IRISS Project: CLEPA joins major EU initiative to accelerate the transition to safe and sustainable materials, products and processes

To ensure that materials are sustainable for humans and the environment, to increase recycling and use resources in a more efficient way, efforts are required from an early stage of design and manufacturing. Thus, the European Commission has launched a major initiative, IRISS, which will accelerate the transition to safe and sustainably designed materials, products and processes. The consortium, led by IVL, will create a global network of experts and stakeholders. Six value chains represented in the project will provide a clear picture of the industry’s ongoing and future transformation.CLEPA is one of the value chain network partners, representing the automotive supply chain. CLEPA’s strategic role in this project is to analyse the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) criteria and methodologies proposed by the JRC, identify gaps, research needs and implementation possibilities in the automotive sector.Furthermore CLEPA will contribute with industry insights on potential pathways towards SSbD uptake through value chain specific roadmaps and action plans.The EU is investing more than €3.5 million in the IRISS project, which will build a network of stakeholders, including companies, researchers, authorities, and other societal actors, to support this transition. Fundamental to the whole effort is the concept of SSbD, which includes focusing early in the supply chain on providing products that are part of circular models while avoiding properties that may be harmful to human health or the environment. It integrates circularity, climate neutrality, functionality and safety of materials, products and processes throughout the life cycle.IRISS, which stands for The International ecosystem for accelerating the transition to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-design materials, products and processes, will support companies, both with knowledge and through the implementation of research, and contribute to guiding principles for the development of life cycle thinking in material and product design. In collaboration with industry, a number of roadmaps will be developed to implement research and innovation, but also to demonstrate needs that exist in the policy area. Six value chains are in the focus of the work: textiles, construction, electronics, energy, automotive and packaging.The consortium consists of European research institutes, trade associations, companies, authorities and universities, as well as National Technology Platforms within SusChem.For more information, please contact:

Emma Strömberg, emma.stromberg@ivl.se
John Munthe, john.munthe@ivl.se

For more information about CLEPA’s involvement in this initiative, please contact: Beatriz Ildefonso at b.ildefonso@clepa.beAbout IRISS:

IRISS, The international ecosystem for accelerating the transition to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-design materials, products and processes, is a three-year project, start date 1^st of June 2022, funded by the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe. It has a budget of €4.3 million, of which approximately €3.5 million come from the EU, as well as additional funding through the University of Birmingham and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology.

The consortium consists of 20 partners:

• IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
• Leuphana University of Lueneburg
• BNN, BioNanoNet Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
• RIVM, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
• University of Birmingham
• Fundación Tekniker
• Cefic, European Chemical Industry Council
• EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
• ETP, EU Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles & Clothing
• CLEPA, European Association of Automotive Suppliers
• EMIRI, Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative
• EFCC, European Federation for Construction Chemicals
• INL, International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory
• IPC, Industrial Technical Centre for Plastics and Composites
• KI, Kemijski Institut
• VTT, Teknologiska Forskningscentralen
• IKEM, Innovation and Chemical Industries in Sweden
• APRE, Agencia Per la promozione della Ricerca Europea
• Czech Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry
• National Technical University of Athens

The project receives funding from the European Union’s HORIZON EUROPE research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 101058245