Under which market, policy, financial and innovation conditions can operating within planetary boundaries become compatible with, and even supportive of, business competitiveness and EU industrial leadership? The findings presented in this Science for Policy brief draw address this question and build upon the stakeholder workshop “Creating business opportunities and fostering competitiveness through innovation for sustainability”, held at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy, in March 2026. The workshop brought together companies, clusters, startups and research organisations active in the circular economy, bioeconomy and biotechnology sectors. Business models and choices compatible with absolute sustainability transition should be viable and commercially credible. This constitutes a key pathway to align company-level competitiveness with the EU agenda. Innovation emerges as central bridge between absolute sustainability ambitions and competitiveness, particularly regarding including technology advancement, material substitution, product redesign, digital tool uptake, value-chain collaboration and new business opportunities. Scaling Absolute Sustainability up is unlikely to happen through frontrunner firms alone, but will depend on mix of enablers, encompassing coherent regulatory framework, easier access to finance, demand-side incentives, accessible data and methodologies, stronger intermediary and value-chain coordination, and sustained investment in skills and organisational capacity.

BORCHARDT Steve;  TRANE Matteo;  SANYE MENGUAL Esther;  CARLOTTI Monica;  GASTALDI Chiara;  OREFICE Martina;  MAGNOLFI Valeria;  VALENZANO Annarita;  BORZACCHIELLO Maria Teresa;  MARELLI Luisa;  SALA Serenella; 

BONVICIN Andrea; 

2026-08-28

European Commission

JRC147598

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC147598,