Which cities and regions will lead EU’s circularity initiative?

The European Commission has decided to take a mixed approach in terms of scalability here

The European Commission has an ambitious resolve to make climate neutrality by 2050 a reality in the European Union countries. One of the approaches that will serve as the tools to achieve this is circularity, and more specifically the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI), the testbed for the bloc’s circular economy action plan.

Last week, the Commission announced the cities and regions which will host the initial programs centred on circularity. The leading role will rest with 12 cities and regions called Pilots, which will be supported by additional 25 Fellows.

By participating in the CCRI, the Pilots and Fellows will work closely with the CCRI Coordination and Support Office and each other to lead Europe’s circular economy transition. Their experiences and learning processes will also feed into the CCRI’s knowledge base.

European Circularity pioneers

Think of the CCRI as something akin to one of the focused missions that the European Union sees is taking on to create tangible results in the process of comprehensive and complex societal, economic and environmental transitions.

The Initiative received over 100 applications from interested local and regional authorities. Out of these, 12 Pilots were chosen after careful consideration of their capabilities with regards to implementing viable circular economies.

The pilots will showcase the circular potential of their front-running ecosystems. They are the following cities and regions:

• Gothenburg (city, Sweden)
• Uppsala (city, Sweden)
• Asker (city, Norway)
• Capannori (city, Italy)
• Castilla y Leon (region, Spain)
• Flanders (region, Belgium)
• Guimarães (city, Portugal)
• Helsinki-Uusimaa (region, Finland)
• Munich (city, Germany)
• Podravje-Maribor (region, Slovenia)
• Roubaix (city, France)
• Tampere Region (region, Finland)

Alongside these pilots, 25 cities, regions and territorial clusters are participating as fellows and will improve their circular economy starting positions by learning from the CCRI network.

The CCRI, therefore, aims to share replicable best practices to help cities and regions find concrete Circular Systemic Solutions that suit their own needs. It also combines this knowledge-sharing with financial support (through Horizon Europe, CETAF and the European Investment Bank grants) and technical support.