ACR+ President, Josep Maria Tost i Borràs, announced that the Circular Europe Network already received the patronage of Janez Potocnik (Co-chair of UNEP International Resource Panel), Antoinette Guhl (Deputy-Mayor of Paris city council in charge of circular economy), Leo Brincat (Malta Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate change) and Céline Fremault (Brussels Capital Region Environment Minister) who also opened the workshop with a video message.

Antoinette Guhl presented Paris’ vision and strategy regarding circular economy. She highlighted Paris’ top priorities, which echo the Circular Europe Network’s first working priorities: sustainable building and food waste. These two fields are also part of London’s route map towards circular economy as presented by Clare Ollerenshaw, from the London Waste and Recycling Board.

These inspiring examples of implementing circular economy in dense areas were completed by two key-note speeches on territorial monitoring. Dr. Márton Herczeg shared the work of the Copenhagen Resource Institute on resource and climate indicators. Then, Marc de Wit presented Circle Economy’s work in urban metabolism diagnosis. These presentations led to group discussions on which indicators are the most relevant when talking about circular economy and public authorities, and the most feasible for a direct implementation at regional and local levels.

The highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the first outputs of the Circular Europe Network: general guidelines for circular economy planning for local and regional authorities and a series of factsheets on circular economy planning. The first document aims at clarifying circular economy, its concept and objectives; and presenting circular economy in a practical approach with for example the first steps to take for building a circular economy strategy or which instruments, cross-sector and thematic measures to include. The factsheets are focusing on one specific territory (e.g. Flanders (BE), Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais (FR), Ferrara (IT), etc.) and offer, besides general information, an overview of the governance of the circular economy strategy, the different instruments and actions at work on this territory. The database of factsheets will be continuously enriched and will be soon available online – on www.circular-europe-network.eu – for ACR+ members.

The Circular Europe Network gathers ACR+ members and aims at supporting local and regional authorities in improving their resource strategies as well as strengthening the sustainable development of their territories. Through this initiative, ACR+ renews its support for circular economy and insists on the key role of local and regional authorities as facilitators of circular economy, in the necessary cooperation between public and private sector.