This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC). It is the result of a 2-year policy dialogue with more than 70 stakeholders from public, private, non-profit sectors and representatives from the city of Granada, Spain.
The report and underlying policy dialogue were led by Oriana Romano, Head of the Water Governance and Circular Economy Unit, under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the CFE. The report was drafted by Oriana Romano and Ander Eizaguirre, Policy Analyst, who also contributed to the co-ordination of the policy dialogue with the local team. Melissa Kerim-Dikeni, Juliette Lassman, Andrea Accorigi and Luis Cecchi, Policy Analysts, contributed to the report.
The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the high level of commitment and support of the Mayor of the City of Granada, Luis Salvador García, as well as to his predecessor in the earlier stages of the policy dialogue, Francisco Cuenca Rodríguez. Warm thanks are also extended to the admirable local team in Granada for the excellent collaboration throughout the dialogue, coordinated by Gonzalo Jimenez Espinosa, Sustainable Development and Research and Development Director (Emasagra), Agustin Castillo-Martinez, General Co-ordinator of Public Works and Urban Development (Granada City Council); and Clemente Vergara Ballester, Sustainable Development Project Manager (Suez Spain). Warm thanks are also due to the local team: Dolores Ayllón Moreno, Sustainable Development and Innovation, Ana María Rodriguez Márquez, Administrative Assistant and Juan Carlos Torres Rojo, General Manager from Emasagra, Federico Sánchez Aguilera, Director of Institutional Relations from Hidralia, as well as Francisco Aranda Morales, General Co-ordinator of Economics, Business and Treasury, Granada City Council, Spain.
The policy dialogue benefited from insights from peer reviewers who are also warmly thanked for sharing their valuable expertise and guidance, namely: Ana Isabel Page Polo, Co-ordinator of Economic Promotion and Employment (City of Valladolid, Spain) and Eveline Jonkhoff, Program Manager Circular Economy (City of Amsterdam, Netherlands).
This report builds on a series of interviews with more than 70 stakeholders (Annex A) during the OECD visit to Granada, Spain (25 - 28 March 2019), a virtual webinar (4 March 2020) and a virtual policy seminar (23 October 2020), as well as insights from the OECD Survey on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions and desk research. Interim findings and progress results were presented at the 1st OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (4 July 2019, Paris, France) and the 2nd OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (31 March 2020, virtual). Stakeholders are also thanked for their written comments.
The report was submitted to Regional Development Policy Committee delegates for approval by written procedure by 3 May 2021 under the cote CFE/RDPC/URB(2021)2. The final version was edited and formatted by Eleonore Morena, and François Iglesias and Pilar Philip prepared the manuscript for publication.