"The report makes a thorough revision of the use of nitrogen and phosphorus in European agriculture and assesses the scope for increased nutrient recovery and reuse and the actions needed to make it possible.

Exponential growth in the flow of nutrients is causing serious environmental and public health impacts, posing the greatest threat to European food and environmental security. The study identifies three main levers to contain the growing damage: dietary change goals, improved crop and animal nutrient use efficiency and a reduction of waste. The study acknowledges that while ...

If we want to enjoy the benefits of technological innovation and access to the services that electronic devices bring, we need to create an electronics system that works. This paper offers an initial overview of how the principles of a circular economy could be applied to the electronics industry, where the...

"This paper outlines some of the challenges cities are facing in today’s linear economy, explores the alternative of a ‘circular city’, and collates our research to date on the benefits of a circular economy for cities. Finally, it outlines outstanding questions on the topic, suggesting possible avenues of research for the future. 

In the coming decades, cities will be increasingly important as even greater rates of urbanisation are expected, and significant infrastructure investments and developments will be made. Cities could be uniquely positioned to drive a global transition...

"This Toolbox complements the main Guidelines on better regulation in staff working document (SWD (2017) 350). It provides more specific and operational guidance to those involved with the various better regulation instruments.

The Toolbox is structured around 8 main chapters:

- Chapter 1 presents the key principles and concepts underpinning better regulation at the European Commission;
- Chapter 2 presents tools for carrying out an impact assessment (IA);
- Chapter 3 presents tools for assessing specific impacts, whether they are estimated prospectively in the...

"These Guidelines explain what better regulation is and how it should be applied in the day to day practices of Commission officials preparing new initiatives and proposals or managing existing policies and legislation. The Guidelines should be read by all officials involved in regulatory activities and managers who are responsible for quality control and the allocation of resources within Commission departments. Better regulation cannot be implemented without dedicated financial and human resources; DGs must ensure that appropriate centres of expertise (or funcions) and training are...

"The 2014 report of the Eco-Innovation Observatory Eco-Innovation: Enabling the transition to a resource efficient Circular Economy discusses how Eco-Innovation can fuel the transition to a circular economy. This report presents evidence of changes already happening across the EU and highlights some of the key barriers and future challenges toward mainstreaming a circular economic model. It argues that the circular economy concept offers a model of resource flows through the economy that may underpin the vision of a resource-efficient Europe.

Eco-innovation will enable the...

"The 2016 report of the Eco-Innovation Observatory  Policies and Practices for Eco-Innovation Uptake and Circular Economy Transition discusses the role of policy for eco-innovation in the circular economy transition. It looks at the present framework conditions fostered by European policies and how the circular economy concept is being embedded in a current policy context at the EU level and in the Member States. It also discusses the bottom-up and top-down circular economy challenges. 32 good practice examples of circular economy oriented eco-innovations and initiatives from the EU Member...

"The focus of this paper is to review the literature on the [...] macroeconomic implications of the transition to a more circular economy and increased efficiency in the use of material resources. Addressing this issue is complex. Any such transition will involve multiple interactions between different sectors and countries, and will take place parallel with other trends like digitalisation and automation. Ex ante, economy-wide quantatitve models apppear to be best suited to analysing this transition as they capture the major drivers of economic consequences. Furthermore, there is...

"This report constitutes a summary of presentations and discussions which took place at the workshop ‘Circular approaches to phosphorus: from research to deployment’ held in Berlin on 4 March 2015. The workshop was jointly organised by the European Commission (DG Research & Innovation), the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP) and the P-REX project. The workshop aimed to bring together research and demonstration projects on phosphorus recovery and recycling from across Europe, with industry practitioners and experts, to: enable contact between the different projects in order...