This study on regenerative agriculture explores the climate impact of current Fertiliser, Agrochemical, Tillage, Bare-soil, Agricultural Systems (FATBAS).

It takes the position that FATBAS is a significant factor in both driving the immediate land-based climate change impacts we are seeing, including ‘global drying’, drought, heating, flooding, fire and heat domes, and increasing the risks of extreme weather events.

FATBAS, by driving down soil carbon and related stored water, reduces the evapotranspiration of plants. This in turn reduces land-based moisture circulation in the form of rainfall. Evapotranspiration of plants cools the planet’s surface areas, whereas sunlight on bare soils heats both the region and the atmosphere.

It calls for FATBAS to be replaced by regenerative agriculture.

Due to rising demand and shrinking supply, the built environment and its raw material suppliers must align with regenerative cycles. This thesis aims to create a circular procurement framework to determine and preserve building asset value at end-of-life, establishing transparent, measurable standards that reduce waste and optimise resources.

It creates a transparent and measurable standard for the circular procurement process, reducing waste and optimising resource use. The thesis focuses on four major deliverables: a database of site and inventory inspections, an exit scenario and resource recovery plan, a partial deconstruction plan, and an online marketplace for resource trading.

The framework uses existing tools and indicators to establish the circular procurement process.

The BioBoosters community around the Baltic Sea Region are employing a business-driven hackathon concept to boost the circular transition of the bioeconomy sectors. 

This publication explores nine innovation journeys of leading bioeconomy companies around the Baltic Sea.

The stories highlight the barriers, enablers and success factors of the circular transition in the bioeconomy sectors of this region. They also showcase the impact of open innovation and inter-regional cooperation. With the support of the BioBoosters innovation community, these companies have applied open innovation to find cooperation partners and solutions for greater circularity, sustainability and profitability of their operations.

The EU legislature has been working on legislation to transform the European economy into a circular one. One of the focal points of that legislation is the extension of the useful lifespan of products on the EU market.

This report analyses the legislative initiatives containing such measures. First, it describes their potential impact for the Belgian and Flemish policy level. Second, it explains their potential impact on businesses active in the Flemish region. Third, it describes how Belgian policymakers could help ensure that EU legislation reaches the fullest circular potential within its framework.

It also highlights potential shortcomings of EU legislation, where Belgian policymakers could consider advocating changes to that framework at EU level.

This research aims to map the magnitude and value associated with repair as a circular strategy in Flanders.

Repair is a key element in any circular economy strategy, preventing resource depletion, keeping goods in circulation longer, and reducing environmental impacts related to the energy needed for new products. However, the development of metrics to measure progress in scaling up repair efforts is incomplete. Knowledge gaps exist in sectors such as textiles and furniture, while more is known about electronic and digital devices.

The study concludes with recommendations to promote a repair culture, focus on textiles, recognise the value of informal repair activities, encourage repair skill acquisition, address gendered patterns and combat the throwaway culture that hinders repair.

The inclusion of green clauses in public procurement contracts is gradually becoming an obligation in certain sectors in the EU.

This report highlights the role of green public procurement (GPP) in the transition to a circular economy through an analysis of the European regulatory framework. It looks at both hard (e.g. Batteries Regulation) and soft law (European Commission working documents). Relevant European legislation that is still in the adoption phase (e.g. Construction Products Regulation) is also considered. 

An overview of useful model clauses for implementing GPP shows how these clauses can contribute to promoting the circular economy in public procurement. The study lists measures that could make GPP a more effective tool in the circular economy transition.

This book looks at Flush and Forget (FaF) systems, a traditional method of dealing with sewage which mixes everything (urine, faeces, pharmaceuticals, antibiotic-resistant material, personal care products, forever-chemicals, microplastics and a wider range of other pollutants) together and transports it by water. FaF cannot deal with these components and incineration is generally the only option.

There are better, less wasteful alternatives; vacuum  toilets, for instance, 'flush' using the force of vacuum rather than water and separate faeces and urine at source. There is far less waste water to be treated, creating opportunities for anaerobic digestion for green biogas followed by hyperthermophilic composting of the residue, and saving huge amounts of clean water.

Decarbonising mobility will leverage efficiency, modal shift, vehicle electrification and a reduced production footprint of vehicles.

With a focus on dismantling, this study looks at steel decarbonisation. This is a priority since steel is the most widely used material in cars and trucks and the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in vehicle manufacturing.

It recommends establishing a new commercial standard which accounts for improved shredded scrap quality, thereby increasing its market value and benefiting the entire value chain. This added value creation could also help limit the export of ELVs outside the EU, which poses multiple concerns, including safety issues and the loss of strategic materials critical for European industry resilience.

This article examines open innovation approaches promoting the development of stakeholder-driven circular economy models. 

It describes key elements of open innovation and circular value cocreation,  utilises the findings from a systematic review to identify opportunities and challenges related to the open circular innovation paradigm, and presents theoretical implications and an action plan highlighting the importance of engaging in collaborative behaviour with stakeholders.

It emphasises a cocreation culture that encourages the sharing of resources, competencies and capabilities, while safeguarding organisations' IP. It finds that there is scope for practitioners to develop circular economy ecosystems that increase practitioners' bottom lines, while reducing their environmental impact.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre has published a study on new product priorities in connection with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. The ESPR entered into force this year and aims to make sustainable products the norm.

The study looked at a number of product groups and horizontal requirements to see if they were suitable for action under the ESPR. The criteria used were environmental impacts and improvement potential, market relevance, policy coverage in the EU, cost reflections, and contribution towards EU Open Strategic Autonomy.

It identified 11 final products, seven intermediate products and three horizontal requirements (durability, recyclability, recycled content) as potential priorities for the next steps in preparing the first ESPR Working Plan.