public health benefits associated with urban
greenery.

