The Circular Economy and Its Financing in Practice
Funding for Projects in the Circular Economy

In this section, we identify the sources of funding that are actually mobilized in the circular economy sector and that entrepreneurs in this field frequently rely on.

As we noted in the introduction, the circular economy encompasses many sectors of activity. Consequently, financing circular economy projects can never rely on the same evaluation criteria, which is why a typical financing pathway cannot be established.

In this context, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative defined support for CE projects in October 2020 in very broad terms: “Circularity financing covers any type of financial service where funds are used exclusively to finance, refinance, invest in, or insure—in whole or in part—new and/or existing businesses or projects that advance the circularity of our economies”