How does and can the Dutch international cooperation and trade programs contribute to the shift to circular economy?

In the Dutch policy context, there are large ambitions when it comes to circular economy – the country aims to be 50% circular in 2030 and fully circular in 2050. Lately, circular economy also became a hot topic in the international policy arena as reflected in the launch of the Global Circular Economy Alliance at the beginning of 2021. At the same time, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not yet have a strategy to mainstream circular economy into its activities abroad. This project is the first step to give the Ministry more insight into the extent to which circular economy currently plays a role in international cooperation and trade programs and how this differs across different departments. Secondly, the project aimed to give recommendations on how to improve the monitoring of circular economy relevant activities within the Ministry’s international programmes and for developing a comprehensive approach to circular economy across the different departments.

Darya J. (2011) - CC BY-ND 2.0