Funding Priority

Resource Efficiency And The Circular Economy

At a glance

Submission deadline: open-ended
easy-Online: Submit a project outline to apply for funding.
Funding announcement for applied energy research within the framework of the 8th Energy Research Programme of the BMWE (German only)

Making the most of the value of products, materials and resources

The concepts of the circular economy lead to the highest possible form of energy efficiency in the demand sectors, as the energy content of products at the end of their life cycle is correlated and optimised with the energy required to extract new raw materials. The strategic approach of the circular economy aims to optimise the use of the value of products, materials and resources within the economy, to preserve them (materially) for as long as possible (up to zero waste) and to generate as few GHG emissions or harmful environmental impact as possible.

Eligible research content on resource efficiency and the circular economy

Concrete research approaches exist in the concepts of circular economy. These include extending product life, reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, recover, upgradeability, cascading use and recycling.

Their effectiveness is determined in each case with a circular product design. The analysis also includes the collection and treatment of material streams as secondary raw materials and the disposal of remaining waste streams as well as the overall economic impact on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions.
Each research project is intended to highlight the economic, sociological and environmental impacts of circular products, components, energy services and business models.

Projects aimed at replacing critical raw materials and substances with more readily available raw materials or secondary raw materials are also required. Testing and developing suitable accounting tools or transferable IT-based solutions can help to achieve these objectives.

Link to ‘Industry and Commerce’

In the field of 'Industry and Commerce', funding is provided for research projects that focus on further developing individual technologies. One of the objectives is to make more efficient use of materials and resources. Research and development help reduce the energy consumption of these technologies.

Resources as basis for the energy transition

The transformation of the energy system directly results in fossil resources being replaced by renewable energies. From a macroeconomic perspective, this creates a demand for raw materials and resources. This demand is inextricably linked to primary energy consumption and issues of availability:

On the one hand, the energy transition is creating new resource requirements and driving up demand for specific raw materials, which could lead to shortages and hinder the transformation of the energy system, as well as making it more expensive.
On the other hand, the vast majority of raw material and resource consumption is attributable to the general use of raw materials and other resources.
Current recycling rates will not be able to meet society’s future demand for raw materials.

Therefore, it is not only (economically) strategic and limited-availability raw materials that must be protected, but all resources. They must be kept within the economic cycle for as long as possible and, to this end, extracted sustainably and used efficiently.