Dear Reader, Welcome to Sustainable EU Economy. This book is more than a textbook—it is an invitation to explore how the European Union shapes business, society, and sustainability in today’s interconnected world. My hope is that it will inspire you to think critically, engage actively, and see how Europe’s …

Global economic growth and its associated challenges, particularly those related to environmental impact, vulnerabilities in various global regions, inclusivity, and sustainability, prompt serious reflections on the types of economic and business models capable of achieving such growth, while addressing …

In their relatively short existence, the Expertisenetwork Systemic Co-design (ESC) (ESC) puts these aspirations into practice. As an adventurous and open-ended escapade, ESC is building a community of engaged people around shared challenges, who learn together, create new social narratives, develop capacities, …

Research into the impact of innovative sustainable energy experiments and demonstrations is crucial to diversifying, scaling up, and accelerating the sustainable energy transition. Although there is vast research into sustainable energy experiments and demonstrations, research literature offers a fragmented …

The construction and demolition is a resource intensive sector, with Construction and Demolition Wastes (CDWs) considered as the largest waste streams accounting for 374 million tonnes in Europe. Although the 70% target for material recovery of CDWs set in the European Union Waste Directive Framework …

Rural regions are facing specific challenges, such as demographic ones. For example, younger people often move towards more urban regions, which results in an older and dwindling population, which could lead to less facilities and broad prosperity. These challenges ask for specific sets of policies focused …

Similar to many other member states of the European Union, the Netherlands aims to become achieve 100% circular economy (CE) by 2050. To do so, they have stimulated several initiatives to transition towards circularity. There is a small but growing researcher interest in the concept of collaborative …

In the face of increasingly complex societal challenges, the field of social design is being called upon to deepen its ability to create long-term, systemic impact. This project, conducted with five experienced social designers and one workshop in our ESConference in 2025, explored how systems thinking, …

"Europe’s energy transition requires not only technological innovation but also new educational approaches that equip future professionals to navigate complex social, technical, and governance challenges. This expert article examines how students from Avans University of Applied Sciences contribute to …