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Global circularity rate is falling steadily every year—study pinpoints key reforms to revert this trend
January 24, 2024
Global circularity rate is falling steadily every year—study pinpoints key reforms to revert this trend

Amsterdam, 24 January 2024—Over the past five years, the number of discussions, debates and articles related to the circular economy has almost tripled in spite of the global circularity rate falling from 9.1% to 7.2%. This is according to the Circularity Gap Report 2024, launched by Circle Economy Foundation today. The report moves from theory to action by identifying how the three main enablers of policy, finance and labour can drive sustainable progress worldwide.

In the last five years, humanity consumed a whopping 500 billion tonnes of materials—nearly equal to what was consumed during the entire 20th century. The global circularity rate has fallen steadily from 9.1% in 2018, when Circle Economy Foundation began measuring, to 7.2% in 2023. This means that out of all the materials consumed worldwide, we’re consuming more virgin materials than ever—while the share of secondary materials is in decline.

Accelerating progress toward a circular economy means addressing the root causes of linear impacts and changing the rules of the game to favour circular practices. The Circularity Gap Report 2024 outlines how policy, finance and employment reforms can reshape global systems to promote circularity.

‘Leveraging the Circularity Gap Report, stakeholders are able to prioritise their circular roadmap based on a data-driven analysis. Policymakers, industry leaders, and financial institutions can agree on focus areas and work collaboratively on the systemic change needed to stay within our planetary boundaries,’ says Ivonne Bojoh, CEO of Circle Economy Foundation. ‘To ensure the transition to a circular economy is just and fair, circular solutions must be designed with the world’s most vulnerable populations in mind, then these solutions will reduce inequalities across workforces and increase job opportunities worldwide.’

Ultimately, the report proposes a strategy to break free from flawed economic practices known to be socially and environmentally exploitative. This will require unlocking capital, rolling out bold, contextually appropriate policies and closing the sustainable and circular skills gap.

Policies and legal frameworks can incentivise sustainable and circular practices while penalising harmful, linear ones. Wealthy countries could achieve the most impact by adjusting regulations in the construction and manufacturing industries. Examples include incentivising retrofitting and reusing buildings (and their components and materials), developing certification and warranties for secondary building materials, setting standards for product durability, and strengthening the Right to Repair legislation.

In middle-income countries, fostering circular agriculture and manufacturing will be a top priority. Local governments could, for example, impose and enforce public bans and limits on pollution, mandate Extended Producer Responsibility schemes and require a minimum amount of recovered materials for all new production while directing funds to regenerative farming.

Lower-income countries could prioritise sustainable development through circular policies in construction and agriculture. These include relieving debt and improving access to development and transition capital, securing smallholder farmer rights and incentivising the use of local, organic and secondary materials in construction.

To unlock finance for circular construction and manufacturing in high-income countries, the study suggests rethinking accounting standards and practices as well as rolling out taxes to increase the price of unsustainable products.


In emerging economies, governments can shift subsidies away from polluting practices in agriculture and manufacturing and towards clean, regenerative ones. In addition, they can ensure all future investments align with ecological and social wellbeing standards.

Development and transition funds could be used in lower-income countries to support circular measures across key sectors like agriculture and construction—regenerative farming and smart urban planning, for example.

Finally, the report underscores the need to enable a just transition by bridging labour and skills gaps. This means education curricula—especially for vocational education—should include green disciplines and skills. Short-term courses could be a solution to meet the immediate and growing demand for green jobs, from renewable energy technicians to repair specialists.

In addition, developing countries could formalise informal employment and focus on making emerging jobs decent, inclusive and well-paid to ensure a just transition for all.


Read the report at https://www.circularity-gap.world/2024

About Circle Economy Foundation

We are 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. The Circularity Gap Report (CGR®) is brought to you by Circle Economy Foundation.

Structured evidence about circular strategies and their impacts—economic, environmental and social—is often not available to decision-makers. Instead, decision-making is oriented around linear data that does not adequately consider the quality of life and wellbeing of people and the planet. The Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative aims to bridge these knowledge gaps.

For questions and interviews, please contact Ana Birliga Sutherland, Writer and Editor at Circle Economy Foundation, at ana@circle-economy.com.

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Deloitte and Circle Economy Consulting collaborate to help accelerate global circularity impact
January 24, 2024
Deloitte and Circle Economy Consulting collaborate to help accelerate global circularity impact

Key highlights:


  • The global Circularity Gap Report 2024, a collaboration between Deloitte and Circle Economy Foundation, finds while discussion and debate surrounding circularity have almost tripled in the last five years, this has not resulted in a decline in virgin material use.  
  • In the past six years, the global population consumed more than 500 billion tonnes of materials—nearly as many materials as were consumed during the entire 20th century.
  • Deloitte is investing in new initiatives to help drive business adoption of circular practices that reduce waste and keep materials in circulation, announcing an exclusive partnership with the newly formed Circle Economy Consulting, an impact consulting firm that is a spinoff of Circle Economy Foundation. 
  • The circular economy is projected to help reduce emissions by 40%, generate nearly 2 million jobs, and become a US$2-3 billion market in the coming years. 


NEW YORK, NY, US, 24 January 2024— Today, Deloitte and Circle Economy Foundation released the Circularity Gap Report 2024, finding the vast majority of extracted materials entering the economy are virgin, with the share of secondary materials declining steadily since the Circularity Gap Report began in 2018. The report identifies three main areas where reforms can help accelerate progress toward the circular economy: policy, finance, and employment. 

The decline in circularity continues despite the concept of a circular economy—one that aims to help reduce consumption of virgin materials and keep materials in circulation—growing in popularity, with the volume of discussions, debates and articles on the topic almost tripling in the past five years. The report outlines how governments and industry leaders can move from commitment to action by adopting policies and frameworks that incentivise circular practices while penalising harmful ones, adjusting fiscal policies and practices to help create true prices that include the social and environmental costs of a product or service, funding circular solutions so that they can replace linear norms, and helping ensure their workforce is skilled and trained to support a just transition. The report also focuses on transformative circular solutions across the food system, built environment, and manufactured goods. 

'Leveraging the Circularity Gap Report, stakeholders are able to prioritise their circular roadmap based on a data-driven analysis. Policymakers, industry leaders, and financial institutions can agree on focus areas and work collaboratively on the systemic change needed to stay within our planetary boundaries,' says Ivonne Bojoh, CEO of Circle Economy Foundation. 'To ensure the transition to a circular economy is just and fair, circular solutions must be designed with the world’s most vulnerable populations in mind, then these solutions will reduce inequalities across workforces and increase job opportunities worldwide.'


Along with the report, Deloitte also announced an exclusive partnership with Circle Economy Consulting, an impact consulting firm that is a spinoff of Circle Economy Foundation. The collaboration can help organisations realise circular economy opportunities from designing strategy, to implementing transformation, to measuring and reporting on progress.


'Successfully piloting and scaling circularity requires close coordination across business functions and supply chains. Through our relationship with Circle Economy Consulting and Circle Economy Foundation we’ll bring insights from the Circularity Gap Reports directly to businesses to unlock value. Combined with Deloitte’s end-to-end capabilities, this allows us to create new solutions to help our clients scale circular transformation at the pace and the ambition needed to realize significant commercial opportunity and enable sustainable and resilient supply chains', says David Rakowski, partner, Deloitte UK, who is leading Deloitte’s global circularity offering.


The collaboration can help businesses tap into a budding market projected to reach US$2-3 billion by 2026, and help them reduce material extraction while increasing the resilience of their supply chains. Drawing on the end-to-end capabilities of Deloitte’s Sustainability & Climate practice globally, the collaboration can help businesses with data analysis and navigating regulatory complexity to shape strategy, through to organisational transformation that places people and digital at the heart, to measurement and reporting. 


'Implementing and monitoring circularity are becoming key success factors for businesses to both remain ahead of the game and to comply with anticipated regulation. In joining forces, Deloitte and Circle Economy Consulting will help actualise circular economy principles by empowering clients to take charge of their circular performance,' says Marc de Wit, Managing Director of Circle Economy Consulting. 'We’re looking forward to combining Circle Economy Consulting’s circularity expertise with Deloitte’s breadth of experience, cutting edge technology, and subject matter, industry, and transformation specialists to help businesses reach tangible and scalable results.'


'Prioritising circular efforts today can help organisations retain a competitive advantage while accelerating progress against their environmental goals. We’re proud to help businesses around the world address their environmental footprint, adapt their value chains, and shift to a circular approach,' says Jennifer Steinmann, Deloitte Global Sustainability & Climate Practice leader. 'Together with Circle Economy Consulting, we will continue to drive market discussion and collaboration by bringing Deloitte’s technology and strategy capabilities to designing, piloting, and ultimately scaling circular solutions globally.'

To read the findings of the Circularity Gap Report 2024, visit: https://www.circularity-gap.world/2024 and to learn more about Deloitte’s collaboration with Circle Economy Consulting, visit: https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/about-deloitte-uk/articles/circle-economy-and-deloitte-partnership.html.


About Deloitte 

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit and assurance, tax and legal, consulting, financial advisory, and risk advisory services to nearly 90% of the Fortune Global 500® and thousands of private companies. Our people deliver measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in capital markets, enable clients to transform and thrive, and lead the way toward a stronger economy, a more equitable society and a sustainable world. Building on its 175-plus year history, Deloitte spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte’s approximately 457,000 people worldwide make an impact that matters at www.deloitte.com.


About Circle Economy Foundation

Circle Economy Foundation is a global impact organisation with an international team of passionate experts based in Amsterdam. The organisation empowers industries, cities and nations with practical and scalable solutions to put the circular economy into action. The Foundation’s vision is an economic system that ensures the planet and all people can thrive. To avoid climate breakdown, it is the goal to double global circularity by 2032.

Circle Economy Foundation is the owner of the Circularity Gap Report (CGRⓇ). Structured evidence about circular strategies and their impacts—economic, environmental or social—is often not available to decision-makers. Instead, decision-making is oriented around linear data that does not adequately consider the quality of life and wellbeing of people and the planet. The Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative aims to fill these knowledge gaps.


About Circle Economy Consulting 

Circle Economy Consulting is a dynamic, impact consulting firm, committed to empowering forward-thinking leaders and businesses in identifying, evaluating and implementing circular solutions. To this end the firm follows a systematic and data-driven approach, supplying the practical steps and involving, inspiring and engaging stakeholders and employees along the way. The firm has more than 10 years of experience under its belt, delivering more than 100 business projects across industries and geographies working with industry leaders like Philips, Action and Rockwool.  Drawing on the expertise of an international team with over 35+ years of combined circular economy experience, the consulting services are tailored to the unique needs of private sector clients. Learn more at www.circle-economy.consulting. 


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Sorting for Circularity Europe expands to address rewearable textile crisis
January 18, 2024
Sorting for Circularity Europe expands to address rewearable textile crisis

AMSTERDAM - Fashion for Good's Sorting for Circularity framework expands to address the challenge of ensuring rewearable textiles remain in use as opposed to finding their way into global waste streams or landfills. This 18-month project tests automated sorting technologies using artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimise the sorting of rewearable garments and enable greater circularity.

A GROWING TEXTILE WASTE LANDSCAPE

Global textile production and consumption have doubled over the past 15 years, while the number of times a garment is worn has dropped by 40%, averaging only seven uses before it is tossed away. In the EU, the amount of used textiles exported has tripled over the last two decades from slightly over 550,000 tonnes in 2000 to almost 1.7 million tonnes in 2019, and their fate is highly uncertain. Many of these garments receive the designation of "fit for reuse" and are later sold to second-hand stores across Europe or export markets like Africa or Asia. However, due to the sheer volume of these exported textiles and the lack of understanding of demand and criteria for resale across the industry, many ultimately end up in waste streams, landfills or incinerated.

As legislative changes loom in the EU, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes mandating accountability on garments placedon the market, and the Waste Shipment Regulation imposing stricter restrictions on textile exports outside EU borders, the volume of collected and exported textiles will continue to increase, underscoring the urgency for comprehensive solutions.

“As our Sorting for Circularity framework expands, we’ll be able to address the root cause of shifting the waste burden elsewhere. Addressing this requires an agreed upon framework for quality and resale potential in key export regions as well as developments in using AI sorting. This pioneering consortium will provide crucial insights for policy developments and investments towards a circular economy.” — Katrin Ley, Managing Director, Fashion for Good.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF DATA & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE  

To address these challenges, Fashion for Good is expanding its Sorting for Circularity framework to address the challenge of sorting for rewearable textiles to understand better their resale potential and the demand across the second-hand market. While current Near Infrared (NIR) technology can determine garment composition, the task of assessing re-wearability is largely manual.


This project will test automated sorting technologies using machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to collect product information — such as colour, style, garment type, and quality. This will enable sorters and brands to make better decisions and sort efficiently based on product data and criteria from local, European, and export resale market requirements, thus optimising the flow of textiles to achieve their highest value potential.

The findings will be shared in a report with a supporting business case and implementation roadmap to inform investment decisions in infrastructure, Circular Business Models (CBM) and repair centres.

The Rewear Project builds on Fashion for Good’s Sorting for Circularity framework initiated in 2021 and subsequently launched in Europe, India and the United States harmonising the collection, sorting and recycling industries in order to advance textile-to-textile recycling technologies and the resale industry.

“With this project, we hope to clarify the myths and half-truths on post-consumer waste dumping, but also salvage those by understanding the processes and journeys these garments travel. Then we can reach true circularity.” — Marieke Koemans-Kokkelink, Head of Sustainability, ERDOTEX.

The Sorting for Circularity Europe: Rewear Project is driven by Fashion for Good with catalytic funding provided by brand partners adidas, BESTSELLER, Bonprix, C&A, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co., Otto Group, PVH Corp., and Zalando. Circle Economy Foundation leads the creation and implementation of the methodology, with support from Consumption Research Norway, Oslo Metropolitan University and Revaluate.

To ensure accuracy and representation in capturing data on the flow of textiles within the EU and export markets, this project will focus on specific geographical regions: Lithuania (Nordic/Baltic), the Netherlands (Western), Poland (Central-Eastern), and Spain (Southern Europe). The project also brings together the largest industrial textile sorters in Europe; including Erdotex, ModaRe, Humana People to People Baltic and Wtorpol, showing how different stakeholders — brands, sorters, and innovators — can work together to comply with evolving regulations.

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Circle Economy Foundation announces leadership transition with Ivonne Bojoh as new CEO
December 21, 2023
Circle Economy Foundation announces leadership transition with Ivonne Bojoh as new CEO

Circle Economy Foundation announced a leadership change today. Ivonne Bojoh, the current Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Director of Digital, will assume the role of CEO, succeeding Martijn Lopes Cardozo. Martijn, who has served as CEO for four years, will continue as a Senior Advisor while exploring new opportunities outside the organisation. We are truly grateful for Martijn’s efforts in the last four years as CEO and before that as Supervisory Board Member and are pleased he will stay on as a Senior Advisor to ensure a smooth transition.

Ivonne Bojoh has a distinguished career, spanning professional services as Partner and Managing Director of The Valley, a leading customer experience agency in Amsterdam and co-founder of a FinTech company in Singapore, scaling and transforming organisations. Ivonne joined Circle Economy in 2020 as Director of Digital and was promoted to COO in 2022, demonstrating her commitment to the organisation's mission and ability to drive impactful change.

The outgoing CEO, Martijn Lopes Cardozo, expressed his confidence in Ivonne's ability to lead the organisation: ‘I congratulate Ivonne on her new role. I have witnessed Ivonne operate in the last three years, and with her deep sense of purpose combined with a can-do mentality and bias to action, she is the right person to head up the organisation going forward. Leading Circle Economy Foundation during the last four years has been a great honour. It has been amazing to work alongside such an incredible group of “circlers”, funders and partners and together drive the transition to a circular economy with practical and scalable solutions.’

Founder and Chairman Robert-Jan van Ogtrop conveyed his positive outlook about the leadership transition: ‘We are very pleased Ivonne will step up as CEO. She is the right person to lead Circle Economy Foundation to deliver impact at scale. I thank Martijn for his leadership, initially as a Supervisory Board member and subsequently as CEO during the last four years. Under his guidance, the organisation has grown, further professionalised and solidified several new key strategic partnerships.’

Ivonne Bojoh shared her excitement about the next phase: ‘When Circle Economy was founded in 2011, the circular economy was still a relatively new concept. Today, we see wide adoption of circularity principles, and with that comes a shift for us to provide the “how” in addition to the “why”. Circle Economy Foundation is uniquely positioned to do just that. I look forward to leading the organisation and accelerating our impact to achieve our goal of doubling global circularity by 2032.’

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From Montréal to Morocco: Circle Economy Foundation’s impact was global in 2023
December 20, 2023
From Montréal to Morocco: Circle Economy Foundation’s impact was global in 2023

Circle Economy Foundation is excited to announce the launch of the Impact Report 2023. Following a year of firsts for the organisation, we turned our attention inward to take stock of our impact across the three levers of our Theory of Change: Analyse, Act and Scale. Read on to see some of our highlights from 2023.

To Analyse, the Circularity Gap Report Latin America and the Caribbean provided the first of its kind analysis in the region, finding that 40% of the region’s raw materials are exported—revealing the disparity between global material demand and local communities that bear the brunt of ecological breakdown. This year also saw the launch of the Circularity Gap Report for Cities, bringing the Circularity Gap Report to the local level: Munich was up first, demonstrating it can use 43% less materials than it uses now while cutting its consumption-based CO2 emissions by 23%. 

To Act, Circle Economy Foundation developed a training programme with Oxfam to build the capacity of small- and medium-sized enterprises towards a green and circular economy. Our circular training model has so far been implemented across several countries: Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, Somaliland, Kenya and Cambodia. 

To Scale our work, we have finalised our spin-off, Circle Economy Consulting, and are proud to announce that Deloitte will be its Scaling Partner. We have also been building capacity across key value chains via the UN-led SWITCH to Circular Economy Value Chains programme and our acquisition of Sustainability Games—an educational tool for teaching circular principles. Sustainability Games was implemented by plastics companies in Morocco and textiles companies in Bangladesh via SWITCH to educate and inform workers on the ground. 


Zooming in on the practical outcomes of our work, we’ve seen our research inform the creation of circular policies across Europe, the UK and Canada. For example, thanks to our Circle City Scan, Circular Montréal: Baseline Assessment, Montréal has released its public consultation document, ‘Towards a Montréal roadmap in the circular economy’, which will inform the creation of their future circular strategy. 


Meanwhile, in Austria, the Circularity Gap Report Austria was presented to the Ministry of Environment in 2019. Four years later, the report has contributed to the country’s recent policy changes. The Austrian Cabinet of Ministers has now adopted a National Circular Economy Strategy. Following our analysis, the comprehensive policy document aims to boost circularity from 9.7% to 18% by 2030. 


Wrapping up this year, we have empowered 30 businesses, three cities and four nations across three continents to become more circular. This contributes to the total of 150 businesses, 55 cities and 27 nations across six continents that we’ve aided over the past ten years. We’ve also trained more than 4,230 people in circular principles over the past decade. 


These are just a few highlights from the Impact Report 2023. Download the full report to see how we’re making the circular economy a reality.

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Circle Economy Foundation partners with the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the International Resource Panel to co-produce the World Circular Economy Forum 2024
December 14, 2023
Circle Economy Foundation partners with the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the International Resource Panel to co-produce the World Circular Economy Forum 2024

The World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) is an annual event organised by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, that brings together leaders from business, government, academia and civil society to find circular solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. This year, Sitra partnered up with Circle Economy Foundation and the International Resource Panel to co-produce the event, shaping the programme, speakers and topics. 

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Turning circular visions into actions’.  With this in mind, WCEF2024 will feature the most impactful circular solutions from around the world, guided by the latest scientific evidence. The programme is designed to facilitate targeted discussions around the key enablers of a circular economy: governance, finance, people and employment, and business and innovation.

‘We are pleased to announce our partnership to make this year’s World Circular Economy Forum the most impactful yet’, says Circle Economy Foundation CEO Martijn Lopes Cardozo, ‘Our experts have planned several days of exciting programming that will leave all participants feeling empowered and inspired to make the circular economy a reality.’

What sets this edition of the forum apart from previous iterations are the targeted discussions with clear outcomes, hands-on workshops and collaboration with two major players in Brussels: the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP) and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The ECESP will deliver a European track to the main event while the Belgian Presidency team will curate a full day of accelerator sessions on 17 April, including site visits to circular economy companies in Belgium.

This collaborative programme aims to facilitate a spirit of discovery, participation, learning and cross-sectoral, international coalition-building by advocating for a just transition to circularity. The forum will encourage countries worldwide to continue working towards a circular economy that holds people and the planet at its core. More details about the programme and speakers will be announced in January 2024. 

WCEF2024 is brought to you by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, Circle Economy Foundation and International Resource Panel in close collaboration with international partners. WCEF2024 will be hosted at the SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre from April 15–18, 2024. The forum can also be joined online or from WCEF Studios around the world.

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Circle Economy Foundation partners with Circulair West
November 30, 2023
Circle Economy Foundation partners with Circulair West

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 30 November, 2023—Circle Economy Foundation and Circulair West announced today that the organisations have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and pilot the Circulair West Academy. This pilot project aims to introduce the tools of the Foundation’s Circular Starter Kit to the Circulair West network of founders, leaders and friends. This consists of a documentary about circularity and a gamified e-learning platform.

The partnership brings together Circle Economy Foundation and Circulair West on their missions to nurture a circular economy across sectors. Circulair West was founded by six leading companies—AW Group, de Beelen Group, HOEK, Meerlanden, Ouwehand Bouw & Ontwikkeling and Timpaan—with the goal of accelerating the circular transitions of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Netherlands. Circle Economy Foundation has developed a series of digital tools, namely the Circularity Academy—a gamified e-learning platform, to train and monitor the adoption of circularity within organisations or communities of stakeholders.

"We are so excited and grateful for the  partnership with Circulair West to bring circularity to small- and medium-sized enterprises and their employees across Holland, our home base’’, said Ivonne Bojoh, COO of Circle Economy Foundation. ‘Through this innovative collaboration, our goal is to enable members of the Circulair West network with insights, promote action, connect and track their progress towards a circular economy using the circular digital tools. We trust this is the beginning of an impactful partnership that brings circularity to many Dutch businesses’.

Friends in the Circulair West network will now have access to Circle Economy Foundation’s Circularity Academy (in Dutch), along with the Going Circular documentary and discounted Circular Starter Kits to kick-start their circular transitions. These unique digital tools take stakeholders on an evidence-based journey to help them find out where they are, envision where they can go and understand how to get there. With this in mind, businesses can spearhead their circular transition and help entire sectors and regions transform simultaneously.

"We are thrilled and grateful that Circle Economy, one of the most successful global circular economy impact organisations, is willing to partner with Circulair West to deploy their innovative digital gamification tool towards our members in the provinces of Noord- and Zuid-Holland. This tool, which has already demonstrated remarkable impact and scalability, will now benefit small and medium-sized enterprises, fostering a deeper understanding of circular principles throughout entire organisations’, said Leon van Ast of Circulair West. ‘The comprehensive gamification and user experience will undoubtedly accelerate the adoption and execution of new circular strategies and business models. We eagerly anticipate the transformative impact this collaboration will bring’’.

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Gas off, circular economy on: Dutch province of Groningen preps for a future without fossil fuels
November 22, 2023
Gas off, circular economy on: Dutch province of Groningen preps for a future without fossil fuels

The Dutch province of Groningen sits on the largest natural gas field in Europe and one of the largest in the world. However, on the 1st of October, 2023, Groningen’s gas pumps went silent. In the year of the Dutch gas industry’s 60th anniversary, production was halted, presumably, for good. This decision was long-awaited as extraction activities provoked disastrous earthquakes, endangering the local population and making Groningen’s gas one of the most debated topics in Dutch politics. 

To aid Groningen’s transition to a more sustainable and diversified economy, the Dutch government launched The National Programme Groningen (NPG)—a partnership between the government, province and municipalities—allocating seed capital of €1.5 million to implement initiatives and projects that could strengthen the living environment, the economy, education, jobs, nature and the climate. 

Together with the Programme, NOM, Groningen Seaports, Chemport Europe and Circle Economy Foundation developed a circular economy transition plan. We explored four strategic directions to guide future NPG’s multi-year investment plans towards a circular economy: optimised biomass valorisation, circular industrial processes, circular agricultural practices and urban-rural-industrial symbiosis. 

The study zoomed-in on two of the region’s biggest industries: chemical manufacturing and agrifood. These sectors are crucial for the regional economy, but they are also massive resource consumers and carbon emitters. Building a symbiosis of agriculture and chemical manufacturing could substantially cut emissions and waste, creating an efficient, circular system. 

We found that many elements needed to build a circular economy are already present in the region. Groningen's farmers, for example, have some of the most advanced equipment and knowledge in Europe, which would facilitate a seamless transition to circular agriculture. In addition, the green chemistry sector has already taken root in the province. Advanced logistics and infrastructure, including a seaport, could also contribute to Groningen’s status as a global circular economy hotspot. 

However, a lack of skilled workforce hinders the region's transition, and circular materials are still more expensive to produce and obtain. On top of that, local legislation needs to be adapted to favour more circular business models. 

Although barriers to Groningen's circularity remain, local entrepreneurs, government representatives and knowledge institutions support the transition plan. The Circular Economy in Groningen report was presented at the event ‘Circular without borders’ in Delfzijl on the 14th of November. The event was attended by local stakeholders and co-organised by Holland Circular Hotspot and Circular Groningen, an organisation established just six months ago that already boasts more than 50 participating companies. 

Groningen’s provincial council member responsible for agriculture and economy, Henk Emmens, officially endorsed the transition plan, adding: ‘In this way, we’ll maintain guaranteed employment for a generation in sectors that continue to become more sustainable. We’ll have jobs and a better environment.’

The benefits of the circular economy in Groningen are clear to all stakeholders: from job creation to enhanced social welfare, prevention of additional earthquake damage, and a competitive advantage for the region's main economic sectors. Governments and industries are ready to take action. Groningen’s journey from  gas capital to circular hotspot can also serve as a blueprint for the European post-fossil fuels future. 

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