From 3 to 5 June 2025, CircSyst’s Project Coordinator AIJU, and Project Partner EURADA, proudly represented the CircSyst Project at the EU Green Week. Held in Brussels, Belgium, under the motto “Circular Solutions for a Competitive EU”, this year’s edition of the event brought together policy leaders, stakeholders, and innovators to explore how circular economy practices can enhance the EU’s competitiveness, resilience, and strategic autonomy. As a project dedicated to driving the transition towards a circular economy, through accelerating the adoption of circular systemic solutions (CSS) across Europe, the EU Green Week provided a highly valuable platform for collaboration, engagement, exchange, and visibility for CircSyst.

During the high-level policy discussions, speakers emphasised that circularity is not a trade-off against competitiveness, but rather its cornerstone. In their interventions, they highlighted the urgent need to rethink the EU’s approach to its competitiveness goals in a way that integrates circular economy principles and is mindful and respectful of planetary boundaries. Likewise, speakers advocated for a new understanding of competitiveness based on collaboration, the creation of synergies, and the strategic development of Europe’s strengths. Lastly, as Europe currently navigates intense global competition, speakers stressed the importance of cooperation, strategic investment, and industry support to achieve both decarbonisation and sustainable economic growth.

On the other hand, the parallel sessions sparked thoughtful discussions on circular economy and citizen engagement, industrial symbiosis, biodiversity and climate. On citizen engagement, speakers advocated for allowing citizens to shape circular economy practices, as well as policy and product design. They simultaneously raised concerns over misinformation and awareness gaps that hamper the consumption of sustainable products, calling for clearer product labelling, affordability of eco-friendly options and stronger measures against greenwashing. On the topic of industrial symbiosis, speakers illustrated how inter-industry collaboration can significantly enhance sustainability through concrete examples from regions like Tampere (Finland) and More and Romsdal (Norway), stressing that no single actor can achieve the green shift alone. Regarding biodiversity and climate, speakers delved into how circular economy contributes to climate action and biodiversity preservation, noting that circular practices create space for the regeneration of natural ecosystems by reducing emissions and increasing resource efficiency.

On the last day of the EU Green Week, the CCRI-ECESP Stakeholder Event, CircSyst proudly hosted a stand to showcase our work and connect with fellow EU-funded projects, policymakers, industry actors and researchers, thereby laying the groundwork for exciting future partnerships.  In addition, CircSyst also joined the 4th CCRI-CSO Workshop, which took place on 6 June, where stakeholders co-created the way forward for the CCRI, marking the final in-person gathering of its first phase of the initiative.  CircSyst’s presence at this year’s EU Green Week and 4th CCRI-CSO workshop reinforced its alignment with the EU’s goals of sustainability and resilience and allowed for continued partnership and collaboration. With growing emphasis on inclusion, cooperation, and planetary responsibility, CircSyst remains committed to driving forward a circular vision where competitiveness and sustainability go hand in hand.