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 frameworks and criteria, and of commitments to promote a low-carbon circular economy by the parties that wish to participate. The Circular Economy Green Deal is voluntary, and no formal agreements are concluded.
The Circular Economy Green Deal enables the parties involved to identify circular economy actions in their own operations that have the greatest impact. These parties have access to the knowledge created during the preparation process and can use this in developing their work and in decision-making. The participants are expected to make a commitment to activities such as collaboration and collecting data on their own field of operations. Those making the commitment to the final Green Deal are required to have fulfilled their own commitments and reported on the progress they have made.
Current issues
- The Circular Economy Green Deal is now being constructed with lots of enthusiasm, volume and participants. The Green Deal will be based on scientific scenarios that are unique in terms of scope and coverage. Read a news item on how the work proceeds (8 May 2023).
How is the Green Deal on a circular economy being prepared?
The Green Deal is prepared in close collaboration among the ministries, research institutes and other parties that have gotten involved.
It will be 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) will create 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 will be 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 have gotten involved are working together to prepare the groundwork and ground rules for the Circular Economy Green Deal. Based on the scenarios, the ministries, research institutes and parties that have gotten involved will set objectives and develop measures that will constitute the commitments of the Circular Economy Green Deal. The ministries are responsible for setting the criteria, taking into account the feedback received from the research institutes and other parties.
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.
- Resource-wise buildings
- Circulating soil and rock materials
- Resource-wise production and circulating materials
- Sustainable consumption business and sharing economy
- Resource-wise energy production
- Renewing food chain
The parties involved will decide on their participation in the Circular Economy Green Deal with their own commitments on the basis of the information and support gained from the scenario work. The scenario work, model for the commitment to the Circular Economy Green Deal and the first commitments will be completed by the end of 2023.
