Why the EU supports circular economy research and innovation
We use 8 gigatonnes of materials each year in Europe. Most of it quickly ends up as waste - less than 10% is reused or recycled.
Extracting, processing, producing and consuming materials and products is responsible for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and a third globally. This creates an enormous environmental footprint.
The Green Deal is the EU’s policy response to the environmental degradation that comes with continued economic acceleration. It is about fundamentally changing how we see and use materials and moving quicker to a circular economy. A circular economy means maintaining the economic value of materials and minimising their environmental impacts.
Funding opportunities
On this page you can find more information, the work programme and a link to circular economy-related calls
Loans and grants available to support reforms and investments undertaken by EU countries for a sustainable recovery
Environment research related calls may be found in this programme, particularly in the European regional development fund
The ECBF is part-funded by the Commission and invests in late-stage bioeconomy start-ups
Funding supporting the deployment of biobased solutions in carbon intensive sectors
The EU's funding instrument for the environment and climate action
Projects and results
Thematic collections of innovative EU-funded research results in the circular economy
The Commission's primary portal for the results of EU-funded research projects
Stories of particularly successful EU-funded circular economy research projects
Compilation of circular economy-relevant projects 2016-2018
Latest news, interviews and features about thought-provoking science and innovative research projects funded by the EU
Access to real-time programme data with the ability to filter by country, region, theme and more
Platform where framework programme participants present their results for you to search, contact their owners, and form partnerships
Collaboration and jobs
CBE is a €2 billion partnership between the European Union and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) that funds projects advancing competitive circular bio-based industries under Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme. CBE JU is the legal and universal successor of BBI JU.
is an ERA-Net Cofund Action under Horizon 2020, which aims to strengthen the European Research Area in the field of biotechnology
Find partners for open EU calls for proposal
Researcher jobs in the field of circular economy
Scientific publications, tools and databases
Online library of EU research publications on the circular economy
You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE
Scientific research publications on the circular economy published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions - all data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes
Latest
This policy brief discusses topical aspects of R&I policy to foster EU competitiveness while mainstreaming long-term sustainability.
