Companies in Colombia’s chemical, textile, and lumber sectors may submit proposals by September 15, 2014. The companies selected will receive training and technical assistance from experts who will work with them to identify ways to improve environmental performance and production systems design. The training will help the companies be better positioned, from a technical standpoint, to seek financing for making their production systems more sustainable.

The three sectors were selected because of their considerable economic and socio-environmental impact, based on their contribution to GDP, number of companies in each sector, and number of employees, as well as their energy and water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. More information on the call for proposals and selection criteria is available here.

Colombia’s Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism and the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued the call for proposals in August, as part of an initiative of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) called “Closed Looped Cycle Production in the Americas.” This initiative seeks to guide efforts by the public and private sectors to transition toward a circular economy, one in which materials that have reached the end of their useful life are recycled or repurposed. The OAS recently held two workshops on the subject in Colombia, in Bogotá and Medellín.

In spearheading such programs as the one in Colombia, the OAS aims to show the viability and feasibility of innovative closed-loop production methods, including “cradle-to-cradle” (C2C) design, in the countries of the Americas.