The EIB, in its capacity as the EU and Climate bank, embraces the potential of the circular economy and supports the public and private sector in their circular transition. The EIB’s circular support builds on three mutually reinforcing activities: 1) Awareness raising, 2) Advisory support and 3) Finance.

The EIB supports circular projects within the following categories:

• circular design and production;
• circular use and life extension;
• circular value recovery;
• circular support.

An overview of the EIB's activities in circular economy is available on its dedicated webpage. Additional information about the circular definition and criteria used can be found in The EIB Circular Economy Guide, which aims to promote a common understanding of the circular economy concept as well as raise awareness on the promotion of circular solutions. The guide provides valuable information on the EIB’s circular lending and advisory activities and guidance on the types of projects supported. This guide is regularly updated and responds to the emerging challenges in the field of circular economy. Further EIB circular economy principles can be found in this document, which lists eligible sectors and criteria for contribution to EIB’s climate action and environmental sustainability lending target.

Recognising the important role cities can take as cradles and ecosystems for the circular transition, and catalysts and facilitators for circular action and change, the EIB has established the Circular City Centre – C3. This competence and resource centre supports EU cities in their transition to a circular economy, with focus on helping cities identifying and preparing impactful circular projects for financing and implementation.

C3 is led by the European Investment Bank, co-funded by the European Commission as part of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative, with external support from a consortium comprising Circle Economy, Arup, ICLEI and ECORYS.

C3 supports cities in four ways:

1. Provision of guidance documents on relevant circular topics and other tools for awareness raising and mobilisation;
2. Facilitation of circular knowledge sharing and dissemination through webinars, roundtable discussions and other activities;
3. The Circular City Advisory (CCA) programme supports cities at various stages of their circular transition. The CCA comprises 3 standardised programmes adapted to the level of circular progress made in a city. Each programme consists of a series of 4 workshops with active exchanges between the C3 team and the city representatives. A description of the C3 CCA programme can be found here, and an expression of interest form here.
4. The Circular Project Advisory (CPA) programme offers tailored advisory support aimed at developing sizeable and mature circular projects towards investment readiness and implementation. A description of the C3 CPA programme can be found here, and an expression of interest form here.

All C3 services are provided free of charge to municipalities and other public sector promoters acting on their behalf.

More information about C3 can be found on the C3 web page or in this 2-page C3 in-brief document. Commonly asked questions are responded to in this C3 FAQs. For any C3 related questions you can reach the C3 team through C3@eib.org.

In the context of the CCRI, the C3 is an important complement to the other CCRI initiative’s services, in particular regarding the financing of circular projects. The EIB and the CCRI-CSO collaborates in several different ways, acknowledging EIB’s role as the financing focused CCRI partner:

• The CCRI-CSO informs CCRI Pilots, Fellows, as well as cities and regions involved in CCRI Projects about C3’s offer and services;
• The EIB/C3 participate in CCRI Thematic Working Group meetings and activities, providing expertise and knowledge to the participants, in particular in relation to financing;
• EIB/C3 contribute to joint webinars and other events on funding and financing schemes;
• Relevant project-related information is exchanged to provide for further advisory and financing support;
• C3 guidance documents and tools are utilised to support CCRI Pilots and Fellows.

• The 15 Circular Steps for Cities
• A Catalogue of Circular City Actions and Solutions
• A Guide for Developing a Circular City Strategy
• A Guide for Circularity in the Urban Built Environment