Circular industrial technologies roadmap : closing the circle in energy-intensive industries, textiles, & construction.
Date: 2022-03-29
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Subjects: European undertaking, advanced technology industry, bio-industry, building, business model, circular economy, energy consumption, fund (EU), innovation, research and development, textile industry, waste management

Circular Industrial 
Technologies Roadmap 
Closing the circle in energy-intensive 
industries, textiles, & construction 

We need to accelerate the switch from linear to fully circular production 
and consumption to reduce the billions of tonnes of waste that go to landfill 
every year. The upcoming Circular Industrial Technologies Roadmap will 
provide a comprehensive outlook of relevant key technologies and new 
business models for circularity, while exploring ways to bring them faster 
to the market and creating new opportunities for European businesses.

MARIYA GABRIEL
Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

Industrial ecosystems targeted by the Circular Industrial Technologies Roadmap
The roadmap on circular industrial technologies will address the circularity of three industrial ecosystems: construction, 
textiles and energy-intensive industries. These industries stand out for their resource intensity and waste generation, but 
also their potential for circularity thereby contributing overall to the circular economy.

ENERGY-INTENSIVE 
INDUSTRIES
STEEL, CHEMICALS, CERAMICS

CONSTRUCTION

TEXTILES

•  High level of energy consumption 

& emissions  

•  Large  waste  streams,  which  can 
contain dangerous substances 

•  Waste  is  often  landfilled  instead  

•  One of the industrial ecosystems 
with highest waste levels (35%) 
in Europe, with one to two thirds 
of waste being recycled  

•  Highly fragmented across the EU  

of being recycled

•  Recycled materials are 

repurposed at a considerably 
lower value than their economic 
potential

•  High volumes of waste generated 
by the sector, with up to 15.3kg of 
used textiles per person collected 
every year in the EU 

•  High water intensity, coupled 

with high water pollution (53 000 
million m3 of water)  

•  High water intensity, coupled 

with high water pollution (53 000 
million m3 of water) 

•  Recycling at equal or higher 

value complicated and costly, 
with less than 1% of worldwide 
textiles being recycled

Research and 
Innovation 

Linking Horizon Europe to industrial ecosystems
Building  on  Horizon  Europe  Partnerships  with  industry  such  as  Made  in  Europe,  Processes  for  Planet  (P4P),  
Circular Bio-Based Europe and Built4People, the ERA Circular Industrial Technologies Roadmap will present the state of 
EU research & innovation on circular industrial technologies.  

It will  identify synergies between funding instruments at EU and national levels for research on new circular technologies, 
fostering R&I investment and ensuring a faster market roll-out for technologies that will ensure the circularity of the targeted 
industrial ecosystems.  

MADE IN EUROPE  

PROCESSES 4 PLANET (P4P) 

is the leading European driver of the twin green and digital 
transitions  of  EU’s  manufacturing  industries,  seeking  to 
boost the sectors towards global leadership in technology, 
towards  circularity  and  flexibility.  It  aims  to  achieve 
sustainable,  circular  and  climate-neutral  manufacturing 
by  creating,  for  example,  30  cases  demonstrating  new 
innovative circular value chains. 

aims  at  circularity  and  an  extensive  decarbonisation  of 
European  process  industries.  Within  a  cross-sectorial 
approach, P4P aims to develop innovations to reuse energy, 
materials  and  waste  gases  or  water  in  the  production 
process,  which  enables  a  profound  transformation  of 
process industries to achieve the EU Green Deal targets 
by  2050.  It  will  develop  and  deploy  industrial  solutions 
aiming at closing the energy and feedstock loops, including 
through the launch of 25 Hubs for Circularity (H4C). 

PROJECT  ZOOM  |  ForZDM  aimed  at  developing 
and  demonstrating  a  next  generation  Zero-Defect 
Manufacturing  strategy,  which  is  the  way  to  go 
to  minimise  waste  and  to  achieve  production  and 
quality  targets  in  the  European  manufacturing 
industries, limiting the use and waste of resources.  

PROJECT ZOOM | SUSPIRE developed novel highly 
efficient heat exchangers and thermal energy storage 
technology for reuse or commercialisation of waste 
heat. The results of the project can be broadly applied, 
allowing spillovers to other industries. 

CIRCULAR BIO-BASED EUROPE

BUILT 4 PEOPLE

objective  is  to  shift  from  non-renewable  fossil  raw 
materials  and  minerals  to  circular  bio-based  production 
processes. Strong, resource-efficient and competitive bio-
based  industries  will  produce  from  waste  and  biomass 
innovative,  sustainable  and  circular  manner, 
in  an 
contributing to the 2050 climate neutrality target.  

PROJECT ZOOM | NEOCEL developed regenerated 
cellulose  textile  fibres  with  a  lower  environmental 
impact than any other type of existing textile fibre, 
for  example  15-50%  lower  than  commercially 
produced  viscose.  In  addition,  with  at  least  a  15% 
lower  production  cost  than  standard  viscose  it  is 
highly  competitive.  The  concept  can  achieve  a  15-
50 % lower environmental impact than commercial 
viscose production.  

will  bring  together  the  whole  value  chain  to  radically 
accelerate  progress  on  the  more  holistic  R&I  agenda 
for  a  people-centric  sustainable  built  environment,  on 
topics such as resource and energy efficiency, bio-based 
solutions,  waste  protocol  or  material  recovery  targets. 
It  will  work  across  disciplines  and  life  cycle  stages,  and 
across  various  scales,  from  building,  block  of  buildings, 
and  district,  and  bringing  components  and  modules  to 
city  and  wider  regional  and  national  levels.  It  aspires 
to  demonstrate  a  number  of  innovative  solutions  in  the 
construction  sector  for  new  sustainable  and  circular 
business models and value chains. 

PROJECT ZOOM |  BAMB aims to reduce construction 
and  demolition  waste  through  a  new  standardised 
circular  way  of  designing  buildings,  enabling  the 
construction  sector  to  recover,  repair  and  reuse 
building materials.

What & when to expect?

•  A comprehensive synthetic view for industry, research & technology organisations, and policymakers 
on  relevant  (upcoming)  key  circular  technologies  and  business  models  for  different  stages  of  the  lifetime  of 
products (design, manufacturing, end-of-life & repurposing)  

•  A  detailed  overview  of  available  EU  funding  instruments  for  the  development  and  adoption  of  circular 

industrial technologies in the areas of energy-intensive industries, construction, and textiles 

•  Potential synergies with national programmes in EU Member States 

•  Final report in Q4/2022

More information at 
ERA Common Industrial Technologies Roadmaps
Horizon Europe
EU’s updated Industrial Strategy

@EUScienceInnov 
#EUResearchArea 
#EUCircularEconomy 
#CircularIndustry

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PDF: ISBN 978-92-76-42315-7, doi:10.2777/947653, KI-01-21-333-EN-N