Four research projects approved

The second call for proposals attracted great interest. The 58 letters of intent that the SNSF received were narrowed down to four approved research projects. The second call was limited to the following topics:

• Legal aspects of the transformation
• Sustainable patterns of consumption
• Sustainability of commodities trading.

The four selected projects seek answers to the following questions:

• What are the motives, obstacles and negative ecological impacts of a sharing economy, and what strategies and mechanisms could contribute to minimising them?
• How could the life expectancy of mobile, web-enabled devices be extended to slow down the resource extraction related to the production of new devices?
• How could responsible and fair (free) trade agreements between countries be achieved, particularly in agriculture, so that the sovereignty of the trading partners as well as sustainability standards are respected?
• What legal framework is the most suitable in two important areas of a sustainable circular economy, namely i) promoting measures to fight food waste and reduce obstacles, and ii) promoting the repair and reuse of products so that they are not disposed of as waste?

The next newsletter will provide further information on the four research projects, their background, aims and significance.