Circular Construction Economy

Towards a guiding framework: the Dutch circular goal-specification approach

The transition to a circular economy has reached a tipping point, as is described in the Integral Circular Economy Report (ICER). We now need to accelerate and scale up in order to reverse the adverse resource trends and realise a circular economy. On 14 July 2021, a policy brief by PBL, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, describing how to specify and substantiate the goals for a circular economy, was presented to the Dutch parliament. PBL indicates in the policy brief that the next step should be aimed at the selection of product categories that have the greatest impact on the four main factors:

• climate,
• environmental pollution,
• biodiversity and
• security of supply.

In addition, a specific, tailored and concrete set of goals for each of these product categories should be defined. This approach applies to the entire circular economy, and will be applied to the five transition agendas that have been developed, one of which is the circular construction economy.

This concludes stage 1 of the goal-specification approach for the circular economy. The second stage focusses on the further detailing and specification of the goals of these product categories, as well as the elaboration thereof in roadmaps, and matching implementation programmes for the next four years.

Overall, the goal setting process will comprise of three steps, which we will explain below, with a brief description of the approach of the CCE transition team.

Step 1: selection of most impactful product categories

In the first step the relevant departments and transition team jointly identify the most relevant (clusters of) product categories for the circular construction economy. Central criteria for the selection is which product categories have the greatest potential to realise impact with circularity on the four factors. The CCE transition team has selected:

• residential housing
• office buildings and industrial buildings
• civil engineering structures
• roads
• installations, for residential/non-residential buildings and infrastructure, in collaboration with the ‘manufacturing industry’ transition agenda.

Step 2: setting targets

In setting goals for the selected product categories we use the final goal in 2050 as described previously, and the 2030 goal that is a derivative of this. The reduction of impact on climate, environmental pollution, biodiversity and security of supply are starting points. To this effect we use an existing and widely accepted method in the construction sector to determine environmental effects, the ECI (environmental cost indicator) method.

Step 3: elaboration into product specific roadmaps

The transition team and departments elaborate the strategy per product category combining overall goals, circularity targets, and performance goals in a roadmap. Specific expertise on cross-cutting themes such as finance, legislation, etc. contributes to the process. The roadmap also indicates which activities (measures and instruments) are needed to meet the set performance goals.