Circular Cities Barometer showcases how cities are accelerating the shift to circular living

• Circular Cities Barometer showcases world’s top 30 cities leading the shift to circular living
• London tops overall ranking, followed by Seattle, Copenhagen, Paris and Zurich
• More than 300 best practices of circularity in buildings, energy, mobility, recycling, policies and more

Holcim and Bloomberg Media launch the second edition of the Circular Cities Barometer showcasing the world’s top cities leading the transition from a linear to a circular economy. London tops the list driven by the city’s leadership in circular buildings and investment, followed by Seattle, Copenhagen, Paris and Zurich. The Circular Cities Barometer also welcomes five new cities, including Vienna, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Washington, D.C. and Madrid, to bring the total to thirty.

Jan Jenisch, Chairman & CEO of Holcim: “With our world’s rapid urbanization, cities are at the center of the shift from a linear ‘take-make-waste’ economy to a circular ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ one. Holcim is leading the transition to circular building by recycling construction demolition materials into new solutions across all key metropolitan areas where we operate. This Barometer is designed to fast-track circularity by offering unique insights into what the world’s most innovative circular cities are doing to inspire urban leaders around the world”.

Key indicators of circular cities include sustainable buildings with advanced certifications from LEED to BREEAM, broad-based use of renewable energy, people connected with many green mobility options, recycling hubs for materials to stay in use in closed loops and access to nature with a high level of tree cover inside cities. Urban planning and investments providing an enabling regulatory environment are key levers cutting across all the most advanced circular cities.

Several key themes emerge from this year’s rankings. Cities appear to be moving towards global alignment, for example cities in the Global South such as Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Quezon City, are joining several of the leading city-level organizations in order to be part of the international conversation. When it comes to scale, smaller cities like Copenhagen have a growing advantage over bigger cities such as Wuhan. Lastly, when financial incentives from entities like the World Bank are available, cities are more likely to sign up to circular initiatives and partnership.

As part of the newly launched Circular Cities Hub, a partnership between Holcim and Bloomberg Media, the Circular Cities Barometer measures how fast thirty global cities are transitioning from a linear, to a circular economy. Broken down by indicators, Zurich is the top city in the Barometer for circular living. Montreal and Seattle are the Barometer leaders in circular systems. London tops the Barometer for both circular living and circular building categories. The Barometer provides unique insights into what the most innovative cities around the world are doing to become more circular and to inspire others to join this movement to fast track progress.

Based on a proprietary algorithm, the Barometer scores cities based on the circularity of their buildings, systems, living and leadership. This year’s Barometer features a new indicator in the Circular Buildings category (Construction and Demolition Waste) and the Circular Leadership Category (Circular Procurement). The database showcases more than 300 best circularity practices from cities all around the world and is updated and expanded on a yearly basis.
 

The Circular Cities Hub, a dynamic platform showcasing cities, ideas and projects accelerating the shift to circular living and building, is available here: Circular Cities Hub

For more details on how Holcim is helping build circular cities see: How to build a circular city