Driving Local Economic Development through Circular Innovation
How Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Legislation can Advance Circular Innovation
The circular economy is becoming increasingly important for resource security and sustainable development. The fourth TAFNE workshop explored how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation can drive circular innovation and local economic development. Representatives from the Colorado state government, Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, and the Munich-based innovation hub Circular Republic shared lessons from Colorado's packaging EPR framework and emerging European and German textile EPR requirements.
Participants discussed how effective implementation can strengthen local recycling ecosystems, stimulate innovation, and create new market opportunities. The workshop highlighted policy tools such as eco-modulated fees and Digital Product Passports, which encourage sustainable product design and improve product traceability. A key takeaway was that successful circular economy systems require not only regulation, but also investments in recycling infrastructure, strong regional end markets, and incentives that promote the use of secondary raw materials.
May 2026
From May 4 to 8, a delegation of 10 TAFNE participants from Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas travelled to Germany for a study tour of hands-on learning. The group visited four cities – Leipzig, Chemnitz, Nuremberg, and Munich – in the states of Saxony and Bavaria. The tour put participants in exchanges with their German counterparts working on the kinds of challenges TAFNE was built to address: post-industrial landscape restoration, remedying chemical pollution, circular economy innovation, nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, and citizen participation in environmental planning. Following three successful virtual workshops, the trip offered an opportunity to deepen the exchange and visit projects on site. The trip strengthened the TAFNE network on a lasting basis, and the insights gained will feed directly into future TAFNE workshops and activities.
March 2026
The Environmental Impact of Data Centers
Power, Water, Land: The Footprint of the Digital Economy
The rapid expansion of data centers is reshaping the resource and environmental landscape for cities and states across the US and Germany. TAFNE's third workshop convened around 45 participants from its partner states to take stock of these pressures and explore how communities can respond.
The conversation covered three dimensions of impact: higher energy consumption and its effects on local grids and affordability; water use, particularly where cooling demand coincides with existing water stress; and land use, as large campus-scale facilities compete with agriculture and other community needs. Noise from cooling systems and backup generators emerged as an underappreciated public health and wildlife concern.
Several responses to these challenges were spotlighted. The City and County of Denver shared plans for a moratorium on new data center construction while it develops community and environmental safeguards. The National League of Cities outlined how municipalities across the US are responding to growing resident skepticism about data centers. And the Berlin-based think tank Borderstep presented on a forthcoming EU sustainability rating and labeling system for data centers — a potential policy tool with implications well beyond Europe.
January 2026
Nature-Based Solutions for Heat Adaptation
Designing Cooler Cities
As heatwaves intensify and wildfire risk grows on both sides of the Atlantic, cities and states are turning to green and blue infrastructure to cool urban environments. TAFNE's second virtual workshop drew more than 50 participants from its core partner states to share strategies and emerging technologies for heat adaptation.
Presentations from Düsseldorf and Dallas opened the discussion, which ranged across parks, green roofs, vegetated corridors, retention ponds, and wetlands — and how these systems reduce urban heat through shading, evapotranspiration, and lower energy demand. Participants also grappled with the harder questions: equitable access to cooling green space, long-term maintenance, and the design constraints of dense urban environments.
October 2025
Nature-Based Solutions for Water Management
From Riverbed Restoration to Sponge Cities
How can communities move beyond concrete and pipes to manage flooding and drought? That was the central question at TAFNE's inaugural virtual workshop, which brought together regional and local leaders from Germany and the United States to explore nature-based solutions (NbS) for water resilience.
Representatives from cities and states in TAFNE shared firsthand experiences with approaches ranging from wetland and riverbed restoration to "sponge city" design — urban landscapes engineered to absorb, store, and slowly release water rather than channel it away. Participants weighed the practical benefits and trade-offs of these approaches against conventional gray infrastructure, and a clear consensus emerged: NbS offer cost-effective, community-centered ways to build resilience while restoring ecosystems and improving quality of life.
June 2025
TAFNE was publicly launched at the German Marshall Fund's Washington, DC offices in June 2025, marking the start of a two-year transatlantic exchange on environmental stewardship, resilient infrastructure, and resource efficiency.
The launch featured a panel discussion bringing together representatives from the cities of Austin and Dallas, the state of Pennsylvania, the American Flood Coalition, and the German American Chamber of Commerce. Together, they made the case that nature and environmental stewardship are not just obligations, they are strategic assets. Well-managed natural systems strengthen infrastructure, improve resource efficiency, and generate inclusive economic growth.
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