We are proud to announce a new member of our Urban Agenda Public Procurement Partnership:
ACR+
The Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management is an international network of cities and regions sharing the aim of promoting a sustainable resource management and accelerating the transition towards a circular economy on their territories and beyond.
This new member joined our Partnership in December 2024. Contact person is Núria Cases i Sampere, Project manager.
We have interviewed Núria and asked her to introduce her organisation and its role in our Partnership by answering below questions:
Why ACR+ applied for joining the UA Public Procurement Partnership?
The Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management is an international network of cities and regions that has been supporting the transition to the circular economy already for over 30 years. ACR+ has been actively working on circular, green and innovative public procurement, as it is a key instrument for public authorities to achieve sustainability goals. Some of our work includes participating in EU projects and sharing insights with our members, regularly updating the network on EU policy developments, organising capacity building activities, or elaborating guidelines and key recommendations for policy improvements.
Building on the experience from the ProCirc project, ACR+ in collaboration with its member Rijkswaterstaat, launched the C-PRONE initiative in October last year. This initiative aims to become a gateway for circular procurement, bringing together different projects, and initiatives that are working on the topic.
Joining the UA Public Procurement Partnership presents an excellent opportunity to expand our contacts and connect with an active network dedicated to advancing public procurement practices.
What are the challenges ACR+ faces in terms of Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement?
Public procurement can be a complex process, and public authorities frequently struggle with a lack of capacity to innovate or explore new approaches. Incorporating social and environmental criteria, or exploring opportunities for innovation, can be resource intensive, limiting their ability to drive meaningful change.
In some cases, there may be a willingness among a few individuals within an organisation to drive change. However, achieving meaningful and lasting transformation requires building awareness and fostering engagement across the entire organisation. To help address this issue, ACR+ is participating in an Interreg Europe project called Circular Minds, which aims to develop a capacity-building tool designed to help organisations to scale up and adopt circular procurement practices effectively.
What is the added value of the Partnership for ACR+?
Becoming part of the Partnership fosters connections with stakeholders working on the topic, creating opportunities to learn from their experiences. Sharing knowledge on best practices can help public authorities identify practical solutions to common challenges. Moreover, C-PRONE and the Urban Agenda can support and complement each other by collaborating and organising joint activities. We believe that through this collaboration we can achieve more impactful and effective results.
If you would like to know more about ACR+, please visit their website here.
If you would like to contact Núria Cases i Sampere directly, please send her an e-mail: