Report on prioritised policy actions for the case study sectors

This public report provides an overview of the work conducted within tasks 5.1. and 5.2. Specifically, it presents results of two literature reviews and the conceptual approach to design policies for a transition towards a circular and bio-based economy (CBBE). Furthermore, the report documents policy co-creation workshops, that took place in several stakeholder events conducted in SUSTRACK: the INSPIRE, DESIGN, and IMPLEMENT. These events involved stakeholders from the four sectors considered in SUSTRACK (construction, textiles, plastics, and chemicals) and selected case studies. Finally, the report documents the results of a survey conducted to prioritise policy approaches for the CBBE transition. Regarding the project’s stakeholder engagement activities, three major conferences were organised to support the co-creation and validation of strategies for transitioning to a Circular Bio-Based Economy (CBBE). The INSPIRE Conference, held on 16 November 2023, brought together 87 participants for a full-day event. This initial conference served as a platform to introduce the project’s objectives and engage stakeholders in early discussions around bioeconomy transition pathways. The DESIGN Conference followed with a series of sectoral workshops conducted between 4 and 12 July 2024, culminating in a closing event on 25 September 2024. The workshops attracted a total of 179 participants, while 123 attended the final event. During this phase, the project explored three key dimensions of the transition—policy, sustainability, and market—across four sectors. Stakeholders contributed to identifying challenges, sharing good practices, and formulating recommendations for each dimension, sector, and case study. The IMPLEMENT Conference took place from 27 February to 6 March 2025 with sectoral workshops and concluded with a closing event on 21 March 2025. A total of 158 participants joined the workshops, and 43 attended the closing session. This phase focused on presenting two policy sets for each sector. Participants assessed the strengths and weaknesses of each policy set, providing valuable feedback that will inform the final policy recommendations. To validate the proposed policy options, a survey was conducted to identify, assess and improve policy instruments to boost the transition in these sectors. The proposed policy instruments fulfilled different functions, one promoting the transition and the other one limiting the resource use.