Circular Economy in Urban Areas Pavel Misiga

1. Circular Economy in
Urban Areas
Pavel MISIGA
Circular Economy and Bio-based Systems
Directorate General for Research and Innovation
European Commission

2. What circular economy?
Circular economy must reduce environmental
impacts of production and consumption

3. The regional dimension of Circular Economy
Circular Economy at
regional scale may
be optimal when
value chain are
based on:
• Heavy/volumeous
products
• Medium to low
value
material/products
• Specific regional
resources
• Regional
specialisation
• Density of
economic actors
A large part of Circular Economy
makes sense at regional/urban level
Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017

4. Status of CE in Europe
• Current CE = low
hanging fruit
• Transition has to
be accelerated
• CE deployment is
hampered by a
number of barriers
• Systemic solutions
• Simultaneous
application of
technological,
market/business,
governance and
social innovations
Many incentives can be provided at
regional level
Source: Raw Material Scoreboard, European Commission 2018

5. De-risking of Circular Economy at
regional level
Perceived risks
• Lack of revenues
• Uncertainty of
supply
• Uncertainty of
demand
• Lack of necessary
collaboration of
actors along the
value chain
• Lack of mechanisms
for sharing costs
and profits
Incentives by
regional authorities
• Local financial
incentives
(subsidies and fees)
• Creating market via
public procurement
and guarantees
• Facilitating
collaboration
between actors
• Public operator to
play a pivot role