TRANSIENCE D3.3 Conceptualisation of CE and policy mapping

This report sets to analyse the current policy landscape for circular economy (CE) and decarbonisation in the EU. It departs from an analysis of key policy documents that set the basis for the EU climate and CE agendas, before then focusing on three key sectors as representative of energy- and material-intensive sectors: cement, steel, and plastics. These sectors form the basis for other key sectors in the EU economy, such as automotive, buildings and construction, electronics, packaging, and textiles. For each of these sectors, the report identifies key CE strategies using the framework of slowing, narrowing, closing, and regenerating resource flows as a classificatory axis. Our review considers, for each of the CE strategies proposed, potential synergies and trade-offs between CE and decarbonisation and challenges for current implementation of the CE strategies. Based on the analysis of CE interventions, the report summarises critical gaps in the current CE landscape to then propose, in Section 5, a consistent policy mix from a lifecycle perspective, which emphasises the need of working across value chains and sectors and embedding CE principles and the broad range of CE strategies along the different stages of the lifecycle of materials and products.