SUSTRACK’s report on the prioritisation of the identified limits, as well as the preliminary guidelines and policy recommendations

This report aims to prioritize barriers hindering the transition to circular bio-based economy (CBBE) and identify interdependencies among them, based on the work documented in D1.1 and D1.2. These findings lay the groundwork for policy actions, ensuring a smoother transition to circular bio-based economies. To this purpose, the barriers transitioning from a linear fossil-based to a CBBE in Europe were evaluated using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods.

Analyzing six clusters via AHP, economic and governance emerged as the most crucial, followed by environmental, technical, structural, and cultural barriers. These barriers include issues with investment, policy coherence, recycling capacity, collaboration, and consumer trust. Analytic Network Process (ANP) reveals interconnectedness among barriers, with governance and structural clusters being most influential. Key barriers include political conflicts, social and technical lock-ins, and fragmented regulations. Upon this background of prioritisation and identification of the interdependencies, the report also provides a first set of policy recommendations.