This white paper provides one of the first action frameworks for the circular transition of the hospitality industry. It shows how circular strategies are both essential for the long-term wellbeing of the destinations, ecosystems and communities on which hospitality depends and a clear business imperative.

It identifies 10 key systemic barriers hindering progress, including the absence of a shared industry framework. In response, it focuses on 5 strategic opportunities through which circularity can help overcome these challenges: procurement, operations, built environment, business and guest culture, and destinations. To support wider adoption and scale impact, the paper also identifies 6 key enablers that can help unlock circularity across the whole value chain.

This report aims to provide a diagnostic to underpin the Clean Industrial Deal and the Single Market Strategy. It responds to calls from businesses to prioritise competitiveness.

The circular economy is identified as one of the keys to making the EU more competitive. The report looks at the barriers to this transition, such the higher cost of secondary raw materials, the difficulty of scaling up and replicating solutions in a fragmented market and diverging national regulatory frameworks which hinder the development of enhanced supply chains and discourage upscaling innovative recycling facilities.

The Critical Raw Materials Act and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation will enhance conditions for circular business models and the circular transition needs to pick up the pace.

From a circular economy perspective, maintaining most of a building's structure is preferable to building a new one.

Repurposing offices into housing can expand affordable supply in high-demand areas while supporting inclusion and climate objectives.

This report aims to inform policymaking by exploring examples from various EU regions and identifying regulatory, technical, financial and social aspects that enable successful conversions of offices to affordable housing. It also highlights the multiple benefits of repurposing non-residential buildings into housing and provides insights into essential measures for scaling up such initiatives.

The textile and apparel value chain is one of the most resource-intensive sectors, generating significant waste and relying heavily on a vulnerable workforce.

In recent years, businesses in this sector have adopted circular economy strategies to address sustainability challenges. However, most of these efforts focus on material efficiency and waste reduction, often neglecting social dimensions.

This PhD dissertation addresses this gap by exploring how to integrate social justice and equity into circular transitions at the business level. Through case studies in the Netherlands, Spain and India, it investigates how businesses can adopt circular practices inclusively and how policymakers can enable a more just circular transition.

The transition to a circular economy in the textile and apparel value chain is an opportunity to address the environmental challenges facing the industry. However, without a strong focus on social justice, this transition risks perpetuating poor working conditions, gender inequality and vulnerability for workers, particularly in low-wage, labour-intensive roles.

This policy brief identifies five key recommendations for policymakers:

• Align circular economy goals with just transition principles
• Identify and protect vulnerable populations
• Address income disparity and strengthen labour regulations
• Enhance participatory mechanisms and access to justice
• Implement restorative mechanisms and support reskilling initiatives

Europe’s green and digital transitions are increasing demand for CRMs, just as geopolitical risks and trade tensions are reshaping global supply chains. The EU has been taking steps to secure and diversify supplies by building strategic partnerships with resource-rich countries, which includes recovering CRMs from mine waste and tailings.

The Western Balkans region is a natural partner: they are integrated into EU markets and transport networks and have a legacy of old industrial sites and mine tailings.

This study recommends mapping mining waste, linking local actors more closely to EU instruments and initiatives, and using the EU accession process to advance regulatory and administrative alignment on mining, waste management and water protection with the EU acquis.

This report supports the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation within the framework of the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan 2.0.

Prepared by the Joint Research Centre for the Directorate-General for Environment, it draws on contributions from external contractors, over 25 000 EU citizens and more than 250 expert stakeholders. The study addresses the fragmentation of waste-sorting labels across Member States, a key barrier to efficient recycling and the functioning of the internal market.

The technical proposal sets out a harmonised system of waste-sorting labels for packaging and receptacles across the EU, geared to removing market barriers while ensuring that consumers receive clear, consistent and actionable sorting instructions.

Brazil’s mining sector has underpinned national growth and is a major global supplier of iron ore, bauxite, niobium and copper. However, the linear model is producing declining ore grades, rising waste volumes and growing environmental and social pressures.

To remain competitive, Brazil must shift to a circular model. Strategies such as reprocessing tailings, recovering by-products, designing for reuse and establishing closed-loop partnerships can unlock significant economic and environmental value.

This report looks at circular solutions being implemented in the mining sector and how designing urban renewable energy systems for reuse will turn cities into urban mines.

The EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles calls for policy interventions to reduce waste and overconsumption in this sector. However, future policies may have unintended impacts. 

This study examines the unintended effects of past and future textile policies, with the goal of evaluating scientific tools for improving ex ante impact assessments and so mitigating unintended effects in future.

It finds that the unintended impact of a policy can be just as important as the impact that it was designed to achieve. Stakeholder engagement, combined micro- and macro-economic modelling, extended consideration of the EU's resilience and the inclusion of a behavioural and social component are all key to reducing unintended impacts.