CirclesOfLife enters its next phase: from research to practical implementation

The CirclesOfLife consortium (Horizon Europe) gathered in Espoo, Finland, from 9 to 11 June 2026 for its latest General Assembly, hosted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The meeting marked an important milestone for the Horizon Europe project, as partners reviewed progress and prepared for the transition from research activities to practical implementation across the European shipbuilding sector.

Throughout the two-day meeting, consortium members shared advances across the project's different work packages, with a common objective: supporting more circular shipbuilding processes, reducing environmental impacts and strengthening environmental decision-making throughout the ship lifecycle.

Several major developments were highlighted.

Research on the European ship recycling market is approaching completion and will soon provide new insights into recycling yard practices, critical dismantling processes and the criteria influencing shipowners' end-of-life decisions.

Partners also presented the first visual concepts for the Ship Circular Materials Passport (SCMP) and the Ship Lifecycle Passport (SLP). These tools are designed to improve material traceability throughout the maritime value chain and support the validation of future digital passport solutions.

Progress was also made on the development of business case propositions that will help translate project outcomes into practical applications. This work is being aligned with the forthcoming EU Industrial Maritime Value Chains Alliance to ensure consistency with European industrial priorities.

As part of Work Package 5 on dissemination and stakeholder engagement, Green Marine Europe's Program Manager, Cherif Belgaroui, facilitated a workshop exploring how the project's outcomes could be translated into business value and integrated into companies' operational practices. Discussions focused on the conditions required for the effective uptake of CirclesOfLife's tools and methodologies by shipyards and other maritime stakeholders, ensuring that project results can continue delivering value beyond the project's lifetime. The workshop also explored how the knowledge generated by CirclesOfLife could contribute to the future evolution of Green Marine Europe's shipyard certification framework, reinforcing the programme's ambition to continuously integrate emerging best practices and innovation into its environmental performance criteria.

The General Assembly also reviewed the project's industrial case studies, covering a broad range of environmental challenges including surface treatment, welding and blasting processes, innovative energy management, ship recycling, recycled materials and large-scale carpet recycling aboard cruise ships. While environmental and social benefits are already evident in many cases, partners continue working to strengthen the associated economic and business case analyses.

Finally, consortium partners demonstrated the latest version of the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI) software tool. Developed using real operational data from participating shipyards, the tool is intended to support environmental reporting and help decision-makers assess and improve the environmental performance of shipbuilding activities.

The meeting concluded with a clear objective for the months ahead: refining these tools and methodologies through stakeholder feedback before moving further towards large-scale implementation, helping accelerate circularity and environmental performance across Europe's maritime industry.

Picture : CirclesOfLife