The European Association of Automotive Suppliers (Clepa, Brussels: www.clepa.eu) has joined IRISS, a project backed by the EU that seeks to hasten the transition to safe and sustainable materials, products, and processes.

Clepa’s role is to analyse the so-called Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) criteria and the methodologies proposed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. It will also identify gaps, research needs, and implementation possibilities in the automotive sector.

Furthermore, CLEPA is to contribute industry insights on potential pathways towards SSbD. The EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability includes the implementation of SSbD under the Green Deal goal (see Plasteurope.com of 18.05.2021).

SSbD focuses early in the supply chain on providing products that are part of circular models while avoiding properties 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, a three-year project that started in June 2022, is funded by the EU research programme Horizon Europe. It has a budget of EUR 4.3 mn, of which around EUR 3.5 mn is from the EU. Led by the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (Stockholm; www.ivl.se), the project focuses on the six value chains of textiles, construction, electronics, energy, automotive, and packaging.

Clepa is a partner in the project’s value chain network and represents the automotive supply chain. The 20 members of the project are European research institutes, trade associations, companies, authorities, universities, and national technology platforms within SusChem (Brussels, www.suschem.org), a European technology platform for sustainable chemistry.