Knowledge and innovation for circular transition

Sveinung Rotevatn, Minister of Climate and the Environment, was the first spaeker at the CEC2020 conference

9. September 2020

SINTEF hosted a very successful Circular Economy conference, the fourth in a row, with over 1600 participants. The topic for this year's conference was to share new knowledge and create new opportunities in the transition to a circular economy. Norwegian and international companies, researchers, decision-makers and the Minister of Climate and Environment, Sveinung Rotevatn, were present.

Sveinung Rotevatn was the first speaker with a presentation called "Why, who and how". It is all about minimizing the use of resources and following a product's lifecycle and knowing what will happen to the product after its lifetime. Circular economy doesn't mean that we should have restrictions regarding new technology, but that the technology that is developed must give us better solutions, better products, and better services. The resources must be used in a sustainable way, and produce less emissions.

Here are links to the entire conference which took place in Oslo and was divided into the following topics:

09:00 - 10:30 State of the Nation: Where are we on the way to circularity? Norwegian and international perspectives.
10:45 - 11:45 Global Voices of experience: We hear from forefathers and nations who have already made progress on the circular journey.
12:45 - 13:45 Voices from the industry: success stories and challenges to be tackled.
14:00 - 14:30 Funding opportunities and tools for your innovation projects: EEA Norway Grants and Horizon 2020

A number of reports and knowledge bases were presented at the conference and links can be found here:

Deloitte: study on circular economy (In Norwegian)
Study of the potential for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and the transition to a low-emission society through circular economy strategies. The report was presented by SINTEF.
Circular Norway Gap Report
UN Global Compact Norway presented: Input from solution platform for circular and carbon-neutral business models (In Norwegian)
Walter Stahels Circular Economics, A Handbook (In Norwegian)
The forthcoming guidebook for a circular economy by Sitra. The report can be found here when it is published: https://www.sitra.fi/en/topics/a-circular-economy/

This year's conference was held with a limited number of participants physically present, and many participants digitally. The participents came from over 20 different countries.