VERNE - The one-stop-shop of accessible circular solutions for sustainable tourism
Updated on 13.11.2025
The VERNE project is dedicated to reimagining tourism through accessible circular solutions that prioritize sustainability and resilience. Tourism has long posed ecological challenges for local communities and ecosystems, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, straining water and natural resources, and perpetuating unsustainable practices. VERNE aims to address these issues by accelerating the transition of local and regional tourist destinations across Europe toward sustainable and circular models. At the heart of VERNE’s mission is the integration of circular economy principles to reduce waste, conserve energy, and protect ecosystems. By fostering collaboration across key sectors such as mobility, food, construction, and waste management, the project promotes environmentally responsible, inclusive, and resilient tourism practices that benefit both communities and industry stakeholders.
Leading organisation/partner
PNO Consultants
Countries
Spain, Denmark, Slovenia, Germany, Finland, Greece, Austria, Italy, Türkiye and Ireland
Regions involved
Island of Bornholm, Denmark; Sønderjylland-Schleswig region (Danish-German borderland); Santorini, Greece; Uusimaa, Finland; Pomurje, Slovenia
Sectors
Tourism
Scope and objectives
the VERNE project has the ambition to accelerate the transition of local and regional tourist destinations towards sustainable and circular models throughout Europe. VERNE will deliver an integrated and comprehensive framework to analyse the viability and the effect of circular interventions in tourism destinations, thus providing recommendations and pathways for the transition to more sustainable, resilient and inclusive business models for authorities, tourism industries and citizens. By directly collaborating with a broad variety of actors, such as public administrations, destination management orgnisations, private sectorservices and industries, citizens, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders, the project will develop, deploy and validate a pool of systemic affordable, collaborative, scalable and replicable solutions, demonstrating their implementation across 5 European representative tourist destinations (VERNE pilots). These solutions will encompass diverse approaches and technologies (digital solutions, improved waste and food waste management, wastewater treatment, use of electric vehicles, etc.) and will cover several sector and services for tourism (hospitality, transportation, culture, attractions, nature-based activities). All project solutions will be incorporated into new business models, offering a quantified demonstration of the enhanced effects on competitiveness and sustainability for the existing services in tourism. Finally, VERNE will also emerge as the main brand and the One-Stop-Shop for Sustainable Tourism, serving as a comprehensive hub of knowledge, tools and best practices on sustainable tourism. Strategically integrating all the project outcomes along with valuable insights, experience and data derived from the Circular Cities and Regions Initiatives and the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform as well as other projects, the VERNE One-Stop-Shop will not only become a collector of holistic knowledge on sustainable tourism but will also function as catalyser for the scalability and the replication of circular systemic solutions across Europe.
Key services provided by the project
To outline and showcase a pool of systemic circular and sustainable solutions for tourism, finely tuned on the attitude and interests of stakeholders at local and regional level in the target destinations, encompassing products, services and their associated business models.
Key deliverables
- D1.1 – Overview on strategies to assess circularity: SoA analysis, boundaries to circular and sustainable models, and pathway to the CBA and strategic assessment of circular tourism (Public, finalised April 2025).
- D1.2 - Multidimensional transition framework: Methodology for tourism companies incl. requirements and impacts of integrating circularity. (Public, June 2027).
- D2.3 – Business model booklet: Booklet for sustainable BMs in tourism with examples based on pilot learnings (Public, August 2027).
- D3.6 – VERNE Marketplace: VERNE Trustworthy Award-Based Marketplace for citizens and visitors (Public, October 2027)
- D5.2 – Guidelines for replication (Public, October 2027).
- D5.3 – Capacity building package (Public, October 2027).
- D5.4 – Policy recommendations package (Public, August 2027).
- D5.5 – One-stop-shop for sustainable tourism (Public, October 2027).
Key messages for project promoters
Circular economy strategies in the local and regional ecosystems:
- Transitioning to Circular Models: All strategies advocate for a shift from linear to circular models, focusing on waste reduction and resource efficiency.
- Collaboration and Governance: Effective cooperation among governments, businesses, and local communities is crucial for successful CE integration.
- Sustainable Infrastructure Investment: Investment in energy-efficient buildings, waste management, and green transport is central to many strategies.
- Innovation and New Business Models: The transition requires innovation, encouraging the development of new, sustainable business models.
- Local Adaptation: Each strategy is tailored to its destination’s unique cultural, economic, and environmental context.
- Monitoring and Impact Assessment: While some strategies include metrics for progress, all emphasize the need for evaluation systems to track CE implementation in tourism
Description of future collaboration with CCRI-CSO
VERNE envisions an active and strategic collaboration through knowledge exchange, participation in joint actions and potential integration of VERNE’s OSS into CCRI’s service portfolio.
Additional information
Local workshops in Spain to promote findings amongst the tourism communities. Mirroring the online workshop that took place in March 25th (online, ref) or in April 28th (Barcelona, no public information yet).
Communication channels:
