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Research and innovation

Circular economy

Research and innovation in the circular economy, funding opportunities, collaboration and jobs, projects and results, scientific publications and news  

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.

More about circular economy research and innovation

Funding opportunities

Horizon Europe

On this page you can find more information, the work programme and a link to circular economy-related calls

Innovation Fund

Funding supporting the deployment of biobased solutions in carbon intensive sectors

LIFE

The EU's funding instrument for the environment and climate action

Projects and results

Horizon Magazine

Latest news, interviews and features about thought-provoking science and innovative research projects funded by the EU

Horizon 2020 dashboard

Access to real-time programme data with the ability to filter by country, region, theme and more

Horizon Results Platform

Platform where framework programme participants present their results for you to search, contact their owners, and form partnerships

Collaboration and jobs

ERA CoBioTech

is an ERA-Net Cofund Action under Horizon 2020, which aims to strengthen the European Research Area in the field of biotechnology

Scientific publications, tools and databases

OpenAIRE

You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE

Scientific publications

Scientific research publications on the circular economy published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)

EU Open Data Portal

Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions - all data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes

Latest

Events