This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the Regional Development Policy Committee.
The report and underlying policy dialogues were co-ordinated by Oriana Romano, Head of the Water Governance and Circular Economy Unit, under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the CFE. The report was drafted by a core OECD team of experts comprised of Oriana Romano, Luis Cecchi, Policy Analyst, and Ander Eizaguirre, Junior Policy Analyst, with input from Elisa Elliott Alonso, Junior Policy Analyst. Authors are grateful for input and comments received on the survey and the draft report from Soo-Jin Kim, Deputy Head of Division, Stefano Marta, Programme Coordinator, A Territorial approach to the SDGs and Tadashi Matsumoto, Head of the Sustainable Development and Global Relations Unit from the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the CFE, and Peter Borkey, Principal Administrator of the Circular Economy and Resource Productivity Unit in the Environment Directorate (ENV).
Special thanks are conveyed to the 51 cities and regions surveyed (see the list in Annex A) for their responses to the questionnaire and feedback throughout the project. The authors thank the organisations and institutions that helped disseminate the survey to cities and regions, namely the Committee of Regions (CoR) Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE), ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) and Zero Waste Europe, as well as to the Circular Economy Unit at the Climate Change Office (Oficina de Cambio Climático) of the Ministry of the Environment in Chile, the Environment, Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Institute (Environnement, Développement Durable et Économie Circulaire) of the Polytechnic University of Montréal (Quebec, Canada).
Warm thanks are extended to all the stakeholders who provided comments on the draft version of the report, in particular: Jonas Byström, Lead Engineer (European Investment Bank); André Confiado, Cities Unit Associate Programme Officer (UNEP-United Nations Environment Programme); Andre Correa d’Almeida, Adjunct Associate Professor (Columbia University, United States); Gareth J. Hitchings, Senior Policy Analyst (Government of Canada); Vasileios Liogkas, Expert Advisor to the General Secretary (Ministry of Environment and Energy of Greece); Federico Porrà, Policy Officer, Circular Economy (European Commission); Stéphane Pronovost, Chief of Research and Engagement (Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions); Walter Stahel, Founder-Director (Product-Life Institute Geneva, Switzerland); Davide Stronati, Global Sustainability Leader (Mott MacDonald Consultancy); and Ashima Sukhdev, Government and Cities Programme Lead (Ellen MacArthur Foundation).
Thanks to the local teams involved in the policy dialogues in Glasgow (United Kingdom), Granada (Spain), Groningen (Netherlands), Umeå (Sweden), Valladolid (Spain) and Ireland, in particular: Colin Hughes, Policy Officer (Glasgow City Council, United Kingdom); Cheryl McCulloch, Senior Project Manager (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, United Kingdom); Cheryl Robb, Project Manager (Zero Waste Scotland, United Kingdom); Laura Blair, Cities and Regions Sector Manager (Zero Waste Scotland, United Kingdom); Agustin Castillo-Martinez, General Co‑ordinator of Public Works and Urban Development (Municipality of Granada, Spain); Federico Sánchez Aguilera, Managing Director (Emasagra); Gonzalo Jimenez Espinosa, Sustainable Development and Research and Development Director (Emasagra); Dolores Ayllón Moreno, Sustainable Development and Innovation (Emasagra); Clemente Vergara, Sustainable Development Project Manager (Suez); Aline Otten, Economic Affairs Manager (Municipality of Groningen, Netherlands); Floor de Jong, Co-ordinator of International Affairs (Municipality of Groningen, Netherlands); Anne Helbig, Policy Advisor (Municipality of Groningen, Netherlands); Albert Edman, Former Strategic development coordinator (Municipality of Umeå, Sweden), Philip Näslund, Project Manager (Municipality of Umeå, Sweden); Liv Öberg, Project Co‑ordinator (Region Västerbotten, Sweden);Sussane Thurén, Development Strategist (Municipality of Umeå, Sweden); Rosa Huertas Gonzalez, Director of the Innovation, Economic Development, Employment and Trade Department (Municipality of Valladolid, Spain); Jesús Gómez Pérez, Manager of the Agency of Innovation and Economic Development (Municipality of Valladolid, Spain); Ana Isabel Page Polo, Co‑ordinator of Economic Promotion and Employment (Municipality of Valladolid, Spain); Gloria San José Fernández, Project Manager (Municipality of Valladolid, Spain); Alicia Villazán Cabero, Project Manager (Municipality of Valladolid, Spain); Bernie Kiely, Assistant Principal, Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment (Government of Ireland); Fiona Hill and Zarah Finn, Executive Officers, Department of Communications, Climate Action (Government of Ireland).
Interim findings and progress results were presented at: the 1st OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (4 July 2019, Paris, France); the OECD/EC seminar “Managing the transition to the circular economy” (5 July 2019, OECD, Paris); the 41st and 42nd OECD Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) meetings (21-22 November 2019 and 22 April 2020 respectively); the OECD webinars “Spotlight on the circular economy in cities and regions” and “What’s new on the circular economy in cities and regions and how to measure circularity?” (31 March 2020); and the OECD online workshop on “Measuring circularity in cities and regions through the OECD Scoreboard” (12 July 2020). The OECD Secretariat is grateful to all the participants in the mentioned events, and to the keynote speakers: Jacqueline Cramer (Sustainability and Innovation Chair, Utrecht University, Netherlands), Paul Ekins (Professor, University College of London, United Kingdom), David McGinty, (Global Director, Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy), Mari Pantsar, Director, Carbon-neutral circular economy, SITRA, Finland, Walter Stahel (Founder-director, Product-Life Institute Geneva, Switzerland) and Anders Wijkman (Chair, Climate-KIC) for their valuable input and reflections.
The report was submitted to RDPC and Environment Policy Committee (EPOC) delegates for approval by written procedure by 11 September 2020 under the cote [CFE/RDPC/URB(2020)13]. The final version was edited and formatted by Eleonore Morena, and François Iglesias and Pilar Philip prepared the manuscript for publication.