Aragón Circular was launched in January 2020 with the signing of an institutional declaration by the Government of Aragón and the Social Agents, as well as leading companies in the field of Circular Economy in Aragón.
The Aragonese Circular Economy strategy, aligned with the United Nations principles on Circular Economy, the European Green Pact, the European Circular Economy Plan, as well as with the Spain Circular 2030 strategy, is designed with the aim of structuring the Aragonese territory, promoting an innovative, competitive economy that generates quality employment, always from the point of view of efficiency in the use of resources.
Aragón Circular is designed under 10 strategic commitments that refer to the generation of a new socioeconomic model that aims to reduce environmental impacts, promote eco-design, reduce greenhouse gases, promote R&D&I, promote training, generate a backbone strategy for the fight against depopulation, promote business activities by boosting efficiency and sustainability in the production and consumption phases, and include educational content at different levels of schooling.
As an element of recognition and visibility, the “Aragón Circular Seal” has been launched, which is a public recognition of companies and local administrations for their commitment to the circular economy model, the performance of good practices and actions to improve their circularity, within the framework of an excellent, innovative and sustainable management, which meet the established requirements, in addition to the legal obligations in force.
The Aragón Circular Seal is structured in two categories, Companies and Local Entities, having been presented in the first call for obtaining the seal a total of 101 applications representing 17 economic sectors of the Autonomous Community.
In order to disseminate the strategy and encourage participation in it, Aragón Circular has launched the website www.aragoncircular.es, highlighting the Good Practices section where innovative actions of companies and entities related to the Circular Economy are collected.
Aragón Circular has been presented in several conferences and forums, among them, last June in Brussels at the Green Growth Project Final Event, showing the Aragonese strategy to participants from different European countries, highlighting the leadership of our Autonomous Community towards a new and more sustainable economic model. This was a great opportunity to value the Aragon Circular strategy as a reference and to establish new contacts at international level, promoting from our territory a strategic framework in the regional economy, positioning the Circular Economy as a model of innovation in companies and generation of quality employment, also through European projects such as EMBRACE, RESOURCE and BIOLOG.
In terms of financing actions, the specific Sodiar Fund has been launched, endowed with €300,000, and in terms of grants, a new line of R&D in Circular Economy has been launched. In 2021, in the first call for these subsidies, 68 companies participated with investment projects of more than 30 million euros and the creation of 25 jobs. On August 8, the deadline for submitting applications for the second call for grants for R&D in Circular Economy was August 8.
Another of Aragón Circular’s fundamental lines of action is training, especially through the Expert Course in Circular Economy, which is being given for the second consecutive year in Teruel, in collaboration with the School of Industrial Organization (EOI), in ‘blended’ mode.
This wide range of actions, together with the important involvement of Aragonese companies and entities, is allowing us to advance towards the objective with which this strategy was born: to achieve a greener and more sustainable Aragon, a more circular Aragon.
Miguel Luis Lapeña Cregenzán
Director General of Planning and Economic Development of the Government of Aragon.
