Circular Economy Green Deal

The Circular Economy Green Deal boosts society’s transition to action that is in line with a circular economy. It consists of common rules and criteria, actions taken by the central government, and commitments to promote a low-carbon circular economy by organisations that wish to join in. The Circular Economy Green Deal is a voluntary strategic commitment, which means that no formal agreements are concluded.

Through the set of measures, the actors that join the Green Deal can identify the most relevant actions in terms of their own activities and baseline situation to promote a circular economy and set targets and indicators related to these. The evaluation group, composed of researchers, submits its recommendations to the Ministry to either approve the commitment or to correct it in certain respects. The commitment is then approved by the highest decision-making body of the organisation making the commitment. The organisation is obliged to report on the progress made every three years.

Current issues

How was the Circular Economy Green Deal prepared?

How was the Circular Economy Green Deal prepared?

The Circular Economy Green Deal was prepared in close collaboration among the ministries, research institutes and other parties that joined in.

It was an outcome of two mutually supportive processes:

  • Scenario work led by research organisations (Finnish Environment Institute, Geological Survey of Finland, Finnish Natural Resources Research Institute, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Aalto University and Statistics Finland) created an understanding of the situation in terms of the consumption of natural resources and its impacts on the environment and economy. Besides this, scenarios based on science were drawn up on the opportunities of a circular economy to promote wellbeing and a sustainable economy.
  • The Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and parties that joined in worked together to prepare the groundwork, rules and criteria for the Circular Economy Green Deal. Based on the scenarios, the ministries, research institutes and parties that joined in developed a set of targets, measures and indicators that constitute the commitments of the Circular Economy Green Deal. 

The Circular Economy Green Deal is composed of three elements. First of all, we have a common goal, common ground rules and criteria for the objectives and measures of the commitments. Second, there is the range of measures and objectives of sectors, companies, regions and municipalities. The third element are the commitments by which sectors, companies, regions and municipalities join the Circular Economy Green Deal.

Phases and schedule of the Green Deal

The process to prepare the Circular Economy Green Deal started in spring 2022, when the ministries invited sectoral organisations, companies, regions, cities, municipalities and other parties to participate in the preparation. More than 80 parties representing different kinds of organisations joined the process, including most of the Finnish regions, major cities, key business and sectoral organisations, the largest forest sector companies, and a good number of operators in the construction sector. At this point, the commitment only concerns the preparation, not making the commitment to the final Green Deal.

From the beginning of 2023, the work has focused on six most impactful types of operations to be changed that were identified in the stakeholder cooperation.

  1. Resource-wise buildings 
  2. Industry based on a circular economy
  3. Sustainable consumption and business
  4. Material-efficient energy system 
  5. Renewing food system

The operators decide on joining the Circular Economy Green Deal with their own commitments on the basis of work and support from the scenario work. The report on the scenario work became available in March 2024. The model for the Circular Economy Green Deal commitments is to be completed in April 2024 and it is to be published, together with the first commitments, in June 2024.

There are several phases in the Circular Economy Green Deal and scenario work. Those committed to the development process work together with the ministries to set the criteria, objectives and measures for the Green Deal. First, the interested parties are brought together. The ministries invite municipalities, cities, regions, sectoral organisations and companies to join in. Those interested in the Green Deal and scenario work make a commitment to the process. Next, the ministries draw up the ground rules and minimum criteria for the objectives and measures to be selected for the commitments based on feedback from parties and research institutes involved. Co-creation of objectives and measures is launched together with the parties that have gotten involved. Those committed to the development produce lists of possible objectives and measures that take into account different types of actors. Based on these lists, the parties involved formulate their own commitments in accordance with the minimum criteria. Then they will proceed to the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the measures. The work on the Circular Economy Green Deal and the material flow analyses and scenarios to support it will continue until the end of 2023. The implementation of the measures of the Circular Economy Green Deal starts in 2024 and will continue until 2035.

More information

Taina Nikula, Senior Ministerial Adviser 
Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Environmental Protection Department, Circular Economy Environment Council  Telephone:0295250202   Email Address:

Sari Tasa, Senior Specialist 
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Innovaatiot ja yritysrahoitus, Yritysten kansainvälistyminen ja toimialakohtainen elinkeinopolitiikka, Kiertotalous ja hiilineutraalius Telephone:0295048242   Email Address: