Public Policy for Circular Economy: The Case of the National Strategy of Circular Economy in Colombia

This chapter analyzes the National Strategy of Circular Economy in Colombia as the first public policy in Latin America on the topic. The National Strategy aims at improving resource efficiency through technological innovations and new business models as a response to resource scarcity and climate change. The public policy invites companies, entrepreneurs, business associations, agriculture associations, universities, research institutions, and diverse governmental institutions to adopt circularity as a new paradigm for innovation of production and consumption systems. The process of formulation of the National Strategy of Circular Economy, involved a bottom-up approach by organizing 20 regional workshops with stakeholders to discuss the circular perspective, priorities, indicators, initiatives, and stimuli to scale systematic changes. Early advances of the National Strategy stimuli include; innovation of regulations, capacity-building programs, information systems, international cooperation, and the identification of entrepreneurial cases. This chapter describes the background of the National Strategy of Circular Economy, the process of development, content, and early advances. Lessons learned are analyzed using the conceptual frameworks of institutional capacity building and power of network governance, thus contributing to the understanding of methodologies to develop public policies in circular economy.