JUST2CE is based on the assumption that a critical evaluation of the CE paradigm, of its economic, societal, gender and policy implications, and of the outcomes of its implementation (which industrial sectors will benefit the most? Which stakeholders’ groups can be classified as winners and which one as losers) has not been conducted yet. A direct consequence of this gap is that the political economy and geopolitics of transition have been neglected in CE studies. European, and more in general global productive systems are characterised by geographical specialisation – e.g. extractive Vs productive economies; core-periphery and north-south relations – that seek to maximise profits along the traditionally designed linear supply chains. These, often unequal and asymmetric, relations might seriously hamper the transition to a CE. To date, no studies have shed light on how such relations should be reconfigured to achieve circularity. This represents an urgent and major research gap that will be addressed by this project, which will therefore provide useful insights to policy-makers for evaluating the feasibility of the transition to the CE. JUST2CE aims at understanding, in critical and thoughtful way, under which conditions a responsible, inclusive and social just transition to a circular economy is possible and desirable, what technical, political and social factors can enable or hamper such transformation and how these aspects can contribute to the development of transitional policy measures. The conviction underpinning the project is that the success of a transition towards a sustainable circular economy does not merely depend on the development of new technologies - artefacts or processes - but also in the reconfiguration of the governance of productive processes into more democratic and participatory mechanisms of designing and managing technology.

Each year, a substantial amount of food loss (FL) is generated at the primary production stage; FL have negative impacts on the society, contributing to food insecurity, depleting the environment, generating avoidable GHG emissions and creating pressure on land and water. Currently, key challenges hampering the reduction of FL are: regulatory challenges (e.g., exclusion of FL in the EU Commission Decision 2019/1597), technical challenges (e.g., lack of common measurement methodology, lack of cost-effective measurement tools), scientific challenges (e.g., lack of understanding of drivers) and social challenges (e.g., lack of skills of the different stakeholders involved). FOLOU is willing to contribute in overcoming these challenges, being the main objective of the project to set up the necessary mechanisms to: (i) measure and estimate (robust and harmonized methodology), (ii) monitor and report (national and EU FL registries), and (iii) assess the magnitude and impact of FL. Additionally, FOLOU will also work to assure the appropriate knowledge transfer and adoption of the project outcomes by the key targeted stakeholders: primary producers, retailers, consumers, policy makers and researchers. FOLOU will structure its activities in a comprehensive action plan revolving around four levers of change: 1#Understanding by working on collecting and curing FL available data, by working on understanding the drivers behind food losses and by assessing the impact of these losses; 2#Measuring by developing new cost-effective tools for the measurement/estimation of FL and a robust and harmonized methodology; 3#Training by providing tailored trainings to different stakeholders; 4#Adopting by preparing recommendations and creating a twinning programme. With a duration of 4 years, FOLOU gathers 16 multidisciplinary partners from 10 countries joining forces around a common challenge: Preventing and reducing the amount of food intended for human consumption that is eventually lost.

The growing attractiveness of cities leads to increasing population, thus rising energetic and food demands in urban areas. This makes urban waste management increasingly challenging, both in terms of logistics and environmental or health impacts. To decrease the cities’ environmental impacts and to contribute to a better resilience of urban areas towards energy or food supply crisis, waste management systems have to be improved to increase recycling of resources and local valorization. In this context, the DECISIVE project proposes to change the present urban metabolism for organic matter (foods, plants, etc.), energy and biowaste to a more circular economy and to assess the impacts of these changes on the whole waste management cycle. Thus, the challenge will be to shift from a urban “grey box”, implying mainly goods importation and extra-urban waste management, to a cooperative organization of intra- and peri-urban networks enabling circular local and decentralised valorization of biowaste, through energy and bioproducts production. Such a new waste management paradigm is expected to increase the sustainability of urban development by: (1) promoting citizens awareness about waste costs and values; (2) promoting renewable energy production and use in the city; (3) developing an industrial ecology approach that can promote the integration between urban and peri-urban areas, by providing valuable agronomic by-products for urban agriculture development and so improving the balance of organic products and waste in the city; (4) developing new business opportunities and jobs. In order to achieve these objectives, the project DECISIVE will develop and demonstrate, at real scale, eco-innovative solutions addressed to waste operators and public services, consisting in: (1) a decision support tool to plan, design and assess efficient decentralised management networks for biowaste in urban areas; (2) eco-designed solid-state fermentation processes. Moreover in parallel of real scale demonstration sites, an eco-designed new micro-anaerobic digestion process will be developed and tested.

The overwhelming scientific evidence provided by the academic corpus indicates that to tackle the origin and negative impacts of nutrient pollution on water, soil and biodiversity, a wide landscape-river-sea system approach needs to be used. This should work on sustainable land management practices (especially, agricultural ones), improved wastewater treatment, and feasible nature restoration strategies. The project SEACURE will aim at demonstrating, scaling up and replicating effective innovations for the systemic prevention and reduction of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin, in line with the innovation ecosystem framework provided by the ongoing Mediterranean Lighthouse projects (as BlueMissionMed) and in close cooperation with related activities implemented by regional soil health living labs in the area. The project is dedicating resources for the regional upscale and replication of successful nutrient management strategies devoted to: i) reduce soil pollution and enhance its restoration; ii) reduce fertilizers use and nutrient losses; and iii) prevent, minimize and remediate nutrients pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems, in six territorial units (Mar Menor and Central Catalunya in Spain, Po delta and Esino river in Italy, and Axios river delta and Thessaly Plain in Greece). On one hand, the viability and impact will be evaluated. On the other hand, partners will act on innovation levers: policy uptake, societal awareness, capacity building and funding availability. Regional business plans for upscaling the effective strategies in the territorial units will be crafted, taking advantage of the regional mobilisation of innovation ecosystems already carried out during the project. Finally, the replication of knowledge will be encouraged thanks to the technical assistance to Associated Regions through FSTP grants. In summary, the project is embracing the Missions’ impact-driven approach, working with actors to maximise its results’ uptake.