Existing indicator frameworks
Indicators for the circular economy

The publication from the Urban Agenda partnership also offers an overview of existing frameworks for monitoring the circular transformation. Some of the most prominent ones are listed in the table below.

PublisherReport / projectFocus / special feature
ECIn-depth report on Indicators for Sustainable Cities (2015/ revised 2018)Including the following case studies: Barcelona, Dublin
  • focus on cities
  • focus on the environmental dimension of sustainability, not on CE
Ellen McArthur FoundationCircularity Indicators Project
  • focus on companies
  • provides a methodology and tools to assess how well a product or company performs in the context of a CE
  • indicators are relevant to the CE, but might be difficult to apply at city level
OECDGreen Growth indicators framework(updated 2017)
  • 30 indicators which are meant to help countries assess and compare their progress towards 4 main objectives:
    establishing a low-carbon economy,
  • resource-efficient economy,
  • maintaining the natural asset base,
  • improving people’s quality of life; and implementing appropriate policy to realise the economic opportunities of green growth
  • indicators are not dedicated to the CE
ESPONCIRCTER project
  • aims to provide information on the territorial dimension of the CE transition and
  • to provide evidence on local and regional patterns and flows of materials, including resources and waste.
  • 13 indicators
HORIZON 2020CITYkeys 
  • developed and validated, with the aid of cities, key performance indicators and data collection procedures for the common and transparent monitoring
  • as well as the comparability of smart city solutions across European cities
  • 73 key performance indicators
HORIZON 2020Synergic Circular Economy across European Regions (SCREEN) project
  • aims to develop a replicable systemic approach towards the transition to CE in EU regions within the context of their Smart Specialization Strategies
  • 9 assessment criteria
  • focus is on CE projects, but possibly some of the indicators can be adapted to cities
HORIZON 2020CIRCULAR IMPACTS project
  • aims to develop an assessment based on data and indicators of the macro-economic, societal and environmental impacts of a successful transition to a CE
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