Introduction to the project
The new European Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) is part of the new European Circular Economy Action Plan adopted in March 2020 and aims to support Europe’s green transition by boosting circularity at local and regional level. In order to build capacity and drive economic growth, it works to increase collaboration and knowledge sharing between EU cities and regions. The CCRI also aims to boost innovation and upscaling, which are essential for making the circular economy more widespread and mainstream. The CCRI will share replicable best practices to help cities and regions find concrete Circular Systemic Solutions that suit their own needs. The CCRI-Coordination and Support Office (CCRI-CSO) is an international multi-disciplinary teams of circular economy experts and is at the core of the CCRI activities. They will implement the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative offering support to the cities, regions and territorial clusters that will be selected as Pilots and Fellows.
Project in Action
The CCRI Coordination and Support Office provides technical and comprehensive support over the whole life cycle of urban and regional circular economy initiatives of cities, regions and territorial clusters from Europe. Based on the selection results of an open call, 12 selected Pilots benefit from four years of knowledge-sharing with technical support to speed up their circular policy implementation. More specifically, the 12 Pilots will demonstrate and facilitate the replication of at least one Circular Systemic Solution in a specific territory. Furthermore, the 25 selected Fellows liaise to the Pilot group to engage in this multistakeholder learning process, liaising them with industry representatives, research and technology organisations and civil society stakeholders across Europe’s. CCRI is aiming for the highest ambition and best ideas to capitalise cross sectorial cooperation and innovation and the biggest potential for transferability of these Circular Systemic Solutions (CSS) to other cities, regions and territorial clusters.
More specifically, the CCRI-CSO:
- supports cooperation, synergies and complementarities between the CCRI Pilots and Fellows, CCRI Projects, Associated Partners and other relevant stakeholders;
- assists the CCRI Pilots with the development of their CSS, as well as supporting good practice exchange and upscaling;
- analyses the main research and innovation gaps, but also the main policy, technical, regulatory barriers and drivers to circular economy transition at local and regional scale, and providing policy recommendations to overcome them;
- presents lessons learned from CCRI-CSO activities for further dissemination, communication and awareness raising activities.
ERRIN's role
ERRIN is one of ten contracting partners in the European Circular Cities and Regions Initiative Coordination and Support Office and also manages the CCRI-Helpdesk. ERRIN assumes the Community Management’s role in setting up Multi-stakeholder dialogues during this four-year project, reaching out to cities and regions and maximising their growth in circular economy implementation.
Benefit for members and links with ERRIN's WGs and priorities
Making circularity work for people, cities and regions, is one of the key ambitions of the New European Circular Economy Action Plan. With the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative, the European Commission provides an instrument for accelerating the transition to a circular economy on local and regional scale by providing key assistance to cities and regions. The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative complements the proposed European Urban Initiative and the Intelligent Cities Challenge Initiative. There will also be synergies with other policy frameworks, such as the Green Deal and the European Bioeconomy Strategy. Circular economy will also be among the priority areas of the Green City Accord.
The CCRI is the ideal steppingstone for cities and regions to gain first-hand information about funding opportunities and build their network to participate in the wider CCRI ecosystem, which also includes funding. These funding opportunities include €200 million for circular economy demonstration projects focusing on experimentation and at least €40 million for project development assistance with investment proposals applying for project development grants from Horizon Europe and Circular Economy Technical Assistance Facility grants from the European Investment Bank. While the demonstration grants are for experimental projects, the project development assistance targets mature initiatives at the beginning of their investment phase, speeding up the full-scale roll-out of these circular activities.
CCRI opportunities for ERRIN-members in 2025
2025 will offer some unique opportunities for ERRIN members. With the announced European Circular Economy Act and the update of the European Bioeconomy Strategy scheduled for 2025, ERRIN members will have the opportunity to bring the place-based perspective to these EU discussions.
The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) will organise a new series of Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues in 2025, which will facilitate an exchange about the policy recommendations deriving from the CCRI projects. ERRIN members can bring local and regional challenges and needs to the discussion and benefit from an exchange with the CCRI project coordinators and European Commission's policy officers working on the specific policy files. ERRIN members' experts who are interested in participating in these Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues, can express their interest by e-mailing to astrid.hannes@errin.eu.
Early 2025, a new CCRI Community of Practice will also be launched with an open call for cities and regions. More information will follow shortly.
Latest Updates
- By Astrid Hannes
New call for cities and regions working on circular economy to join the CCRI Communities of Practice
Cities and regions across Europe are invited to apply for the new call of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) to join the CCRI Community of Practice. Four dedicated communities will be set up to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between cities and region on the topis of urban planning for the circular economy, municipal waste companies for circular cities and regions, supporting local circular businesses and reducing consumption-based emissions. The deadline for application is 28 March 18:00 CET.
- By Astrid Hannes
EIB Call for applications Circular City Centre: free advisory programmes for cities
The Circular City Centre (C3) Programmes of the European Investment Bank (EIB) offer free support to cities that want to progress in their circular transition, helping cities to prepare circular projects and improve their access to financing. Currently there is a call for applications open until 28 February. Interested applicants can attend an online Q&A session taking place on 19 February.
- By Astrid Hannes
The CCRI Compass is out
Aiming to point cities, regions and the stakeholders from their regional innovation ecosystems in the right direction, the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative has now launched the CCRI Compass, designed to support the circular economy journey of local and regional authorities by visualising the CCRI’s expansive support into three areas: knowledge, exchange and support.
- By Astrid Hannes
Connecting circular cities and regions through CCRI’s Communities of Practice
The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) has extended its office, expanding its support activities available to European cities and regions. With the aim of encouraging peer learning and networking, bringing together city and region practitioners, the CCRI will launch a call for a new CCRI Communities of Practice in February.
- By Astrid Hannes
The CCRI map: 142 European frontrunning cities and regions in circular economy
The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) has launched its CCRI Map, a new interactive map that plots all CCRI beneficiaries across Europe. The map allows users to explore the growing CCRI community of 142 cities and regions by zooming into a map of Europe, allowing to identify interesting peers and seek collaborations opportunities.
- By Astrid Hannes
Circular economy opportunities for ERRIN members in 2025
Circular Economy is an important topic on the 2025 agenda of the European Commission. The new year brings several opportunities for ERRIN members for increasing the circular industrial competitiveness of regional stakeholders. Learn more about the forthcoming Community of Practice of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI), the open call for CCRI mentoring programmes for cities and regions, the forthcoming CCRI policy dialogues and the forthcoming funding opportunities of the CBE JU Partnership.