Luxembourg launches ‘Circularity Dataset Initiative’

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European Circle Economy Stakeholder Platform

Policy case

Impact on increased knowledge and understanding as a result of the case study

Increase Awareness

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Efficiency gains on operations or transactions either through cultural or technological shifts

Productivity

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Scalability

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Operating networks and software that enable the exchange and broadcasting of information, such as entertainment and internet software, television, cable, satellite or radio broadcasting systems, and cellular, wireless and/or fixed-line telecommunications services

Software and Communications

Providing various support services for businesses and governments, such as research, testing, certification and consulting services, cleaning and maintenance services, security and protection services, legal, accounting and bookkeeping services, information management, data processing, and business process outsourcing services

Research & Commercial Services

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

Use digital, online platforms and technologies that provide insights to track and optimise resource use, strengthen connections between supply chain actors, and enable the implementation of circular models



Incorporate digital technology

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

Industry collaboration

Engage and guide customers and consumers to ensure circular use of products

Customer / consumer collaboration

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Employ technologies to gather and analyse data to provide insights on resource use

Data and insights

Engaging in discussions with government bodies and policymakers to push for regulations that support the circular economy

Advocacy for circular economy policy

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

The Value Chain opportunity space covers the activities of businesses across the whole value chain in the creation of a circular city that aids circular consumption. Municipalities create enabling conditions for businesses to offer circular products and services, and can become familiar with the range of solutions available to businesses that will encourage circular consumption and production in their locale. 

VALUE CHAINS

Solidify definitions and create frameworks to support the understanding of the circular economy across contexts and maintain cohesive systems of data sharing, processing and storing.


 Knowledge Management

Data, knowledge & information sharing

Increase standardised data collection

Monitoring & enforcement

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

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

Urban Opportunities

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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 Circularity Dataset Initiative's aim is to develop an industry standard at European level that provides a regulated framework for circular data on products throughout the whole value chain, from raw materials to finished products, from the use phase to recycling. The project addresses the difficulty for industry to provide reliable data on different circular product properties. The lack of standardized reporting forces manufacturers to send out different data sets in diverse formats to customers and product platforms that evaluate the circularity of the product. In addition, there is a formal opposition between the need for transparency in order to determine the actual circularity and the wish to protect sensitive manufacturing data from the industry. The objectives of Luxembourg's Circularity Dataset Initiative are to save costs for manufacturers and other stakeholders, by increasing the data exchange efficiency across supply chains. By working with key industry actors, the initiative intends to develop a process and an internationally accepted dataset template that can be used by any manufacturer, regardless his position in the supply chain. The data will be verified through an auditing process and shall be used by all relevant stakeholders, including product platforms or databases, to enable circular evaluation of the product.  The initiative does not foresee the creation of a central database. Since its inception, more than 50 companies from 12 different European countries including some industry leaders have joined the Circularity Dataset Initiative. The growing interest for the initiative led the Ministry of Economy to undertake the next level of the project and define the dataset, the underlying process and the auditing scheme in a collaborative process. After a series of webinars, a physical meeting brings together all the actors of the initiative in order to finalize the theoretical proof of concept, developed for two product categories from the areas of construction materials and fast-moving consumer goods. Inspired by Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), the dataset will take the form of a so-called Product Circularity Data Sheet (PCDS). The PCDS translates relevant circular information into standardized and auditable statements enabling data based evaluations of the product performance in terms of circularity and driving future improvements towards a circular economy. To manage the PCDS process and ensure traceability, new technologies like blockchain or artificial intelligence will be investigated by the working group. At the Clean Tech Forum Europe 2020, held in Luxembourg City from 18th to 20th May 2020 preliminary results of the Circularity Dataset Initiative will be shared. The Circularity Dataset Initiative is a tangible example of Luxembourg’s data-driven innovation strategy put into action and makes Luxembourg a forerunner in data based services for the world. 

The Circularity Dataset Initiative by the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg develops an industry standard providing a regulated framework for circular data on products throughout value chains, from raw materials to finished products, from the use phase to re-usage and recycling. 
The project addresses the difficulty for stakeholders to access reliable data on the circular properties of a product. Trade secrets are hindering transparency and reporting standards are lacking, forcing manufacturers to send out different data sets in diverse formats to customers and product platforms. 
The objective is to save costs, increase value and enable circularity by developing a process and an internationally accepted dataset template, and data is verified through an auditing process. 

  ©MECO    Conférence de presse    The Circularity Dataset Initiative launched in 2018 by the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg aims at developing an industry standard at European level that provides a regulated framework for circular data on products throughout the whole value chain, from raw materials to finished products, from the use phase to re-usage and recycling. The project addresses the difficulty for industry and consumers to access reliable data on the circular properties of a product. Trade secrets are hindering transparency and reporting standards are lacking, forcing manufacturers to send out different data sets in diverse formats to customers and product platforms. The initiative’s objective is to save costs, increase value and enable circularity by working with stakeholders to develop a process and an internationally accepted dataset template, created by manufacturers when the product is produced, and travelling along the value and supply chain with the product. The data will be verified through an auditing process and shall be used by all relevant stakeholders, including product platforms or databases. The initiative does not foresee the creation of a central database. Since the inception of the Circularity Database Initiative, more than 50 companies from 12 different European countries including some international industry leaders like IKEA, Saint-Gobain, Tarkett or ArcelorMittal as well as national companies like Astron Buildings have joined the initiative. The growing interest for the initiative convinced the Ministry of the Economy to bring the project to the next level in 2019 and to define the dataset, the underlying process and the auditing scheme in a co-creation process. After a series of webinars, a physical meeting on December 9, 2019 will now bring together all the actors of the initiative in order to finalize the theoretical proof of concepts, developed for two product categories from the areas of construction materials and fast moving consumer goods. Inspired by Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), the dataset will take the form of a so-called Product Circularity Data Sheet (PCDS). The PCDS regroups all relevant circular information in controlled and auditable statements helping the consumer and manufacturer to make educated choices, increase the value of the product and enabling future uses in a circular economy. To manage the PCDS process and ensure traceability, new technologies like block chain or artificial intelligence will be investigated by the working group. Future progress of the initiative can be followed on the newly established website: www.circularitydataset.lu Preliminary results will be shared at the Clean Tech Forum Europe 2020, which will be held in Luxembourg City from 18-20 May, 2020. Luxembourg has successfully evolved into a global hub for information and communication technologies and as a center of excellence in cybersecurity and data protection. Providing excellent connectivity infrastructure and skills, Luxembourg is also among the leaders of the European High Performance Computing project. The Circularity Dataset Initiative is yet another example of Luxembourg’s data-driven innovation strategy put into action and making Luxembourg a forerunner in data based services for the world. Released by the Ministry of the Economy 

Luxembourg

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Official website of the government of Luxembourg

Government of Luxembourg

 Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg

<p>The Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg has launched a Circularity Dataset Initiative, which aims to create and provide a regulated framework for circular data about products. This data will ideally follow products throughout value chains, giving insight on raw materials and finished goods all the way through to reuse and recycling stages. Previously, stakeholders experienced significant hurdles in finding reliable data on the circular characteristics of a product—an issue that this initiative aims to address. The programme seeks to improve transparency and reporting standards, moving on from the systems that have essentially forced producers to make a variety of datasets in a range of formats available to customers and product platforms. It is expected that the initiative will result in cost savings, increased value and increased circularity.</p>