sustainable.circular Programme Are circular approaches and products always sustainable? What management tools and approaches are needed to integrate Circular Economy developments with sustainability goals? What skills do specific actors need in order to develop circular solutions that are sustainable as well? Our sustainable.circular programme was launched to help address such questions and ensure that Circular Economy endeavours are informed and led by a clear vision to achieve more sustainability. Funded by the German Federal Environment Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt – DBU) and in collaboration with the Federal Association for Sustainable Economy (Bundesverband Nachhaltige Wirtschaft – BNW), the first round of the sustainble.circular programme targets German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a backbone of the economy, SMEs will have to undergo a major transformation in order to remain competitive and succeed in times of rapid change. This transformation requires mindset shifts as well as implementation capacities. The first round of the sustainable.circular programme will develop practice-relevant action catalogues and checklists for management tools, training formats with a focus on skills, and overall capacity building on change processes in order to close the gap between circular and sustainable strategy and action in companies. First, a survey will be conducted to gather information regarding the importance, strategic approaches as well as specific needs within the companies. Building on that, the project will focus on three companies, which will be used as case studies to analyse, compare and synthesise learnings on strategic approaches and tools that have a high potential to enable sustainable circular solutions. As a follow up step, customised workshops will be held with the companies selected for the case studies in order to gain additional insights and support them in advancing their Circular Economy strategies and actions. During the workshops, the companies will also identify skill building opportunities and management approaches to maximise their impact. At the end of the first round of the sustainable.circular programme, a recommendation toolkit will be developed for future uptake from other companies. This round of the programme with German SMEs is funded by DBU and implemented by the CSCP in cooperation with BNW.