Main event
The 2025 ASEAN Circular Economy Forum will take place 16-17 October as the apex of the 13-17 October 2025 ASEAN Circular Economy Week, which begins with a series of partner events from 13 to 15 October (see below). The Forum will be held alongside the International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM) and the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Sustainability Summit (KLSS) 2025.
ACEF 2025 will be held under the theme “Accelerate the circular economy transition in ASEAN with green skills, innovative solutions, and investments.” Considering the current state of circularity in the AMS and the region’s needs and priorities, it focuses in particular on three critical bottlenecks: addressing the need for a skilled and properly trained workforce with relevant green skills and knowledge, including both manual labourers and white-collar professionals; promoting, replicating, and scaling innovative solutions; and directing financing towards impactful circular initiatives practices. Discussions during the first day will focus on the role of government policies and initiatives at the ASEAN level in addressing these bottlenecks, and explore the role of various stakeholders.
Under this theme, the Forum will discuss topics such as:
- The potential benefits and feasibility of standard regional certifications for circular economy-related professional skills.
- How to identify and support the development of innovative circular solutions.
- How to raise the interest of the finance community in circular practices, and how to enable investors/funders to identify circular solutions with high sustainability potential.
- The forum could showcase good practices regarding circular skills enhancement, innovative technical solutions and bankable investment approaches from other regions.
The final day of ACEF 2025 is devoted to a half-day multistakeholder dialogue, co-organised by ACESP, Stockholm Environment Institute Asia, and the Global Green Growth Institute. This half-day session on Day 2 builds on the discussion from Day 1 to focus on accelerating the CE transition in ASEAN, pinpointing specific actions and recommendations across sectors that ASEAN prioritises in its circular economy initiatives. It will also explore potential trade-offs between economic growth, environmental, and social aspects, and examine how to balance them, providing examples of “win-win” solutions. The aims are to identify priority areas for harmonised or joint action, gather multi-stakeholder perspectives, and encourage open dialogue with national policymakers, MSMEs, business groups, city governments, social entrepreneurs, and community groups. It highlights the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and underscores opportunities from ASEAN-EU partnerships.
Pre events
The first three days of the ACEF 2025 week (13-15 October) are associated events co-organised with partners.
A key highlight will be the launch of the SEA-MaP Regional Platform for Innovation and Investments, led by the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) and financed by the World Bank, with a thematic focus on plastic circularity. The Platform will be officially launched during the Network Dinner on October 15th, and will serve as a regional mechanism to connect corporates, startups, and investors in co-developing scalable solutions to tackle marine plastic pollution. The launch will be followed by a series of side events at IGEM (15–17 October), including investor–innovator matchmaking sessions, pocket talks, pitch sessions, and an exhibition of scalable solutions.
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, through the EU Circular Economy Resource Centre (EU CERC), the Finnish Embassy in Malaysia and Business Finland will organise an ACEF side-event on October 15. The topic of the event is Circular Business Models, and it aims to foster circular economy business collaboration and partnerships between ASEAN, the EU and Finland. EU CERC is a joint initiative of the European Commission, Sitra, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Enabel.
Other partners are welcome to propose additional associated events during these three days. The ACEF2025 agenda is designed to be inclusive, with input and recommendations from all partners warmly welcomed. Contributions that align with the forum’s objectives are much appreciated and will help enrich the overall programme.