About the C3

The Circular City Centre - C3 is a competence and resource centre within the European Investment Bank, which supports EU cities in their circular economy transition. It is a joint initiative between the EIB and the European Commission.

Recognising the role of cities as cradles and catalysts of circular action and change, C3 supports cities make circular progress and identify and prepare sound circular projects for financing.

C3 can help cities address many of the linear problems they struggle with today, to become more resilient, resourceful, clean and liveable for residents and businesses.

C3 supports cities in four different ways:

By mobilising EU cities through awareness raising activities to help them understand and embrace the benefits of the circular economy
By offering guidance documents and tools to help cities take circular action
By delivering Circular City Advisory (CCA) programmes to support cities in their circular transition, from developing circular economy strategies to preparing circular projects for financing and implementation
By helping cities to prepare circular projects and improve their access to financing via Circular Project Advisory (CPA) support

Launched in October 2021, C3 concluded its pilot phase in 2023. In the pilot phase, C3 developed 4 guidance documents on topics related to the circular economy, delivered CCA programmes to 7 pilot cities and organised 4 C3 webinars.

Who can benefit?

Cities can receive free advice and support to start or advance their circular transition through participating in the C3 CCA programmes. They can also receive support on preparing circular projects via the C3 CPA programme.
Public sector project promoters working for and on behalf of cities can also benefit from this support.
Parties interested in cities’ transition to circularity can access a wide range of resources and tools to support circular initiatives and projects, or attend C3 webinars.

Learn more and get involved

The Circular City Advisory (CCA) and the Circular Project Advisory (CPA) programmes are provided free of charge to cities and other public sector promoters acting on their behalf. You can find out more about the CCA programme here and the CPA programme here.

How to apply for the CCA or CPA programmes?

If you want to participate in the CCA or CPA programmes, please fill in and submit these forms: CCA CPA. Following receipt of the forms, the C3 team will get in touch with you to discuss the programmes that are best suited to your needs.

For further information or assistance, please contact us.