Finnish roadmap to a circular economy 2016-2025 – Leading the cycle

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picture: Sitra

The world’s first national circular economy roadmap was drawn up in Finland in 2016. The roadmap is a strategic instrument for promoting comprehensive change in society. The roadmap brought together the views of key actors in society on the needs for change and measures relevant to the transition to a circular economy. 

Through strong and wide-ranging stakeholder work led by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the views of society’s key operators on the essential measures for promoting circular economy were collected, and ongoing circular economy projects were identified. Finland’s current Government Programme gained a strong circular economy emphasis on the basis of the roadmap.

Since Finland, many countries have drawn up their own circular economy roadmaps, and instructions for compiling a roadmap are now available to anyone interested.

What is the mission of the project in a sentence?

The mission is to make Finland a global leader in circular economy by 2025 and promote the objectives set in the EU Commission’s Circular Economy Package.

Where and when did the project start?

The project started in Finland in 2016 at the initiative of Sitra. The first roadmap was published later that year. The road map’s second edition “The Critical move”, published in 2018, updates Finland’s plans to reform its economic model to ensure successful sustainability.

Where (in which countries) is the service offered today?

Following the first roadmap in Finland, several European countries have begun to draw up their own national roadmaps. Following the publication of the “How to Create a National Circular Economy Roadmap” guide, published in connection with WCEF online (a top event in the circular economy organised by Sitra in autumn 2020), instructions for creating a roadmap are now available to everyone.

To whom is this service aimed?

Public administration, the business sector and the consumer interface. Private and public sector operators.

The Roadmap for a Circular Economy brings together the views of key stakeholders on how to move toward a circular economy. Governments, municipalities and cities, businesses and consumers all have their own role to play in promoting the circular economy.

What do you consider to be the most innovative aspects of your concept?

Roadmaps are often led by ministries, which can lead to the public administration perspective being overemphasised. Ours was a strong partnership between the private and public sectors with Sitra as a neutral and impartial leader. Sitra also had a unique and inclusive approach to the work. Furthermore, the working phase did not focus solely on the future, but also mapped existing projects. The focus is often on the future objective, but taking existing efforts into account gets neglected.

What are the most important impacts of your service in terms of sustainability?

The roadmap helps Finland comprehensively promote a circular economy. The Roadmap for a Circular Economy is a tool to help develop society toward a circular economy. It defines concrete steps for change and brings together the views of key societal actors on the necessary measures. It contains a vision, goals and concrete measures. In this way, the roadmap creates a common will to move quickly and fairly into a circular economy.

The roadmap work helped Finland identify the need to invest in circular economy education and teaching, for example. It was also discovered that Finland must join the international discussion about circular economy. As a result, the World Circular Economy Forum event organised by Sitra, together with both domestic and international partners, was established.

Which aspects are particularly interesting from a design perspective?

Design has become increasingly important in actual roadmap creation as the project has advanced. As the latest measure, Sitra has turned the roadmap creation model into the “How to Create a National Circular Economy Roadmap” guide. This concept was created in cooperation with service designers and utilising service design methods.

Overall, design has a vital role in reducing the amount of waste, for example, and its importance will only continue to grow.

Do you also offer the service digitally?

Yes: https://www.sitra.fi/en/publications/how-to-create-a-national-circular-economy-road-map/.

What are some interesting numbers about the project?

Spring 2021:

Since Finland’s first national roadmap was published in 2016, at least 20 European countries have published a circular economy roadmap or strategy on the basis of Finland’s example. The need for circular economy education became evident during our roadmap work, and now over 70,000 students in Finland are learning about circular economy. Year 2020 the World Circular Economy Forum was organised online and over 4,200 people from 123 countries participated in the event. This year (2021) the World Circular Economy Forum Online is hosted by Canada.

More than 1,000 participants (workshops, online commentary, events) were involved in the preparation of the roadmap. The roadmap received more than 250 proposals for measures, and 64 measures were selected for the final roadmap.

What happens next? What are your goals?

The roadmap is just one part of Finland’s strategic circular economy programme, and the focus is on moving the overall process forward. Dynamic change is more important than an individual strategy or tool.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, a strategic programme proposal for a circular economy was prepared for Finland in 2020 and approved by the Government in April 2021. With the programme until 2035, the government wants to strengthen Finland’s role as a pioneer in the circular economy.

Check out Sitra's infographic

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