The Circular Economy: a cross-sectoral strategy for sustainable development

The project “Inclusive, sustainable and smart cities within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean”, of the cooperation program between ECLAC, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), focuses on strengthening the technical and institutional conditions to promote sustainable development in the field of action of urban connectivity. The project’s structuring axis is the big push for sustainability approach, according to which the post-COVID-19 recovery of cities should be characterized by better environmental practices, more qualified jobs, production with greater technological content and coordination between the private investments and a strategic vision formulated by the States.

The concept of circular economy has been gaining more and more relevance, especially due to its cross-cutting nature across economic sectors. The transition towards a circular economy entails a profound change in the way in which production and consumption are produced, as well as the development of economic models that make it possible to create value in a sustainable manner. For this reason, the objective of this event is to update the state of the art of the implementation of the circular economy in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, presenting the studies and initiatives of the region in different sectors. Likewise, cases of development and implementation of technologies and policies in this area are presented, as a way of sharing experiences, contributing to the fulfillment of global decarbonization goals.

The agenda will be developed as follows:

• Block 1: State of knowledge or progress of the circular economy (CE) in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region
• Block 2: Technologies and initiatives for circularity in various sectors
• Block 3. State of progress towards circularity in cities and countries – technologies and policies
• Block 4: Necessary policies to accelerate the implementation of CE in LAC (contrast between technologies and policies)