Goal

Identify a focus area for the City Scan Tool, based on data and local knowledge.

Stage of development

Beta available. In testing.

To see in the tool

The tool currently displays a 3 step prioritisation through:

1. Sectors
2. Materials
3. Impacts

As a user, you are guided through each of these elements. Based on the data available, you will be provided the option to select the most meaningful sectors, materials, and impacts, and continue exploring the tool.

To do in this step

1. Choose one sector relevant for the context of your city based the presented data on emissions, jobs, and Gross Value Added (GVA) across all sectors.
2. Choose at least one material to focus on based on total physical flows of inputs and waste per sector selected.
3. Choose at least one impact that aligns to strategic goals of the city for the selected sector.

Sector

You are presented with a standardised list of industry sectors and you must pick one to study.

To inform your selection the tool offers you a comparison chart with the corresponding data on emissions, jobs, and Gross Value Added (GVA) data (assuming that the data for your city has been uploaded). More information on how this type of data is collected and measured can be found in the previous step.

Reasons to choose a sector:

1. High relative emitting sector: a polluting sector could be a prime target for circular redevelopment.
2. High relative employment: many jobs concentrating in a sector could indicate that there is significant knowledge and experience in that sector, and consequently potential innovation capacity.
3. High relative GVA: high GVA could indicate that there is a lot of value being created in that sector, which means there is margin and experience to support innovation.
4. Low relative employment and high material footprint: this combination could indicate that there is an opportunity to upskill and increase employment in this sector, and implement innovative solutions to reduce material footprint.
5. Low relative GVA and high material footprint: this combination could indicate that there is an opportunity to valorise waste, improve material efficiency, and add circular value in the sector.
6. ...and many more depending on the context.

Note: currently the tool enables you to select one sector at a time. If you would like to discover opportunities for multiple sectors, create an individual scan for each sector.

If you click on any sector, a side panel will open up on the right, defining the sector and explaining how that sector relates to the circular economy.

Scrolling down within the side panel several case studies on existing circular economy initiatives and projects that focused on that sector are presented.

Note: Cities are complex systems, therefore the selection of a single sector can oversimplify the issue at hand. It is pivotal for the final selection of the focus sectors to have a complete picture of the city context. This means that data collected so far on jobs, emissions, and GVA should be complemented with qualitative data, which can be gained via interviews with representatives of the different sectors and with the continuous involvement of the municipality and other experts in the decision making process.

After you have selected one sector, click on 'Narrow by materials' in the bottom right corner.

Materials

After choosing a sector you can further narrow your focus down by selecting physical material flows to analyse. To inform your selection, the tool offers you a Material Flow Analysis chart, which shows you yearly input and output (waste) flows of materials within the chosen sector in your city. You can select all materials or narrow the focus to one or several materials.

See more about the Material Flow data by clicking on 'Data' in the left toolbar, 'Material Inputs', and 'How to collect'.

Reasons to choose a material:

1. High relative material inputs: an obvious starting point, as the highest volume of material usage can potentially be reduced through circular innovations.
2. High relative waste: there is an opportunity to reduce relative waste in this sector by upcycling and implementing waste valorisation techniques.
3. Politically relevant materials: if a material is a focus strategic area in your city - such as biomass is in many cases - then, despite the volume of inputs and waste, a particular material may be selected.
4. ...and many more depending on the context.

In the tool, click on the names of the material flows on the left of the screen for further information on how these materials are produced, what their challenges or opportunities are in relation to the circular economy, and to see accompanying case studies.

For each of the material flows, click on the grey downward-pointing arrow to the right of the name in order to see the sub-materials that the 'main' materials comprise. For example, crop residues, crops, wood and animal products are the sub-materials for the 'main' material 'Biomass'.

You can sort materials in terms of their usage in terms of inputs or in terms of their contribution to waste generation per each sector by clicking on the 'Sort by' tab.

Note: It is preferable to be as specific as possible and select sub-materials rather than general material categories, like in the screenshow below.

After you have selected materials, click on 'Narrow by impacts' in the bottom right corner.

Impacts

After selecting sector and material, you will be able to select one or more impacts to focus on. These impacts refer to material and environmental effects that you hope to achieve when implementing circular economy solutions for the selected sector.

For example, if you selected the sector 'Construction' and the material 'Wood', relevant impact areas for circular economy opportunities could be 'Reduce material consumption' and 'Minimize waste'. All impacts are linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a list of 17 goals to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030. More information on these goals can be found here.

The impacts included in the tool are:

• Reduce emissions (SDG13)
  Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions released into the biosphere.
• Reduce material consumption (SDG12)
  Reducing the consumption of raw and input materials though material efficiency or use of secondary, reusable, recycled, regenerative resources.
• Minimize waste (SDG12)
  Minimising waste through waste diversion or design. Instead of sending waste to landfill, waste flows can be redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. Additionally, at the outset of a process or a project, or before manufacturing a new product, plan and design can be done in a way that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at the end-of-life.
• Save water (SDG6)
  Increase water efficiency, reduce water leaks, and reuse and recycle storm, rain and wastewater.
  
  Note: impacts are currently focused on materials and the environment. More nuanced and contextually specific materials and impacts will be developed in the future.

After you have selected impacts, click on 'Explore opportunities' in the bottom right corner.

Additional guidance on selection

To select each of these 3 elements, you should make sure to:

• Interpret the data in the tool to understand which sectors are of real importance.
  • When selecting the sectors, it is important to not look at numbers alone. Include data uncertainties, trends over time (e.g. declining tourism sector), expert opinions and other qualitative observations in the decision making. For instance, 'Manufacturing' might not show a high environmental impact in the tool, but your expertise might indicate that it has a high impact due to associated up-stream and down-stream activities. Therefore, even if the data does not directly support 'Manufacturing' as one of the sectors to select, it could still be worth including it into the tool.

• Perform additional desk research on the sector's negative impacts, importance within the city's policy agenda, and local momentum.
  • Gathering additional information can be useful to identify negative impacts not related to emissions (i.e. high waste generation, job loss, health and safety risks, etc.). A political analysis can help identify key topics and sectors that are important on the city's agenda either for sustainability or economic reasons. Then, some sectors might be of importance because of growing local momentum and media attention around them (i.e. many local business and city initiatives already planned or underway to accelerate the transition to a circular economy).

• Collaborate with local stakeholders to determine priorities
  • Engaging with stakeholders is crucial to achieve consensus on which sectors, materials, and impacts to select. Involve key stakeholders in the decision making process via interviews with representatives of the different sectors and with the continuous involvement of the municipality.

More about the material flows data

Unit

The value is provided in kilotonnes (ktons).

Material Classifications

Material flows are classified according to Eurostat material definitions, which are also in use by the United Nations. See more about material flow accounts and the details of each classification here. The material categories, for both input and waste data, are described as follow:

• Biomass: Biomass is the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues of biological origin from agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste. Crops, crop residues, wood and animal products are part of this category.
• Fossil Carriers: Fossil energy carriers are non-renewable materials, which include coal, oil, and natural gas. These fossil carriers contain energy that can be later converted to other forms such as mechanical work or heat, or to operate chemical or physical processes. This category is further divided into liquids and gasses (i.e. crude oil, natural gas, and other fuels), and coal and solid fossil carriers (i.e. lignite, hard coal, tar sands, and peat).
• Minerals & chemicals: Minerals are solid chemical compounds, most commonly associated with rocks. These rocks may consist of one type of mineral, or may be an aggregate of two or more different types of minerals. Glass and cement are part of this material category. The category is further divided into construction dominant minerals and chemicals, primarily used in the construction sector, and industrial/agricultural dominant, primarily used in chemical, industrial, or agricultural processes.
• Metal & Ores: Metals are chemical elements that are extracted and processed from mineral ores. Metals, such as aluminum, iron, zinc, gold, silver, tin, and mercury represent a significant fraction of total material flows in the economy. Ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals are subcategories of this material flow.

If you are using a different material classification in your region, then the data needs to be converted and matched to these material categories. These material categories are in alignment with what is used internationally at a Tier 1 level, although discrepancies can occur in Tier 2. These discrepancies have to be assessed on a case by case basis as a globally applicable definition is still in development.

Material Input Data

The material input data is a physical measure of the resources consumed within a given sector in a given year (measured in kilotonnes). The values in the tool do not include consumption by households.

Material input data is often not available at a city level, and even less so for a specific sector or material flow. Various methods exist to estimate input data, with different implications on data quality depending on which material data or scaling down method is used. We create country level profiles of material usage per industry, in kilograms aggregated by material flow. This is done by using national figures of material flows (kg) aggregated according to industry standard for material definitions. We utilise Raw Materials Equivalents (RME/product) by final consumption at the EU level to derive country level product consumption in kg by material category. Then we utilise economic figures regarding industry use of products to derive industry use of products in terms of material categories in kg.

Waste Data

City waste data is defined as data on the waste that is generated in the city (measured in kilotonnes) - rather than waste treated in the city. In order to estimate waste per sector we look at the total waste generated per economic sector. We classify waste streams into their matching input flow to estimate quantities and proportions of waste per sector per material flow. This national level data is scaled down to city level using population data (in the absence of more representative scaling factors such as employment or GVA).

Unfortunately, due to the current lack of comprehensive waste data across a number of geographies, there may not be data on some waste streams in the tool. In this case, we invite you to make your choice based on the data available in the tool, any data you may have collected relating to the sector's material flows and your general knowledge of the city's urban metabolism. If you do so, it is important to distinguish between waste data in terms of residential (derived from households) and non-residential waste (generated by industrial, commercial and institutional sources, as well as construction and demolition activities).

Note: The Circle City Scan Tool at this time does not allow the upload of waste data. If you would like to upload your waste data into the tool - kindly send it to us and we will do a manual upload for you. We will consider adding the waste data upload feature depending on how many cities express an interest in it.

Challenges

• Data is only a 'snapshot' of a given year
  The analysis only represents the resource flows in a focus area for a given year associated to the sector's activities (e.g. Construction: purchase of materials to build and generation of construction waste from construction and demolition in a given year).
  
• Data gaps
  In the City Scan Tool, we provide high level estimates of materials and wastes as they relate to sectors. However, if this level of detail is insufficient for your decision making needs, you can click on Data > Material Flows > How to collect to conduct a more detailed analysis of material flows. Data collection is by far the most challenging aspect of measuring materials in the city. Major data gaps are to be expected, as information is often scattered. In many cases, data has to be collected at the local government level, retrieved from private repositories of academic institutions, or expensive "gray-box-data" from the private sector.