Circular Economy - Results chain

A chain of results for the circular economy transition

The Circular Economy (CE) as a pillar of the European Green Deal is an increasingly important area of EU external action, including international cooperation and development policy. Circularity requires a systemic change addressing the entire economy, involving all its products and services, and calling for a diverse set of actions at multiple intervention levels. Designing actions and monitoring progress towards a CE can therefore be a complex task.

The new Circular Economy Results Chain for EU interventions, recently published on CAP4DEV, is intended to facilitate the preparation of CE projects and offers a handy tool to develop solid logical framework matrices. It identifies clear and measurable result statements that are in line with INTPA policy priorities. In line with the EU policy framework and lessons from relevant EU cooperation experience in developing countries, the Results Chain is built on four complementary areas of intervention: Inspiring and learning, Enabling, Financing and Implementing.

The Results Chain is a means to enhance coordination on the CE, as it illustrates results at both outcome and impact levels across several intervention areas. To the greatest extent possible, the indicators suggested in the result chain publication have been harmonised with indicators used under other relevant frameworks, including the SDG indicator framework, the EU Results Framework (EURF), and indicators proposed under the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III). The indicators presented reflect the need for broader measures of progress to complement gross domestic product in order to better inform policy decisions. The publication further includes guidance for data collection and data sourcing at the global level.

The Circular Economy Results Chain was jointly prepared by INTPA Unit D4 – “Performance, Results and Evaluation; Internal Communication, Knowledge Management and Collaborative Methods” together with Unit F2 “Environment, Sustainable natural resources”.