CCRI-PDA projects should demonstrate the financial viability and sustainability of circular economy investment projects at local and regional scale and provide tangible showcases that should trigger further market replication. The CCRI-PDA should provide support for those activities necessary to prepare and mobilise finance for investment projects, such as feasibility studies, stakeholder and community mobilisation, business plans and preparation for tendering procedures or setting up a specific financing scheme/financial engineering. The CCRI-PDA should support public and private project promoters to launch investments for activities aimed at increasing circularity in economic sectors that are relevant for the transition towards a sustainable circular economy at local and/or regional scale.

Proposals should clearly focus their activities on the launch of significant circular economy investments at local and regional scale. The investments should be launched before the end of the action, which means that projects should result in signed contracts with investors for circular economy investments at local and regional scale to that effect. In addition, proposals should include all following features:

• Clearly focus their activities on the launch of significant circular economy investment programmes at local and regional scale;
• An exemplary/showcase dimension in their ambition to increase circularity in specific sector(s) at local and regional scale and/or in the size of the expected investments and leverage factors;
• Delivery of organisational innovation in the mobilisation of the investment programme (e.g. bundling, pooling or stakeholder engagement);

Proposals should justify the budget for the project development assistance needed based on the expected investment portfolio to be set up. This includes the amount of investments that is expected to be triggered and the respective leverage factors to be achieved. Indicatively, the CCRI-PDA focuses on small and medium-sized circular economy investments of up to €20 million. The EU contribution per proposal should not exceed 10% of the related investment.