MATS aims to identify key leverage points for changes in agricultural trade policy that foster the positive and reduce the negative impacts of trade on environmental sustainability and human well-being. Focus is on improving the design, governance and implementation of trade regimes and policies at private sector, national, EU, African and global levels. The key operational features of MATS are: a) a set of 15 in-depth country, regional and product case studies to provide a deeper understanding of the conditions for sustainable trade, an integrated multi-model simulation and assessment of linkages with agricultural market, trade and investment dynamics, and an analy-sis of institutional, regulatory and legal frameworks; b) a multi-stakeholder backcasting approach that builds on recent research related to transformative change and social innovation, and that uses novel participatory methods and platforms to explore transition pathways towards sustainable trade; c) a clustering with other trade-related research projects to benefit from synergies, and a major role for sector representatives, social movements and policymakers in framing analyses, co-assessing linkages, and deriving policy recommendations. MATS has the ambition to set a new benchmark in trade policy analysis. The main project outputs will be: (1) New quantitative and qualitative insights on the interactions between agricultural markets, trade, investments, policy, environmental sustainability and human well-being. (2) A set of Discussion Papers and Policy Briefs, incl. recommendations for enhancing the coherence of agricultural and trade policies with the SDGs. (3) An enhanced civil society–stakeholder–policy dialogue that is supported by an evidence-based communication platform – the Sustainable Trade Hub. (4) A set of innovative research tools for the analysis of the interactions between agricultural trade, agricultural investments, policy, environmental sustainability and human well-being.

The transition from linear fossil-based systems to circular and bio-based systems represents an opportunity and a suitable pathway for achieving several SDGs. Indeed, circular bio-based systems depict a great opportunity to reconcile sustainable long-term growth with environmental protection through the prudent use of renewable resources for industrial purposes. This needed transition is a complex process, which does not simply require innovative technologies from the supply-side, but also societal transformations based on a multi-actor process. The circular bioeconomy meta-sector may be a good candidate to put forward a new economic model, which requires transformative policies, purposeful innovation, access to finance, risk-taking capacity as well as new and sustainable business models and markets. However, a critical assessment of the environmental, social and economic impacts of the current linear fossil-based economy, as well as of the improvement potential associated with circular bio-based systems, is needed to underpin the identification of policy priorities. Bearing this in mind, SUSTRACK is a three-year project aimed at supporting policymakers in their efforts to develop sustainable pathways to replace fossil and carbon-intensive systems with sustainable circular and bio-based systems (at the EU and regional scale), contributing to achieving the European Green Deal’s objectives. This will be done by: identifying environmental, economic and social limits of a linear carbon-intensive and fossil-based economy; improving existing assessment methodologies; assessing the environmental, social and economic impacts of the EU’s current linear fossil-based economy; comparing multiple transition scenarios focusing on the most carbon-intensive sectors; identifying priorities according to scenarios analysed in the project and develop guidelines and policy recommendations.

PLUS Change brings together 23 institutions from across Europe including 5 Universities, 5 research institutes, 3 stakeholder network organisations, 1 performing arts collective, and 9 practice partners representing regional planning and land management authorities and organisations. The objectives directly address the call with an aim to create land use strategies and decision-making processes that meet climate, biodiversity and human well-being objectives of sustainability, and to develop interventions that leverage political, economic, societal, material and cultural contexts to achieve these strategies, by involving actors at multiple decision-making levels (individual, land management, planning, policy). Activities include land use modelling (including historical and future trajectories of change), systems mapping, causal loop diagrams, performing arts approaches, randomized controlled trials of behaviour change, sociological surveys, and policy and governance reviews. All activities brought together in an integrated research design that draws on their different contributions to a holistic approach to understand multi-scale land use systems across a diversity of socioeconomic and biogeographical contexts, and create usable tools for land managers, users, planners and policy makers. The project is anchored in, and integrated through, 11 location-based cases for co-creation, and in a high-level multiplier cluster to identify challenges and impacts at EU and Global levels. Outputs include recommendations of co-designed and tested interventions to unlock behavioural, structural and procedural changes to achieve identified land use strategies; and a toolkit to support land use planners in enacting these interventions, including knowledge training, a planning dashboard and simulation tools, and methods for engaging citizens and land managers in behaviour change.

In the last two decades the world has experienced several crises. In light of these trends and to more effectively move towards sustainable development, several organisations and international actors have developed the concept of green economy as action-oriented approaches. Priority interventions are aimed at triggering technology adoption, and stimulate behavioural change. In fact, eco-innovation can be considered an enabler for a green economy to the same extent that the green economy can be understood as an enabler of sustainable development. Green.eu is designed to address these challenges, ranging the conceptualization of eco-innovation and the green economy, to the harmonization of the approaches needed to coherently assess performance, identify gaps (successes and failures) for the effective adoption of technologies that can create win-win results. In particular, the project is designed so as to improve (1) harmonization of definitions, (2) collection of relevant information on the performance of past and current efforts, and (3) coordination among stakeholders. Green.eu sees the main challenges in an improved understanding (and scientific assessment) of the concepts of green economy and eco-innovation, on the adaptation of policy agendas, the documentation of best practices and guidelines for knowledge transfer and transferability. The inter- and transdisciplinary green.eu network (including knowledge brokers, programme owners and global industry networks) is research based and aims to accelerate the transition towards a green economy significantly, with a European focus on co-development of knowledge. It aims to exploit win-win-opportunities and to improve the take up of R&D results. It includes the following work packages: Networking and co-ordination; Harmonization of concepts of green economy and eco-innovation; Eco-innovation policy agendas; Best practices, knowledge transfer, transferability; Integration and operationalization of lessons learned.