Circularity and Competitiveness

The Working Group on Circularity and Competitiveness (formerly called Global Competitiveness) covers the following activities:

In 2018, the WG contributed to the ERTRAC Strategic Research Agenda for Horizon Europe, providing the chapter called “Europe as world leader in innovation, production, and services”. The WG also organised a conference jointly with EFFRA on manufacturing needs for the automotive industry.

End of 2022, the WG name was changed from “Global Competitiveness” to “Circularity and Competitiveness” in order to address the challenges of circular economy and life cycle approach. The WG wants to work on the sustainability of supply chains and resources sovereignty of Europe, addressing circular economy, resiliency of critical resources, and substitution of fossil-based resources.

The elaboration of a new Roadmap started in 2024 and has been finalised in 2025 with the publication of the ERTRAC Roadmap Circular Economy and Competitiveness of the European Road Transport. Its objective is to provide a harmonised view on the importance of Circular Economy for the automotive sector in particular and the overall road transport sector in general. It identifies research priorities for the coming years and decade, to accelerate the transformation of the automotive industry towards circularity. Key topics addressed include materials and material recycling, circularity strategies, and the role of digitalisation. The conclusions include recommendations for light house projects for Europe to gain leadership in this circularity challenge.