EU‐Wide Advantages & Opportunities for HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-06

Executive Snapshot

The call "Indicators for the transition to sustainable and circular economy" (HORIZON-RIA, lump-sum) offers a uniquely European playing field to design, test and mainstream micro-level circularity indicators. Operating at EU scale multiplies impact through the Single Market, leverages the Union’s policy coherence, and unlocks a pan-European innovation ecosystem.

1. Single Market Access (450+ M Consumers & 23 M SMEs)

• Harmonised indicators adopted under an EU-funded project can become the de-facto reference across all 27 Member States, creating a ready-made market for post-project services (software, advisory, certification).

• Enterprises involved can pilot indicators in multiple linguistic, cultural and economic contexts, de-risking later commercial roll-out.

• Early alignment with upcoming Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) spurs demand from manufacturers obliged to prove circularity.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Multi-national consortia can blend Northern EU data-analytics expertise with Southern EU circular business models and Eastern EU manufacturing capacity.

• Access to Joint Research Centre (JRC) datasets and potential JRC advisory board membership amplifies scientific robustness.

• Synergies with the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) open pilots in >30 cities/regions, facilitating real-life validation across diverse infrastructures.

3. Alignment with Key EU Strategies

• Directly implements the European Green Deal and 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) by filling the micro-indicator gap identified in both.

• Complements the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities and supports financial sector reporting needs—crucial for attracting EU-wide green finance.

• Contributes data feeds to Digital Europe via interoperable, open-source indicator APIs, building the data layer for a circular twin of the economy.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standard-Setting Leadership

• Consortium output can feed into upcoming CEN/CENELEC standardisation mandates, anchoring project results in EU norms and blocking fragmentation.

• Early engagement with ECHA, Eurostat and EEA speeds official endorsement, giving partners first-mover advantage before national standards emerge.

• Common indicator sets ease cross-border public procurement, letting municipalities compare offers on a like-for-like basis.

5. Leveraging the EU Innovation Ecosystem

• Tap into Europe’s 3,400+ universities, 300 Digital Innovation Hubs, and eight EIT Knowledge & Innovation Communities (KICs), especially EIT RawMaterials and EIT Climate-KIC for dissemination.

• Embed living labs in European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Smart Specialisation regions focusing on circularity to accelerate adoption.

• Use Open Science requirements to crowd-source indicator refinement from the continent’s research community, boosting legitimacy.

6. Funding Synergies & Blending Opportunities

• LIFE Clean Energy & Circular Economy calls can co-finance large-scale pilots after RIA completion.

• InvestEU and EIB circular economy windows can use the indicators as eligibility criteria, creating downstream investment pipelines.

• Cohesion Policy (2021-2027) budgets (~€370 bn) can adopt the indicators for regional OPs, scaling impact while providing follow-up revenue for the consortium.

7. EU-Scale Deployment & Impact Pathways

1. Research & Development (RIA funding) – 2025-2028.

2. Standardisation & Policy Uptake – 2027-2029 via CEN/CENELEC and EC delegated acts.

3. Market Roll-out – 2028-2032, leveraging ESPR and corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) obligations.

4. Global Diffusion – 2029-onwards through EU trade agreements and ISO channels, positioning Europe as the world reference for circularity metrics.

8. Strategic Recommendations for Applicants

• Consortium Composition: Pair data scientists, LCA experts, social-economy actors, city networks (e.g. Eurocities), and at least one financial institution to test investor-relevant indicators.

• Geographical Coverage: Include frontrunner and cohesion regions to show scalability and Just Transition relevance.

• Policy Interface Work Package: Allocate resources to continuous interaction with DG ENV, DG GROW, JRC, EIB and CCRI to fast-track uptake.

• Digital Interoperability: Deliver open EU-compliant data schemas (aligned with INSPIRE & the European Open Science Cloud).

• Victory Condition: Position the project as the authoritative EU micro-indicator framework, referenced in Commission guidance by 2030.

By exploiting these EU-wide advantages, applicants can transcend national limitations, shape EU policy, and unlock a continent-wide market for circularity services—while contributing decisively to Europe’s green transition.