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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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This collection features a selection of case studies, based on the global *Circularity Gap Reports*, that can mitigate climate breakdown by reducing virgin material consumption, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The latest **[Circularity Gap Report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download)** reveals that the global economy is now only 7.2% circular and outlines how circular solutions across four sectors can bring global planetary boundaries back within safe limits. 

In the six years of the *Circularity Gap Report*, the global economy has extracted and used unprecedented amounts of materials. The first edition of the *Report *in 2018 found that global circularity was 9.1% and it has decreased every year since—leaving a Circularity Gap of over 90%. If this trend continues, we will have to find more and better solutions to combat the negative effects of climate change. This is why we have identified case studies from across the globe—based on the needs of society and planetary health—that serve as real-world examples of the circular economy in action.

Circle Economy is a not-for-profit organisation working to accelerate the circular transition. 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. With nature as our guide, we work alongside cross-sector stakeholders from academia, businesses, NGOs and governments to provide a powerful combination of practical and scalable interventions that transform circular opportunities into realities. 


To learn more about these interventions to accelerate the circular transition, read the latest [Circularity Gap Report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download), as well as previous editions of the global [Circularity Gap Reports](https://www.circularity-gap.world/global).

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Global Circularity Gap Report 2023

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Policy case

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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

Reduce Energy Consumption

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

Passenger Transport Services

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Rethink the business model

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

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

Manage

Develop infrastructure to support sustainable lifestyles

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

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Rethink

Do better with less by using and supporting infrastructure, processes and products that are designed to minimize material, water and energy use and waste generation from production to end of use


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Reduce

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

Increase efficiency and promote local economic growth by shortening supply chains and connecting local producers to consumers.


Support local low-impact circular economies

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

Communities

Governments

On average, mobility is responsible for around half of the energy that is consumed in cities (excluding industry), and with it, a large share of the greenhouse gas emissions that are generated in cities. At the same time, many mobility assets, such as private cars can remain parked for up to 92% of the day ([Ellen MacArthur Foundation](https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy-opportunity-and-benefit-factsheets)). 

A combination of shared mobility options (such as public transport, bike and car sharing) and low-carbon mobility systems (such as walking and cycling) can significantly reduce the energy demand and associated emissions of moving people and goods in cities. If implemented effectively, these solutions can reduce the overall demand for vehicles by alleviating the need for personal car ownership, and consequently also reducing the extraction of virgin materials required for the production and fuelling of private vehicles.

Local governments can make low-carbon and shared mobility options a viable and preferred alternative to private vehicle use. They can improve the availability and accessibility of electric charging infrastructure for private electric vehicles. Moreover, cities can play a role in the connection and integration of different forms of shared mobility (such as bike sharing, public transport, and car sharing) through a city-wide or national online platform. Then, to discourage private car use, parking bays can be replaced with pocket parks, parking costs can be increased (in certain parts of the city), cycling lanes can be expanded, and car free zones or congestion charges introduced.


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🚌  Low-carbon and shared mobility systems

A considerable resource footprint is taken up by our need for mobility. In particular, two resource types are used: the materials to build transport technologies and vehicles like cars, trains and airplanes; plus, predominantly, the fossil fuels burned to power them.



Mobility

- Fuel-efficient driving
- Car pooling-sharing

Saving: 1.83 Gt emissions and 1.64 Gt material use

🚗 Improve vehicle utilisation

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

Regenerate

Impacts

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Industries

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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

The framework consists of 21 complementary interventions, across six scenarios - one for each of the six societal needs we model. These interventions can mitigate climate impact by curbing GHG emissions

Note: interventions are currently focused on:
- 🏠 Housing 
- 🍎 Nutrition
- 🚗 Mobility
- 👚📺 Consumables
- 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Healthcare
-  🔊 Communication

These 21 interventions are spread across six societal needs and wants, with a set of solutions. Within these solutions are strategies on ’how to get there'.  

The framework moves beyond incremental action and provides solutions that will require behavioral change (dietary shifts towards less meat consumption, for example) and the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies in the industry to mitigate emissions in hard-to-abate sectors (such as steel manufacturing). It illustrates how continued globalisation can benefit from the uptake of digital solutions. The combined interventions showcase the mitigation potential that begins where the current country pledges end; illustrating the additional impact our interventions can bring to the NDCs. In short, the interventions provide input for a more profound fundamental transformation than the more current pathways that make up the vast majority of NDCs. 

Together, the combined interventions can almost double the current global Circularity Metric of 8.6%, bringing it to 17%. 

This results in:
• Shrinking global material use and extraction by 28%. 
• Cutting global GHG emissions by 39%—fully closing the Emissions Gap as defined in our report and taking into account the updated NDCs.
• Allowing the world to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping at 1.5-degrees of warming by 2032.

*This framework was developed in the Circularity Gap Report 2021. Read more about it [here](https://www.circle-economy.com/resources/circularity-gap-report-2021)*






Global Circularity Gap Report

An intervention-based framework for nations and stakeholders working towards circular countries

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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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   © Annamarie Rizzello   Ghent aims at realizing more green areas in response to climate change and actively seeks citizen involvement to achieve this. This is in line with the city being very social and creative with many citizens actively developing bottom-up initiatives. Many of these small scale projects however have difficulty developing into a successful project through the available financing mechanisms. Therefore, Ghent has developed a crowdfunding platform that allows citizens to propose and finance their ideas for the city.
Today, two projects addressing climate adaptation have been successfully realized with support of the crowdfunding.gent platform; one project encouraging urban farming and the other realising edible streets. The projects might seem small when it comes to addressing climate change challenges. However, the crowdfunding platform is found to be an excellent instrument to realise small ‘drops’ of climate adaptation measures that have the opportunity to generate larger ripple effects.   Ghent, like many cities in North West Europe, is faced with the impacts of climate change. The city is experiencing negative effects due to excessive rainfall and rising temperatures. The average temperature in Belgium has increased with 2.2 °C since the pre-industrial period (source: city of Ghent website). The average number of heatwaves in Belgium has increased from once every 3 years to once a year. The city of Ghent itself is experiencing problems with heat-stress. A study on the urban heat-island effects in Ghent has demonstrated that additional green areas can help in addressing these effects (source: Maiheu et al., 2013). The city is therefore actively developing policies to enhance its number of green areas. Examples of measures that are especially encouraged are green roofs and urban trees.
To realise these measures Ghent is looking for opportunities to actively involve its citizens. Ghent is a very social and creative city where citizens are actively involved in developing bottom-up initiatives. However, many of these projects have difficulty developing into a successful project due to a lack in financial means and know-how. While both the city and society have funds available, the challenge is to make these funds accessible for small scale projects. Mainstream funding mechanisms, such as subsidies or tax incentives, is less suitable for these types of projects due to the required knowledge and conditions involved. At the same time the city wants to stimulate co-creation partnerships rather than fully funding the initiatives. In addition, the city wants to ensure that the initiatives that do receive funding are supported by the community. The challenge for the City of Ghent lies therefore in developing an instrument through which small scale initiatives can be financed, while keeping it accessible and offering the opportunity to involve multiple stakeholders. The city of Ghent has set out to develop a policy instrument to support the facilitation of co-creation, including its application for climate change adaptation. The instrument should be able to generate wider (financial) impact compared to subsidies or tax-incentives. Co-creation entails the involvement of multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders should have the opportunity to either contribute financially, through volunteer time or advertising the project. All these elements are crucial to a project’s success. The objective for the city of Ghent is therefore to develop an instrument that allows for the identification of ideas from the community as well as contributing to their realisation.  Adaptation Options Implemented In This Case  The city of Ghent developed a crowdfunding platform that allows citizens to share their ideas and raise the necessary funds to realize them. Ideas can vary and include the increase of the city’s adaptation capacity. The person submitting an idea becomes a ‘project initiator’. This person needs to provide a short description and a funding goal for the project. People who provide financial backing to a project are known as ‘supporters’. Their minimum donation is €5. The donated amount per idea is viewed as an indicator of community support; only the projects with sufficient community support will become financially viable. The focus of crowdfunding.gent is on projects with a societal benefit, which sets the platform apart from other crowdfunding platforms. The platform was launched on March 16th in 2015.
Projects can be published on the platform through a straightforward process. Each citizen of Gent or person with an idea located in Ghent can submit a project by completing the crowdfunding.gent application form. The project becomes visible on the platform once it is approved by the platform manager, who is appointed by the city. He checks whether the project proposal meets a set of pre-defined requirements. Examples are “The project makes a positive contribution to the city or one of its neighbourhoods” and “The project must transcend individual interests”. The platform manager can provide feedback to applicants on how to enhance their project’s chance of success. The project is published once the applicant has made the necessary modifications. From this moment supporters can donate to the projects during a pre-defined period of time. Projects receive their collected donations within one month after the funding deadline as long as the amount is higher than €20. It is not a requirement to meet the pre-funding goal as past experience has demonstrated these projects can still be successfully implemented with a few amendments. In case of any modifications, the applicant is required to communicate to the supporters how their money will be spent.
Crowdfunding.gent additionally offers initiators the opportunity to apply for a municipal subsidy of the project. The city has provided a fund of €55.000 per year specifically assigned to the crowdfunding platform. The request for municipal funding needs to be indicated in the original application form. Initiators can choose to apply for 25, 50 or 75% of municipal funding. To be eligible for funding, the pre-defined amount of co-funding needs to be raised. For example, a project that has applied for 50% of municipal funding with a funding goal of €1000 needs to raise at least €500 in donations by supporters. This condition is a means for the city to ensure that the project has sufficient community support. Whether or not a request is honoured is decided by an independent jury consisting of local experts. Per project the maximum amount of municipal subsidy that can be obtained is €5.000. The amount of municipal funding is at all times based on the pre-defined funding goal.
So far two initiatives that have been submitted through the crowdfunding platform can be considered contributions to the city’s climate adaptation goals. These projects focus on sustainable food production and enhancing green areas. The first project “Lekker dichtbij!” establishes mini-gardens on balconies of social housing. Through urban farming more green areas are created contributing to mitigate extreme temperatures in urban areas. In addition, local food production reduces the need for long-distance transportation and therefore prevents an exhaust of carbon dioxide emissions. Urban farming also often requires less intensive agriculture as the farming is carried out on a smaller scale. In addition, Lekker dichtbij! enhanced social integration by stimulating cooperation between the residents from various cultural backgrounds. The project was successful in raising the pre-defined funding goal.
Another project, “the Edible Street”, set-out to transform the traditional stone facades into vertical gardens to create additional green areas while stimulating local food production. Similar to the “Lekker dichtbij!” project, it contributes to the enhancement of green areas and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Although this project was not successful in raising the complete pre-defined funding goal, it was successfully implemented by scaling down the project. Instead of placing 100 planters in 5 streets, 88 planters were placed in 3 streets.
The small scale of the crowdfunding projects evidently only has limited impact in the context of addressing climate change adaptation. Indeed, these types of projects can mainly be seen as successes for the city’s ambition to realise more co-creation with citizens. Certainly, the crowdfunding platform seems an excellent way to realise small ‘drops’ in the context of climate adaptation that can generate larger ripple effects. Relevance  Case mainly developed and implemented because of other policy objectives, but with significant consideration of CCA aspects  Additional Details  Crowdfunding.gent was developed by the City of Ghent with the support of an existing crowdfunding platform developer. No other stakeholders were involved in the development phase of the process. The citizens of Ghent and private investors are considered end-users of the platform. They can participate as either initiator of a project or end-user. The City of Ghent has appointed one policy officer to manage the platform. The city’s platform manager functions as the person to connect to the end-users. He reviews the project applications, takes care of communication with the citizens and manages the contact with the platform developer. His activities do not include financial transactions or platform maintenance activities. Maintenance activities are carried out by the platform developer. With regard to the municipal subsidies, the city has appointed a jury of local experts. The final decision on the composition of this jury is taken by the City Council.
The platform mainly targets an online audience due to its set-up. However, ‘offline’ citizens do have the opportunity to reach the platform manager by phone or mail. He is available to fill-out the application form with them in person. A variety of communication channels have been utilized by City of Ghent to inform the citizens about the platform. These include flyers, the city’s official social media accounts and an article in the city magazine.   The crowdfunding platform has been successful in identifying ideas that are less suitable to be financed by subsidies. Reasons for this ineligibility can be the small amount of requested budget or a mismatch with the requirements or objective of existing subsidies. To ensure the maximum output, the city of Ghent did not define specific criteria that the projects need to meet. They rather focused on defining the types of projects they would not support. These definitions were then translated to a set of minimum conditions that the projects need to meet to be included on the platform. For example projects with a commercial aim or with an explicit religious, philosophical or political nature are not eligible for funding. Each application is manually reviewed by a policy officer to ensure the projects meet these requirements prior to publication.
The fact that the crowdfunded projects have the potential to create larger ripple effect is demonstrated by ‘the Edible Street’ project. The implementation of this project was quickly followed by a similar project in Kortrijk; Groene Straat (Green Street). This initiative finances the realisation of planters and other forms of ‘vertical green’ by offering bulk purchasing. The initiator based the project on a quick assessment of the core elements of the Ghent project that would allow a scaling-up of the project to a city level. The Groene Straat website describes 22 projects where additional (edible) green has been realised. Another project that followed the Ghent example is ‘Groenselare’ in the city of Roeselare, which started providing information to citizens on ways to create green facades after the city was named the most ‘grey’ cities of Flanders in 2014.
A limiting factor of this type of instrument is financial resources needed to build and maintain the platform. In addition sufficient man hours need to be made available for a city staff member to manage the content of the platform. Currently the City of Ghent has assigned one part-time platform manager. The platform is considered successful if 1 out of 3 projects reach their pre-defined funding goal. A 100% success rate would not be realistic as several success factors are beyond control of the city. For example, the project initiator is not necessarily an experienced project manager. In addition, it is difficult for the city to control the policy topics that the project proposals on the crowdfunding platform address. For example, more cultural than environmental projects were proposed in the first year of crowdfunding.gent. The use of crowdfunding as a policy instrument implies acceptance of the fact that the exact outcome cannot be controlled. On the other hand it offers a great opportunity to enhance innovation, cooperation and solidarity in a city.   The first year (2015) of the crowdfunding.gent platform has been successful in generating total revenue of €70.000. Of the total number of projects, 80% raised enough funding for implementation. So far 2 projects received an additional municipal subsidy. This subsidy amounted to a total of €1.480. The development of the platform involved both fixed and regular costs. Both costs have been covered by the city of Ghent. The costs were lower than the first year revenue collected by the crowdfunding projects. The specific IT-know-how necessary for the development and maintenance of a crowdfunding platform required the involvement of an external party. Next to the fixed costs, the city needs an internal project manager who can act as the central contact point on behalf of the city. This policy officer needs to be continuously involved in the project on at least a part-time basis in order for the project to run smoothly.
Private investors can become eligible to fiscal benefits when supporting a project of their choice. Organisations, such as companies, foundations, associations, are able to make a direct deposit onto the account of the project. This allows them to bring the expenses in as their tax deduction in a similar fashion as non-crowdfunding donations. A "regular" donation to a crowdfunding campaign is run through a platform account and therefore is not eligible for tax deductions.
The city of Ghent provides €55.000/year in funds to co-finance non-profit projects that achieve their funding goal through the crowdfunding platform. A jury of local experts takes the final decision on whether a project receives funding. The maximum amount of funding that can be assigned per project is €5.000. Projects that have successfully raised their pre-defined funding goal are still eligible for additional funding. An example is the project ‘Lekker dichtbij!’ This project ran for several weeks; it submitted its application in the spring of 2015, reached its funding deadline on June 14, 2015 and was implemented on June 19th, 2015. The project set €735 as its funding goal, but during the funding period it exceeded this amount by raising €822. The city of Ghent then co-financed the project for an additional €480. Even though the opportunity of additional public funding is offered, it does not seem to be an important motivator for project initiators to submit an application. In the first year of the crowdfunding platform only 2 projects applied for and received additional funding. Other benefits, such as publicity through the publication of the project on the platform, seem to be a more decisive factor in the consideration whether or not to submit an application.  Legal Aspects The system of the crowdfunding platform is set-up in a way that it runs financially independent from the city. The city of Ghent has hired an external contractor to develop and maintain the platform. All transactions concerning the donations are handled by this external developer. The municipal fund of €55.000 (per year) is handled by the external contractor to ensure that it runs smoothly. The decision on whether to assign additional funding is taken by an independent jury of local experts. Project initiators who have been granted additional funding need to meet a set of requirements with regard to justification of the money spent. Within 2 months and 1 year of the end of a project, the responsible for the project needs to submit 3 types of documents. These include invoices of relevant items, a report that demonstrates the funding was used for the agreed purpose and an overview of revenues and expenses of the project. In addition, the city has the right to check at the project implementation site whether the funding is spent appropriately. In case the funding is found to be misused, the city can place sanctions on the project responsible. These sanctions include a recovery of the assigned amount of funding or even to exempt the beneficiary of the funding from receiving any funding in the future. The detailed conditions are laid down in the ‘Subsidiereglement voor het cofinancieren van non-profit crowdfundingprojecten “Wijs van Gent”’ (or: Subsidy scheme for funding non-profit crowdfunding projects "Crazy about Ghent"), which is publicly accessible on the crowdfunding.gent website.  Implementation Time The necessary regulation to realise crowdfunding.gent was implemented on April 1st, 2015. It is evaluated every 2 years. The project “Lekker Dichtbij” submitted its application to the crowdfunding.gent platform in the spring of 2015. The funding deadline was reached at June 14, 2015. The project was implemented on June 19th, 2015. The project ‘The edible street’” reached its funding deadline around the same time. The first “planter-placement-day” was already held in May 2015, before the end of the funding deadline. The money that was raised through the platform was later used to reimburse the participants.  Life Time Crowdfunding.gent was launched in 2015 and will run at least till 2019. Reference Information Jelle MonstreyProject officer crowdfunding GentPolicy Participation officeCity of GhentStadhuis, Botermarkt 1, 9000 Gent (for correspondence only)Tel.: +32 (0)9 266 84 34E-mail: Jelle.Monstrey@stad.gent
Generic e-mail: info@crowdfunding.gent  Ghent crowdfunding platform  Please contact us for any other enquiry on this Case Study or to share a new Case Study (email climate.adapt@eea.europa.eu) 

Bremen

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Bremen’s Senate Department for Environment, Construction and Transport

<p>In 2013, after an initial pilot period, Bremen’s Senate Department for Environment, Construction and Transport managed to reduce its CO2 emissions from business-related travel, while also lowering costs by replacing its own fleet of vehicles with membership to a local car-sharing service. The CO2 emissions of the car-sharing fleet are much lower than the city’s fleet average.</p>