The European Joint Programme HBM4EU was established to address politically relevant questions on chemical risks to public health through a targeted human biomonitoring research programme. Running from 2017 to 2022, it was co-financed by the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 733032) and national or institutional funds from participating partners. HBM4EU was the first large European initiative to establish a robust science-to-policy interface by systematically aligning research activities with concrete regulatory needs. The programme introduced a structured governance model that actively involved policy-makers at European and national levels, scientists from multiple disciplines, and other stakeholders. A transparent prioritisation process defined key chemical groups as scientific focus areas, each supported by dedicated topic leaders. These leaders formulated relevant policy questions and translated them into targeted scientific tasks implemented via annual work programmes. To support regulatory uptake, HBM4EU produced tailored, policy-oriented communication products for all priority chemicals. At the end of the project, a structured survey among project partners assessed collaboration between scientists and policy-makers, as well as coordination, management and knowledge transfer. The results highlighted factors enabling effective communication and mutual understanding at the science-policy interface. They showed that shared governance promoted transparency, fair distribution of effort and synergies, and underlined the importance of continuous dialogue to ensure lasting impact. Overall, the findings provide practical guidance for future EU-funded projects seeking strong scientific excellence and policy relevance. © 2026 The Authors.
Science-based targets (SBTs) are increasingly proposed to align raw material use with environmental and societal goals, yet no consensus exists on what constitutes sustainable levels of material use. This paper reviews the scientific literature on material-use targets (2000–2025) and combines it with a dedicated review of resource-use and circular-economy targets in European policy documents. Three main approaches to setting material targets are identified: retrospective boundaries based on historically “safe” extraction levels; materials availability focusing on the accessibility and availability of resources; and impact-based approaches that derive targets from planetary boundaries or from the material requirements of sustainability scenarios. Impact-based approaches have become most prominent, supported by advances in scenario analysis, while retrospective boundaries remain influential in policy debates. The European policy inventory reveals widespread but highly heterogeneous material and wider resource targets. Most targets are strategic and non-binding, centered on economy-wide indicators (e.g., material footprints or circular use rates), with fewer sectoral or sub-national targets and substantial variation in baselines, reference years, and accounting perspectives. We find that the scientific basis behind these targets is often not clearly articulated. We argue that SBTs for materials should rely on transparent analytical frameworks explicitly linked to one of the three approaches. © 2026 The Authors.
Objective: European policy makers and researchers recognize the large policy potential of research in the field of sustainable development, but the potential is not fully used. PSI-connect wants to contribute to bridging the gap between science and policy in the field of the impacts of climate change on water management. The decoupling challenge from the EU Sustainable Development Strategy implies that impacts of climate change on the river basin system should be diminished. This is a policy issue of contemporary urgency and it is a topic where large quantities of high quality knowledge (untapped potential) are available. The consortium partners are all involved in different EU-projects with high relevance and have excellent contacts with relevant national research programs and easy access to national and regional policy makers. PSI-connect will experiment with and develop innovative knowledge brokering instruments in the field of impacts of climate change impacts on river systems. These instruments will be developed from available candidates such as Communities of Practice, games, group model building, and scenario workshops. We will develop and test these instruments in six case studies: Working group Climate Change and Water of the CIS of the WFD; Committee on Climate Change of the EU Parliament; German Ministry of Environment; Dutch Ministry of Traffic, Public Works and Water management; River basin Community Elbe (Germany) Water Board Rivierenland (the Netherlands); The final results of PSI-connect will be tested knowledge brokering instruments for different policy levels. Furthermore, knowledge brokerage communities will be established that act as learning communities and have the capacity to maintain European leadership in this field beyond the lifetime of the PSI-connect project itself. Results will be disseminated to the relevant audiences through summer schools, a web-site and a final conference.