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 Objectives

Project Objectives

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 is pleased to count over 20 CCRI Pilots & Fellows selected from among ERRIN Member Regions.

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.

 

  • Astrid Hannes
  • Project Manager
  • Gianpiero Petruzziello
  • Project and Communications Officer

Benefit & Links

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 2024

2024 will offer some unique opportunities for ERRIN members to provide inputs for the 2025-2027 Work Programme of Horizon Europe, particularly for Cluster 6, and for future initiatives of the European Commission in the field of Circular EconomyTo that end, the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI), one of ERRIN's projects being the cooperation and support scheme of the European Commission, will organise a series of Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues. These dialogues aim to deepen the understanding of remaining Research & Innovation needs by engaging with key stakeholders from local and regional governments, researchers from academia and industry and organisations working at regional, national or EU level in the field of circular economy. 

Experts who are interested in participating in these Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues, are invited to express their interest by completing this survey. The European Commission will then select the shortlist of experts to invite depending on the topic.

Latest Updates

  • By Angèle Liaigre

WCEF 2024 accelerator session: Inspiring best practices from a circular hub in Northern Netherlands

Chemport Europe, the provinces of Groningen and Friesland, the Municipality of Groningen, hubs Circulair Groningen and Circular Friesland, Groningen Seaports, Greenwise Circular Plastics, and Holland Circular Hotspot, collaboratively organise an official WCEF2024 accelerator session on the northern Netherlands’ bottom-up, regional approach towards circularity, illustrated by best practices in plastics, textile and construction on 18 April from 13:00-14:30 at the House of the Dutch Provinces.

  • By Gianpiero Petruzziello

Cities & regions getting ahead with the circular transition – a WCEF2024 accelerator session

The European Commission’s Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI), in which ERRIN is involved, is co-organising the session ‘how EU cities and regions are getting ahead with the circular transition’ during the World Circular Economy Forum 2024.

  • By Astrid Hannes

The European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference

On 15 and 16 April 2024, the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference will take place in Brussels as a hybrid event. The seventh edition of the most awaited Circular Economy conference in Europe will join forces with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF), and bring policymakers, industry leaders, academics and activists from all corners of the world to Brussels to turn circular visions into actions.

  • By Gianpiero Petruzziello

From vision to reality: Cities & regions drive forward Europe’s circular transition

The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI), in which ERRIN is involved, is organising its first General Conference on 8 November in Brussels. The conference will bring together policymakers, business leaders, and experts on the circular economy as well as the general public to explore how cities, regions and their partners across Europe are advancing from their political decisions and strategies towards the deployment of systemic solutions. 

  • By Astrid Hannes

Moving on: towards a circular and sustainable European society

The MISTRA REES research program is organising a 2-day in-person workshop on 12 and 13 October about the circular transition from an industry perspective in Brussels. Several experts, both from industry as well as from academia, will discuss developments in policies, standards and business models.

  • By Rodolphe Doité

Joint I&I and Energy & Climate Change WG: The Net-Zero Industry Act for regional and local authorities

The Innovation & Investment and Energy & Climate Change Working Groups jointly organised an in-person meeting on 16 June 2023 (10:00 - 11:00) on the Net Zero Industry Act for regional and local authorities.