| Posted July 30, 2019

The CSCP Publishes the Circular Economy Guidebook for Cities

Cities are growth engines in need of supervision and control. They are the major contributors to climate change and responsible for up to 76% of the carbon emissions. Even though they occupy less than 2% of the Earth surface, they account for 75% of natural resource consumption and 50% of global waste production. The Circular Economy Guidebook for Cities addresses these challenges by suggesting systematic approaches, deriving context-related recommendations and providing concrete examples united under the goal to achieve progress towards circularity in cities. When looking at the “how to achieve progress” it becomes clear that common collaborative action between different […]

| Posted July 23, 2019

EU Commissioner Andriukaitis Praises the Legacy of REFRESH Project on Food Waste Reduction

The European Union (EU) Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis congratulated the success of the REFRESH project as an outstanding research project with valuable results and impacts. The REFRESH project ended in June 2019 and in a video message, the Commissioner emphasised that thanks to the concrete actions and tools developed, the project results will continue to guide EU policy for food waste reduction. Commissioner Andriukaitis pointed out that the extensive research done by the REFRESH project has helped “to understand complex questions on what drives food waste at consumer and business levels”. He mentioned the national Pilot Working Platforms […]

| Posted July 4, 2019

Supporting the Change of Behaviours That Can Have an Impact

Nudges, social norms, digital tools and triggers for shifting to plant based diets, saving energy at home or reducing daily food waste – these are just some of the examples that participants could experience and discuss during the Day of Change, which was organised by the Academy of Change project in Brussels on 1 July 2019. To keep global rise of temperatures to 1.5 degree, substantial reductions of CO2 emissions related to our lifestyles have to happen fast. Sari Laine, of the Finnish Innovation Fund SITRA presented the Summary of 1.5 degree lifestyle report, highlighting high emission impact areas like meat […]

| Posted July 3, 2019

Join Us at the Final Inter-Sectoral Health and Environment Research for Innovation Conference, 10 December 2019 in Brussels

For our future generations to inherit a sustainable planet, it is crucial for us to protect the environment in ways that promote health and reduce inequities. The Horizon 2020 research project INHERIT (INter-sectoral Health and Environment Research for InnovaTion) promotes this by identifying ways of living, moving and consuming that protect the environment and promote health and health equity. The CSCP contributed to the 4-year research project INHERIT by creating four future scenarios, which show European societies where healthy, sustainable and equitable lifestyles have been adopted. The CSCP also led the process by organising workshops with citizens in five European countries […]

| Posted June 30, 2019

Circular Cities Workshop: Discussing Effective Steps and Discovering New Business Models

For cities, the circular economy approach does not only offer completely new ways to a sustainable future and a better quality of life for their citizens, but also unimagined economic potential. In June, the CSCP held a one-day Circular Cities Workshop at the Wuppertal office, which brought together many stakeholders such as city representatives, companies, and policymakers to discuss ideas and approaches on how to make cities more circular. The workshop participants were introduced to the topic through the presentation of recent case studies from the CSCP’s projects – R2Pi and the Guidebook Circular Cities (which will be published later this […]

| Posted June 29, 2019

State Prize 2019 Awarded to Dr Klaus Töpfer by Prime Minister Armin Laschet

The State Chancellery announced that this year, the highest award of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the State Prize, goes to Professor Dr Klaus Töpfer. He is a former Federal Environment Minister of Germany, long-time Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Under-Secretary-General of the UN and also the founding member of the CSCP. Prime Minister of NRW, Armin Laschet will award the prize to the environmental politician and scientist on 16 September 2019 in Bonn. The award ceremony will be held by Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel. While congratulating Töpfer for his award, Laschet highlighted his commitment […]

| Posted June 28, 2019

Circular Economy Entrepreneurs Conference in Switzerland

“Do you need light bulbs or light?” This quote by Robert Metzke, Philips AG was one of the central questions regarding the circular economy at the Circular Economy Entrepreneurs Conference in Langenthal, Switzerland. Organised by the Swiss Economic Forum, The CSCP played an active role in this conference and led a deep dive session on the consumers’ role and responsibilities in the circular economy. “If you look after me, I’ll look after you” was the slogan under which Ken Webster from the University of Exeter presented the basic principles of the circular economy, which is reduce, reuse and recycle. Through this, […]

| Posted June 27, 2019

Behaviour Change Approaches to Be Applied in SCALIBUR Project Pilots

European households produce between 118 and 138 million tonnes of biowaste every year. Biowaste is a valuable resource and can be transformed into green energy, organic fertilizer, feed, biopesticides, bioplastics and many other bio-based products. However, the biowaste management process from collection to treatment and disposal must be optimised to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. Improving biowaste collection and valorisation is also in line with European Circular Economy Package published in December 2015. Transition to a circular economy will require changes in the whole value chain; in product design identifying new methods turning waste into products, new business and market models and changes […]

| Posted June 26, 2019

The CSCP and Sitra Set Up the Consumer Insight Action Panel at the World Circular Economy Forum

The 3rd World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) took place in June 2019 in Helsinki and brought together about 2200 key circular economy thinkers from across the globe. Hosted by Sitra, this year’s forum laid a strong emphasis on the next era of the circular economy and scaling up the transition. European Union (EU) policies and decision makers have already recognised the importance of understanding and integrating consumer knowledge and behavioural insights into the circular economy transition. Despite the importance of insights in consumer behaviour, there is little research or action on behaviour change with specific regard to the circular economy, and […]

| Posted June 25, 2019

How Can Sustainability Labels Work More Effectively?

Even though the interest in sustainability is on the rise, most labels – represeting environmental and social standards – and their underlying criteria are widely unknown. The CSCP partnered with Verbraucher Initiative and Wuppertal Institute to support the German government in raising awareness for their meta label platform Siegelklarheit. A label for the labels? Labels are an efficient shortcut for consumers to search for products and production practices that go beyond and above legal requirements. However, their sheer number and complexity of criteria causes in itself a communication challenge. Siegelklahrheit, an initiative of the German government, has been established a couple […]

show more