DELIVERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY A TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS

DELIVERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY – A TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS • 39
2 METHODOLOGY FOR POLICYMAKERS TO
ACCELERATE THE TRANSITION
This toolkit aims to support policymakers who have decided to transition
to a circular economy in designing a strategy to accelerate this process. It
offers a step-by-step methodology to explore and prioritise circular economy
opportunities; quantify their impact; identify the barriers preventing these
opportunities; map and prioritise the policy interventions to overcome these
barriers; and to engage relevant stakeholders.
The methodology is laid out in Figure 5, and detailed below.
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2
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Align on starting point, ambition and focus (Chapter 2.1). As in any strategic
project, relevant stakeholders need to be mapped and engaged early on in
the process. Based on an understanding of the national circularity and policy
context (Section 2.1.1), a realistic ambition level (Section 2.1.2) and sector scope
(Section 2.1.3) needs to be defined.
Assess sector circular economy opportunities (Chapter 2.2). Once the
focus sectors have been selected, the sector-specific assessment can begin.
This step can be conducted in parallel sector working groups, and heavily
relies on the involvement of businesses. The most relevant circular economy
opportunities need to be mapped (Section 2.2.1) and prioritised (Section 2.2.2).
For the prioritised opportunities, sector-specific economic impact needs to be
assessed (Section 2.2.3), barriers limiting their realisation identified (Section
2.2.4) and policy options to overcome these barriers mapped (Section 2.2.5).
Analyse economy-wide implications (Chapter 2.3). Once the sector-specific
circular economy opportunities have been assessed, they can be aggregated
and the economy-wide implications analysed. This step will typically be driven
by a core group of policymakers, policy and economics experts and with the
participation of multiple government agencies. The sector-specific impact
assessments could be aggregated in one overarching whole-economy impact
assessment to support the mandate for policy intervention (Section 2.3.1).
Sector-specific policy options could be complemented by economy-wide
policy options (Section 2.3.2). The set of sector-specific and economy-wide
policy options needs to be prioritised and assembled into coherent policy
packages (Section 2.3.3).
The steps outlined in the methodology have been designed to be implemented
consecutively; but policymakers could also pick one or a few of the tools and use
them – to a certain extent – standalone or in a different order. Each of the tool sections
below contains a ‘standalone’ description of the tool’s context and objectives, a tool
description, and a how-to-use guide.
The methodology has been designed to be applicable in any country or region, with
different nuances and focal points to accommodate for local circumstances. Chapter 2.4
outlines some of these potential adaptations.
2.1 Align on starting point, ambition and focus
As in any strategic project, relevant stakeholders need to be mapped and
engaged early on in the process. Based on an understanding of the national
circularity and policy context (Section 2.1.1), a realistic ambition level (Section
2.1.2) and sector scope (Section 2.1.3) needs to be defined.
In this first step, the core team should have at their disposal strong business analysis
skills and expertise in the circular economy, including the ability to benchmark circularity
metrics, facilitate first discussions with project stakeholders, and make an assessment
of the role in the national economy and circularity potential in the sector selection.