The World Circular Economy Forum 2023 from 30 May to 2 June in Helsinki, Finland

The World Circular Economy Forum 2023 will gather together forward-looking thinkers and doers and present the game-changers in the circular economy. WCEF2023 is co-organized by Nordic Innovation and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, with international partners. Participation is free of charge; Live participation is by invitation only, however, you can register for online participation. Read more about the whole event.

Circular Change director Ladeja Godina Košir will attend the meeting and participate in the Global Circular Economy Roadmap Initiative Workshop.

Global Circular Economy Roadmap Initiative -Workshop

In preparation for Stockholm+50, Chatham House's Environment and Society Programme organized online workshops and dialogues, culminating in the launch of a paper at the Stockholm+50 conference in June 2022. The paper proposed a global roadmap for an inclusive circular economy. After receiving feedback from various stakeholders worldwide, including governments, businesses, practitioners, researchers, and civil society, Chatham House, with support from multiple organizations, officially launched the initiative at the World Circular Economy Forum in December 2022. This initiative aligns closely with the objectives of the Global Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production 2023-2030, which was adopted in October 2022. The Executive Committee and UNEP, acting as the Secretariat of the One Planet Network/10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, decided in April 2023 to implement the Global Circular Economy Roadmap as a track under the Global SCP Strategy.

Workshop Objectives in Helsinki:

• Conduct an extended planning meeting with the Executive Committee and stakeholders to co-create and organize roadmap activities for 2023, including the visioning process and a UN SDG Summit side event.

• Collaborate with UNEP OPN and 10 YFP Secretariat for the Global SCP Dialogues series.

Participants: Approximately 50 registered participants attending in person, with additional participants joining online.

The workshop will be held in person using the Zoom platform. Please register at this link.

Draft Agenda of the workshop

Arrival from 12:30

13:00 – 13:15: Round of introductions (for those who are participating in person)

13:15 – 13:30: Welcome remarks

• Laura Järvinen (Sitra)

• Patrick Schröder (Chatham House )

• Adriana Zacharias (UNEP One Planet Network/ 10 YFP Secretariat)

13:30 – 14:00:  Recap – the Global Circular Economy Roadmap process so far…and the road ahead, Q&A 

• Jack Barrie and Patrick Schröder (Chatham House)

14:00 – 15:00: What are circular economy roadmaps? How do they work? Why are they useful? What are the lessons for a global roadmap?

Experiences and insights from the members of the Executive Committee group (5-7 minute presentations)

• Ladeja Kosir (Circular Change and European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform) – Eastern European roadmaps

• Arpit Bhutani (Circular Innovation Lab) and Institute of Strategy, Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) – Asian experiences (Vietnam and Philippines)

• Bonmwa Fwangkwal (tbc), plus ACEN and Trinomics – African roadmaps

• Laura Järvinen (Sitra) – Finland/Nordic region

• Latin American roadmaps (tbc)

• Discussion and Q&A

15: 00 – 15:30 – coffee/tea break

15:30 – 16:00  One Planet Network Global SCP Dialogues - updates and planning (timelines, steering committee, upcoming events)

• Adriana Zacharias and Fabienne Pierre (UNEP OPN and 10 YFP Secretariat)

 16:00 – 17:00 Breakout groups for process and activity planning

Topics:

1. Visioning process and methodology planning (Jack Barrie)

2. Planning for side event at UN SDG Summit in September 2023 (Patrick Schröder)

3. Increasing participation of Global South stakeholders (Arpit Bhutani)

4. Synergies with other initiatives (CE finance roadmap for international finance institutions by Circle Economy, Go Circular by GIZ, Green Building Council Roadmap, WBCSD Circularity Protocol)

17:00- 17:30 groups report back on actions items

17:30 -18:00 discussion, next steps and closing

18:00 onwards (dinner and drinks, location tbc)