2. THE CIRCULAR
ECONOMY IN CITIES
AND REGIONS
Oriana Romano
Head of Unit- Water Governance and Circular Economy
Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division,
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Webinar-31 March 2020
3. A conceptual framework
3Ps: people, policies and places
°C
Megatrends
• Demographic growth
• Urbanisation
• Climate change
• Economic trend
Opportunities
• Technological
• Socio-economic
• Environmental
System change
• People
• Policies
• Places
9.7 billion by 2050
By 2050
70% of the world
population
will be urban
Availability and
quality of natural
resources at risks
By 2030, 6.7 $ trillion
per year of
investment needs in
infrastructure
4.5 trillion dollars
potential for
economic
growth by 2030
50 000 jobs
in the Île-de-France
CO2 emission reduction
by 40% globally from
plastic, steel ,
aluminum, cement
Government, business,
citizens
Urban, rural
Water, energy, waste,
building, food
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular
Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
4. Taking stock of “Going circular” in cities and regions:
Survey and case studies
• 43 cities, 3 regions
• 37 from Europe, 6 from America, 2 from Oceania and 1 from Asia
• 6 Case studies from the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
and Ireland
• 200+ consulted stakeholders
5. Tag cloud on the circular economy
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
6. Why going circular?
Climate change is the major driver
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Demographic change
Urbanisation
Supranational legal frameworks
Civil society's initiatives
National legal frameworks
Natural resources availability change
R & D
Technical development
New business models
Private sector initiatives
Job creation
Economic change
Global agendas
Climate change
Very relevant Relevant
7. What do cities and regions do?
CE initiatives are flourishing, Focus on waste, pilots
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
YES
46%
In progress
37%
NO
17%
CIRCULAR ECONOMY INITIATIVES
76% Pilots &
experimentation
56% Capacity
building
47% Public
procurement
41%
Dedicated
budget
8. What for?
Top 3 priorities
To improve environmental quality
To create new business models
To rethink production and consumption patterns
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
9. Obstacles to a circular economy transition in cities and
regions:
Governance, not technical solutions
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Lack of technical solutions
Lack of political will
Lack of private sector engagement
Lack of critical scale
Lack of coordination across levels of government
Adequate information
Insufficient human resources
Lack of awareness
Financial risk
Cultural barriers
Lack of holistic vision
Insufficient financial resources
Inadequate regulatory framework
Major obstacle Important obstacle
10. Levels of advancement towards the transition
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
12% 32% 53%
11. Measuring “circularity” in cities and regions
10
dimensions
for the
Scoreboard
Circular
economy
framework
Coordination
mechanisms
Policy
coherence
Economy and
finance
Innovation
Stakeholder
engagement
Capacity
building
Green Public
Procurement
Data and
information
Monitoring
and
evaluation
Why?
To identify whether
governance and economic
conditions are in place
How?
3 levels of assessment:
newcomer, in progress,
advanced
Checklist
Piloting by using Survey’s
results
What for?
Assess gaps
Improve policies and tools
Build consensus
Raise awareness
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
12. Possible visualisation of results
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Circular economy
framework
Coordination
mechanisms
Policy coherence
Economy and
finance
Innovation
Stakeholder
engagement
Capacity building
Green Public
Procurement
Data and
information
Monitoring and
evaluation
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Circular economy
framework
Coordination
mechanisms
Policy coherence
Economy and
finance
Innovation
Stakeholder
engagement
Capacity building
Green Public
Procurement
Data and
information
Monitoring and
evaluation
Comparison across cities and/or yearsAdvanced circular economy system
Circular
economy
framework
Coordination
mechanisms
Policy
coherence
Economy
and
finance
Innovation
Stakeholder
engagement
Capacity
building
Green Public
Procurement
Data and
information
Monitoring and
evaluation
City
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD
13. A checklist for cities and regions
Role model
Circular economy
strategies
Mapping of
sectors, jobs and
initiatives
Circular economy
culture
Competition of
ideas, awards
and labelling
Horizontal and
vertical co-
ordination
mechanisms
Cooperation with
the business
community and
university
Urban-rural
partnerships
Regulation
Procurement
Financing
Information
Capacity building
Develop a
vision
Accompany
the transition
Start small
and go big
Rethink the
system
Learn from
failures
Source: OECD (forthcoming), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, OECD