Developing Circular Pathways for aN EU Low-Carbon Transition

The CircEUlar project is a four year European Research and Innovation Action

Understand the dynamics and levers for societal transformation towards a net-zero emission circular economy

Work-Package-and-focus-area-structure-in-the-CircEUlar-project

CircEUlar is a four year European Research and Innovation Action that will develop new modelling approaches for analysing circularity from a systems perspective accounting for:

1) dematerialisation and the transition to a service-based economy to limit material stock growth;

2) lifetime extension of material stocks through repair, maintenance, reuse;

3) waste treatment and material recycling.

CircEUlar’s approach will be comprehensive, combining new data and modelling of economy-wide material stocks and flows, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and industrial value chains across interlinked sectors, with deep-dive analysis of mobility and buildings as material-intensive demand sectors. These two focus areas have large material stocks, potential for circular transformation, and strong dependence on both circular consumption and production practices.

CircEUlar will also focus on digitalisation as a potential enabler of dematerialisation and supply chain circularity.

DURATION

48 months (Starting date: 1 September 2022)

CONSORTIUM

12 organisations from 8 countries

COORDINATOR

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

EU CONTRIBUTION

€ 4 495 434

CircEUlar is comprehensive in its modelling approaches, its scientific knowledge base, and its coverage of circular economy potentials and impacts.

CircEUlar integrates multiple fields of data, knowledge and expertise including:

- empirical analysis of firm and consumer propensities towards circular economy measures;
- industry input on process-level innovations and circular economy business models;
- modelling analysis of economy-wide material stocks and flows, and policy levers of change towards societal transformation.

CircEUlar will integrate new insights on circular economy potentials and impacts into EU and global modelling frameworks for:

- analysing alternative pathways to net-zero GHG emissions;
- testing effective policy levers for both circular production and consumption;
- assessing outcomes for climate, environment, economy and society, in line with European Green Deal objectives.

Shaping the Future: CircEUlar’s Stakeholder Engagement 2025

As 2024 draws to a close, our partner T6 Ecosystems and IIASA have been busy planning next year’s stakeholder engagement activities which will further enrich the research tasks.

How circular is people’s behavior across Europe?

Mobility, housing behaviour, and efforts to influence others to be more circular are some of the most tangible ways to observe circular behavior. Over the past two years, the CircEUlar team has collected data from over 5,000 households in five European countries to understand how circular people’s behavior currently is.

CircEUlar researchers contribute with novel research to Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium Annual Meeting 2024

Researchers Gamze Ünlü, Alessio Mastrucci, and Volker Krey shared some of the latest findings from integrated modeling activities in the CircEUlar project with the research community.

Development of the CircEUlar online tool: Practical challenges encountered by enterprises involved in the Circular Economy

The CMCC team is currently developing an online tool aimed at businesses and anyone interested in understanding what actions companies can take to boost the circular economy and reduce resource use.

Webinar on ‘Mapping material stocks of buildings and infrastructure around the world‘

Understanding the size and spatial distribution of socio-economic material stocks is important to inform strategies aimed at more sustainable resource management, a circular economy, as well as climate change mitigation.

Mapping material intensities at neighborhood scale

As part of the process of developing a joint model to analyze energy flows and material stocks in urban areas, INEGI has currently concluded the estimation of material stocks in both buildings and mobility infrastructure for one of its case studies, the city of Porto.

Joint Event of CircoMod, CircEUlar and EEA – the role of modelling in progressing the circular economy

The event provided the CircEUlar team with a lot of good insights on the next steps for ensuring further feedback loop mechanisms between academic researchers and policy officers so that modelling can facilitate the circular economy as a means of supporting the Climate Agenda.

Repurposing Natural Gas Pipelines: A Path to Decarbonizing the EU’s Heating Sector?

Repurposing obsolete steel pipelines shows significant potential to reduce the environmental burden of district heating networks, transform obsolete infrastructure into an essential part of the transition, and introduces an additional circular strategy helping to achieve green energy targets.

Digitalisation of Building Design and Construction and its impact on the Circular Economy and Net Zero: final report released.

Based on a total of 41 interviews with industry professionals across 11 countries, the new report shows a picture of wide variety in the use of design tools and construction automation,

Bridging business practices and consumer behaviours in circularity: Collaborative working in action and stakeholder workshop

Twenty-eight CircEUlar members from across 12 research organisations met over three days of collaborative working. Partners have come away from Groningen energised and looking forward to continuing the collaborative working.