For the first time in South America, the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF, by its acronym in English) 2025 was held in São Paulo from the 13th to the 16th of May. The Juneteenth (15) is marked by four acceleration sessions organized by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German organization that promotes international cooperation for sustainable development, together with FGV EASP, Ideia Circular and Prevent Waste Alliance, with a full day dedicated to debates and exchanges of experiences on the circular economy.

The program begins with the session “Practical guidance to access circular financing”, promoted by the PREVENT Waste Alliance and Circle Economy, addressing ways to make circular initiatives financially viable. Further, ICLEI and the Circular City Labs (CCL) project conducted the session “Combating single use: Cities promoting reusable containers”, highlighting urban strategies for waste reduction. The CCL project, implemented by GIZ in collaboration with ICLEI and with the support of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aims to reduce winter greenhouse gas emissions through waste prevention, promoting reusable packaging systems and strengthening women's participation in them. local circular economies.

María Camila Ramírez Puerta, Project Leader of the Environmental Secretariat of the Municipality of Medellín, participated in the event to explain how the project is progressing in the Colombian city: “We look at the approaches: a pilot project for the reuse of containers, with a gender perspective that privileges the work of women in production of reusable coffee pots. Secondly, we have a roadmap towards implementing returnability and reuse actions, which we hope to incorporate into different instruments, such as public procurement policy, so that we can achieve important targets and reduce winter greenhouse gas emissions”.

Experiences that inspire practice

In the afternoon, GIZ led the session “Achieving climate goals through circularity”, strengthening the connection between circular practices and climate commitments. To close the day, ICLEI and Ideia Circular presented “Circular Cities: Local Solutions for Global Impacts”, focusing on how local actions can drive sustainable transformations on a global scale. The last session included a specific panel on good practices in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the participation of authorities such as María Victoria Flores, Minister of Environment and Circular Economy of the Province of Córdoba, and Osmario Ferreira, Executive Secretary of the Executive Secretariat of Urban Cleaning of São Paulo. Paula Mèlic Bonet, Delegate of the Government of Catalonia in Brazil, also participated in the session to share about the Coalición de los Plásticos and the Rol de los Gobiernos en la Economía Circular: “Today we are experiencing a very serious environmental problem with the use and excessive production of plastics, on the ground for the climate, bell also for human health”.

ICLEI launched the Coalition of Local and Subnational Governments to End Plastic Contamination in April 2024 together with the Government of Quebec, the Government of Catalonia, CGLU (Cities and United Local Governments) and other partners. The objective of the Coalition is to ensure that an ambitious but practical instrument is collectively developed with local and subnational governments, and to ensure their participation and resources to contribute to the end of plastic contamination. Access the official website to obtain more information and support the Coalition.

Alejandro González Valencia, Director of ICLEI Colombia, María Julia Reyna, Director of ICLEI Argentina, and Rodrigo Corradi, Director of ICLEI Brazil and Deputy Executive Secretary of ICLEI América del Sur, participated in the event together with the organization's technical team, and Camilo Herrero represented the GIZ Colombia team.

All sessions reflected the central role of the circular economy as a driver of innovation and sustainability in urban and global contexts. "The development must be obligatorily circular and person-centered, equitable. The examples we saw here help us understand how circularity and the fight against inequality in the territories are linked. Therefore, our action is with the people and for the people in the territory, with a logic of sustainability that allows us to be here and be able to be in the future in a less unequal society and that can live better with our ecosystem“, highlighted Rodrigo Corradi at the end of the journey.