In 2016, the Dutch government set the goal of establishing a circular economy in 2050. An important milestone is 2030: by then the use of abiotic primary raw materials – minerals, fossil raw materials and metals – is to be reduced by 50 %. In current environmental policy debates on resource conservation, the Netherlands are often cited as a good-practice example because of these absolute reduction targets. In this project, Susanne Langsdorf and Laurens Duin explored the Dutch targets and the vision for a circular economy. They shed light on the development, structure and implementation of the Dutch Circular Economy Program and related policy processes, including the established monitoring program. They examined the shortcomings of the program and assessed which parts of the program could be transferred to Germany. The key recommendations are formulated in the project report.