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This collection features a selection of inspiring examples of the circular economy in Norway! 

Circular Norway is a driving force for the conversion of Norwegian companies and municipalities to a circular economy through practical tools, innovation, and business development. They collaborate with the leading environments on the circular economy in Europe, and together they contribute to Norway delivering on the sustainability goals and climate goals in the Paris Agreement.

At 2.4%, Norway's circularity rate is below the global average (8.6%). Norway consumes 235 million tonnes of materials—metals, fossil fuels, biomass, and minerals—to fuel its societal needs each year. 97.6% of these materials are never cycled back into the economy. But Norway has enormous potential: the country could see a 20-fold increase in its circularity by restructuring Norwegian business and industry.

To learn more about Norway's initiatives to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, visit www.circularnorway.no/ (content in Norwegian) 

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Circular Norway

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This collection comes from the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>, an initiative of Circle Economy.

The workforce is an essential lever for transforming our economy from linear to circular. The Circular Jobs Initiative aims to maximise the employment opportunities offered by the circular economy. It provides practical support and insights to businesses and governments that want to adopt circular strategies that have a positive social impact.The Circular Jobs Initiative works through three focus areas: 

- Upskilling the workforce

- Quality of work

- Inclusive job opportunities 

CJI has defined circular jobs as any occupation that directly involves or indirectly supports one of the strategies of the circular economy. It distinguishes between three types of circular jobs: core, enabling and indirectly circular jobs.

**Core circular jobs** are all jobs that ensure the closure of raw material cycles, including jobs in repair, renewable energy, waste and resource management. 

**‍Enabling circular jobs** are jobs that remove barriers for and enable the acceleration and upscaling of core circular activities, including jobs that arise in leasing, education, design and digital technology. 

**Indirectly circular jobs** are jobs that occur in other sectors that do not play a direct role in furthering the transition to the circular economy but can still adopt circular strategies. They include jobs that provide services to core circular strategies, including jobs in information services, logistics and the public sector.

The Knowledge Hub Collection includes examples of circular jobs, publications, reports, case studies and policies different organisations, governments and businesses are already using to advocate for a person-centred circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>

Visit the <a href="http://jobsmonitor.circle-economy.com/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Monitor</a>

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Circular Jobs Initiative

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Article / Report

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

While resources are in-use, maintain, repair and upgrade them to maximise their lifetime and give them a second life through take back strategies when applicable

Stretch the lifetime

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

Work together throughout the supply chain, internally within organisations and with the public sector and communities to increase transparency and create joint value

Team up to create joint value

Use digital, online platforms and technologies that provide insights to track and optimise resource use, strengthen connections between supply chain actors, and enable the implementation of circular models



Incorporate digital technology

'Inform' increases the overall levels of awareness and builds the necessary skills and knowledge around the circular economy to foster long-term change.

Inform

'Mobilise' sets the direction of and builds momentum towards long-term change, while also determining how this direction is determined and governed.

Mobilise

Impacts

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policies

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Circularity Gap Report Norway er klar, og viser at den norske økonomien er 2.4 % sirkulær.  I rapporten kan du å lese om hvordan vi kom frem til dette tallet, og hvilket løsninger som finnes i den norske økonomien. EU og Norge skal legge om fra lineær til sirkulær økonomi. I dag er verdensøkonomien kun 8,6 prosent sirkulær. Circularity Gap Report Norway er den første kartleggingen av Norges materialavtrykk, og den gir et måltall på sirkularitet i norsk økonomi. Sirkulærøkonomi er nøkkelen til utviklingen av et bærekraftig samfunn, og et viktig satsningsområde for den norske Regjeringen. I Granavolden-erklæringen står det: «Norge skal være et foregangsland i utviklingen av en grønn, sirkulær økonomi som utnytter ressursene bedre, og utarbeide en nasjonal strategi om sirkulærøkonomi.»  Rapporten inneholder anbefalinger for hvordan Norge kan bli mer sirkulært. Arbeidet er et næringsdrevet initiativ ledet av Circle Economy og Circular Norway i samarbeid med Skift, Virke, Avfall Norge,   Forbrukerrådet, Biogass Oslofjord, Naturvernforbundet, RENAS, Schibsted, Finn og Ny Analyse. Sintef og NTNU har bidratt med kunnskap og vitenskapelig rådgiving. ​Circularity Gap Report Norway skal kartlegge hvor sirkulært Norge er. Rapporten vil etablere en felles måling og måltall for norsk samfunn og norsk næringsliv. Her skal potensialet og fordeler samt barrierer og utfordringer i Norge bli analysert slik at vi kan iverksette tiltak som kan lukket gapet. Prosjektet peker på muligheter for kvantifiserbare forbedringer som danner grunnlag for utarbeidelse av en relevant og effektfull politikk. ​ Behovet for kjennskap og et faktabasert bilde på den norske sirkulærstatus er stort, både blant forskere, næringsaktører og offentlige myndigheter.  Gjennom kontinuerlige årsrapporter ønsker vi å undersøke om tiltakene som blir iverksatt reduserer gapet eller om det må nye tiltak til. ​ Circularity Gap Report Norge startet høsten 2019 Høsten 2019 startet Circular Norway, sammen med vår nederlandske partner Circle Economy arbeidet med å mobilisere norske aktører for å utarbeide Circularity Gap Report Norge.  Les om første møte med samarbeidspartnerne her. ​ Global Circularity Gap Report lanseres på Davos januar 2020 Den globale økonomien forbruker 100 milliarder tonn materiale hvert år. For første gang reverseres gjenvinningsraten. Verdensøkonomien er kun 8.6% sirkulær, som betyr at kun 8.6% av materialene og ressursene vi henter ut fra naturen kommer tilbake i kretsløpet igjen. Dette er en nedgang fra 9.1% for to år siden da den første rapporten ble lansert i 2018. Circle Economy annonserte tallet ved lanseringen av den tredje årsrapporten, som kartlegger og analyserer status på verdensøkonomien, Circularity Gap Report 2020. Rapporten ble lansert i Davos under World Economic Forum 2020. 
  Les om lanseringen av den globale rapporten her.Har du spørsmål om prosjektet?  ​ Kontaktperson: Alexander Christiansen ​ Tlf: +4748178088 ​ Email: 

With the right interventions, Norway has the potential to increase its circularity up twenty times and become a pioneer in the circular economy.Download the reportRead the FAQCircularity metricNorway

Norway

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OUR MISSION IS TO ACCELERATE THE PRACTICAL AND SCALABLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

At Circle Economy, we believe in a visionary future for our planet — one in which we do not have to compromise in order to achieve economic, social, and environmental prosperity. As an impact organisation, we connect and empower a global community to create the conditions for systemic transformation. With nature as our mentor, we work alongside businesses, cities and governments to identify opportunities to make the transition to the circular economy, and provide a powerful combination of practical and scalable solutions to turn these opportunities into reality.
‍
Our mission is to empower a global community of businesses, cities and governments to accelerate the transition to the circular economy through practical and scalable insights and solutions that address humanity’s greatest challenges.

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Circle Economy

Circular Norway helps companies, municipalities and national authorities to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Through international cooperation and the use of practical models and tools, we build a bridge between climate- and material-footprints; businesses and cities; and data and platforms. 


Norway’s Circularity Metric is 2.4%, and at 44.3 tonnes per person, per year, it has one of the highest global rates of consumption, per capita. Of all the materials consumed in the country, over 97% are not cycled back into the economy. This is Norway’s Circularity Gap. The reality of the linear economy in Norway is complex and suggests that the country should not only strive to increase its circularity but should also prioritise strategies that reduce its overall and absolute consumption: its material footprint.

Circularity Gap Report Norway

Policy case

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Refining and processing ores and producing ferrous and non-ferrous metal and glass products, including packaging

Metal and Glass

Producing and gathering crop and animal products from land and water through farming, hunting, and fishing

Agriculture

Industry peers to industry peer collaboration to create joint value and identify synergies

Industry collaboration

Industries

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The CELSA Nordic Group is formed by CELSA Armeringsstål, which includes a steel plant and a rolling mill; and CELSA Steel Services, formed by four different units that develop manufactured products located in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Each location allows us to operate and supply our customers with great strategic and competitive advantages.

Celsa Nordic

Our purpose is to create a more viable society by developing natural resources into products and solutions in innovative and efficient ways.

Hydro

The Process21 circular economy expert group has, through close&nbsp;collaboration between&nbsp;industry, academia and representatives from the tripartite constituents, created&nbsp;strategic advice and recommendations to the Norwegian government.

Process21: circular industry collaboration 

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Final Ph 3_4 - Report - Circle Scan Kongsvingerregionen

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Employ online platforms to connect and improve information sharing between stakeholders

Digital platforms

Research and facilitate new technological developments to aid the transition to a circular economy.

Research and Development

Kongsvingerregion

The Kongsvingerregion has in collaboration with Circle Economy and Circular Norway completed a Circular Scan.The Scan focused on the built environment value chain in the region.The scan resulted in 4 circular pilot projects, Regional construction network and digital marketplace, Demolition waste as a resource, Circular public procurement and O-House - circular housing for young adults. Two reports have been created from the process. The first report look at phase 1 &amp; 2, with focus on material flow and socio-economic analysis. The second report look deeper at the strategic development of the pilot projects.

Circle Scan Kongsvingerregion

Business case

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

As a result of the Circle Scan Kongsvingerregion, the region is now starting a pilot project for Circular public procurement. The goal of the pilot is to increase knowledge about circular economy and deliver a circular procurement criteria set. The ultimate goal is to complete a circular procurement process.

Circular procurement is a learning process

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Circle Economy and ICLEI have partnered up to initiate the go to knowledge hub of case studies about the circular economy in cities. The Cities Collection is a repository of case studies that demonstrate the role of cities in the circular transition, and includes policies, business cases and research articles. Cases in the Collection flow into an ecosystem of digital products which support users in transitioning cities to circularity, for example [Ganbatte](https://ganbatte.world/cities/) and <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/" target="_blank">ICLEI Circulars</a>, both part of the <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/circle-lab-for-cities/" target = _blank">Circle Lab for Cities Programme.</a>

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Circular Cities

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Producing indoor products for the home and office, such as furniture, including upholstery, carpets and wall-coverings, as well as cutlery, cookware, glassware, crystal, silverware, utensils, kitchenware and household specialties

Home and Office Furnishings

Providing residential and non-residential construction services, such as architectural, engineering, planning, real-estate, contracting, and inspection services

Construction and Real Estate Services

Redesign systems to lay the foundation for circular activities and enable the transition to a circular economy 

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Rethink

High-level changes to policy and practice (such as taxation systems, investment and procurement guidelines and criteria) that disincentivize activities that perpetuate linear economic systems, as well as vision-setting (goals, roadmaps) to catalyze
action on circularity across the city

Eliminate linear incentives and set goals and incentives for circularity

The built environment, including housing, commercial buildings, and the necessary infrastructure for mobility, is essential for our livelihoods, but:
- the extraction of minerals used to produce construction materials is responsible for a quarter of global land use change,
- approximately 40% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to buildings’ construction, use and demolition, and
- construction and demolition processes drive nearly one-third of all material consumption. 

Making the built environment more circular must prioritise a heavy reduction in material use—while also closing the loop on materials and bringing secondary and renewable material choices to the fore. Our four key solutions for the built environment are:
- Make the most of what already exists: Make the most of existing materials by reusing, repurposing, upgrading and renovating following circular approaches. Where new builds are needed, use secondary materials and be as efficient as possible with urban planning solutions that follow circular design principles so that buildings can be reused, repurposed, and easily disassembled in the future.
- Be as energy efficient as possible: From the design phase, utilise circular strategies to create material- and energy efficient buildings. Couple these designs with a rollout of clean energy solutions, and prioritise energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting. 
- Utilise secondary materials: Maximise the high-value reuse of buildings and components where possible. Ideally, enable the utilisation of construction and demolition outputs and ensure that as much of it as possible is recycled to avoid the need for virgin materials, such as sand and gravel.
- Prioritise circular materials and approaches: Transition to using renewable wood, timber or cross-laminated timber instead of steel and concrete, or move to other locally available materials. Utilise mainstream modular construction and prioritise lightweight frames and structures to reduce cement and steel use, as well as green roofs where possible.



🏢 Built Environment

Manufactured goods, such as vehicles, textiles, appliances and equipment and their associated production processes are big employers but:
- production processes often rely on fossil fuels and currently drive one-third of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its GHG production, 
- material- and energy-intensive industrial activities are linked to deforestation and drive 15% on both the land use and freshwater planetary boundaries, 
- manufacturing goods results in substantial amounts of hazardous industrial waste and leaks chemicals into the environment.

Here, circular solutions must tackle the full value chain, but material demand must also shrink: this will necessitate a societal shift to favouring sufficiency over excess and reducing consumption to sustainable levels. Our four key solutions for manufactured goods are:
- Mainstream industrial symbiosis and efficiency : Achieve process improvements, scrap diversion and reduction in yield losses through greater industrial symbiosis and efficiency. Foster tighter collaboration within and between industries to deliver powerful material and emissions savings.
- Extend the lifetime of machinery, equipment, and goods: Maximise the lifetime of goods that serve our daily needs to bring a number of environmental benefits. 
- Buy what's needed: Reduce the number of purchases of common electronic goods, appliances, and other equipment to sufficiency levels. 
- Eschew fast fashion in favour of sustainable textiles: Drastically reduce new clothing purchases. All used clothing should go on to be repaired, reused or, if needed, recycled appropriately. Prioritise natural and local textile manufacturing, as well as higher-quality and more durable garments. 




👕📱 Consumer Goods

Businesses

Governments

Cities can directly support the transition towards a circular economy and emission reduction targets by leading by example through their public procurement activities. This is especially true regarding the built environment, as cities manage a sizable portfolio of buildings and infrastructure. Through procurement, local governments can help to develop the market for circular products and services, including circular materials as well as product-as-a-service or leasing models for building components (such as flooring, elevators and lighting). They can also manage the existing and future building stock in a way that contributes to closed energy and material loops within supply chains, whilst minimising—and ideally avoiding—GHG emissions across the entire life-cycle of procured construction materials and activities. 

Local governments have several levers at their disposal: investing in renovation and maintenance work, retrofitting and repurposing (if necessary) existing building stock to avoid new construction, and specifying circular criteria in public tenders for the design, construction and management of buildings. These criteria could, for instance, include mandatory requirements for the use of secondary or bio-based materials in new development projects, or specify design for adaptability, deconstruction and reuse. Additionally, the uptake of ‘green contracts’—agreements that require the contractor to develop and implement a site management plan and favour certain types of resources—can also stimulate circular operations by integrating circularity in the legal relationship between building owners, operators and users. Furthermore, to increase the use of secondary materials, local governments can deploy staging areas, in which recovered construction waste can be temporarily stored for reuse. 

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🏢  Circular public procurement for new buildings and infrastructure

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

Cities and regions represent a key enabling environment for the circular economy. This Circle Region Scan is designed to reveal where opportunities lie for the circular economy in the Kongsvinger region (Norway), especially within the scope of the built environment value chain, a key area for regional development.The Scan encompasses four sequential phases which form a guided process to develop and select the best circular economy strategies for the Kongsvinger region built environment value chain. ‍Report phase 1 & 2 - Published June 2020‍This first report presents the methodology, results and conclusions of Phase 1 (socio-economic analysis) and Phase 2 (material flow and build stock analysis) of the Circle Region Scan of the Kongsvinger region. This analysis  was the basis on which in the next  phases practical and  scalable pilot projects at a regional scale were developed.‍Report phase 3 & 4 - Published December 2020This second report sets the ground for the region's built environment transition towards a circular economy. The document outlines the action plans that can support local and national stakeholders to implement the circular pilot projects defined through phases 3 (circular strategies) and 4 (action plans). ‍You can access both through the Download link below.

Kongsvinger

Kongsvinger Kommune

Industrial and technological innovations by themselves cannot drive the systemic changes needed to achieve the transformation of the current linear system. The role of education through skills and knowledge development is key. This pilot project focuses on developing the right skills and knowledge in a circular tender team of the region of Kongsvinger. The stakeholders involved in this pilot project will select and shadow the process of six linear tenders (one for each municipality in the region), with the intention to work in parallel to define the process in a circular manner. The identified tenders will range a diversity of topics, such as furniture or building materials.