Context: 

Recently, India launched the Cities Coalition for Circularity (C-3), a multi-national alliance for city-to-city collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and private sector partnerships for sustainable urban development.

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The launch of C-3 was announced during the inauguration of the 12^th Regional 3R and Circular Economy Forum in Asia and the Pacific in Jaipur.

At the launch event in Jaipur, a significant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for CITIIS 2.0 was signed, marking a major milestone in urban sustainability initiatives.

• Agreements worth ₹1,800 crore under it were announced for the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain 2.0 (CITIIS) initiative, benefitting 18 cities across 14 states.  

The C-3 forum will adopt the Jaipur Declaration (2025-2034), which is a nonpolitical, non-binding commitment that will guide the next decade of efforts towards resource efficiency and sustainable urban growth.

About the Cities Coalition for Circularity (C-3): 

• To accelerate the adoption of a circular economy by connecting cities, academia, and tech innovators.
• It focuses on helping cities in the Asia-Pacific region to address challenges in waste management and resource efficiency. 
• To catalyze resource efficiency and a low-carbon economy, strengthening collaboration between policymakers, industry leaders, and researchers to build a more sustainable future.
• India plans to present C3 as an important digital platform to encourage collaboration, partnerships, and innovation between the cities of the nation and the world.
• The Indian PM proposed the formation of a working group of member nations to finalize the structure and operational framework of the C-3 coalition.

Other Circular Economy initiatives:

• Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment).
• Panchamrit's goal at COP26 is committing India to net-zero emissions by 2070.
• Swachh Bharat Mission & AMRUT 2.0, tackling urban waste and wastewater recycling.

Circular Economy 

• It is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. 
• In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. 
• The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.