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The European Union has unveiled the European Green Deal (EGD) and the 8th Environment Action Programme (8EAP), initiatives that represent the most comprehensive and forward-looking policy frameworks to date. Central to these programmes is the 'Systemic Change' concept, which has garnered significant political support as a fundamental approach to achieving environmental sustainability goals. It is imperative to acknowledge that the intricacies of environmental challenges demand a nuanced understanding of their systemic nature. Oversight of systemic phenomena such as non-linear dynamics, rebound effects, lock-ins, burden-shifting, and trade-offs during the policy formulation stage can result in unintended deleterious outcomes and the redistribution of burdens. Consequently, analysing systemic attributes is increasingly vital for informed policy guidance. Such systems-based perspectives will serve for the anticipated State of the Environment Report 2025, designed to facilitate robust policymaking. This report aims to identify and communicate some essential systemic properties pertinent to 'systemic change' and the journey towards sustainability. It examines various potential systemic properties across production-consumption systems, including energy, food, mobility, and housing, aligning with EEA thematic domains and corresponding policies. For each thematic domain, selected cases are analysed, utilising causal loop diagrams (CLDs) to visualise and assess systemic properties. The report does not aim for an exhaustive literature review but instead seeks to present illustrative and, at times, provocative scenarios to probe the effectiveness of CLDs in exploring and articulating systemic properties. The systemic properties analysed in the cases include: Direct and Indirect Rebound Effects highlight the paradox where efficiency improvements lead to increased consumption. 'Fixes that Fail' illustrates the pitfalls of short-term solutions that neglect underlying issues, resulting in recurring, more complex problems. 'Shifting the Burden' is where short-term remedies prevent the resolution of root causes by fostering dependency. 'Limits to Growth', underscoring the unsustainable nature of indefinite growth when natural limits are reached. ‘Growth and underinvestment’ is a systems archetype that describes the scenario when growth potential is hindered by insufficient investment in capacity, leading to performance shortfalls and curtailed growth. The report ventures partly into more speculative thought experiments, such as the complete shift from meat to vegan diets, to explore the implications of drastic changes within complex systems. Despite the speculative nature of these experiments, they underscore the slow pace of systemic change and the potential for rebound effects, highlighting the necessity for comprehensive political measures across the food value chain. In addressing the energy transition, the report emphasises the imperative of moving towards a carbon-neutral, renewable energy system, spotlighting the role of hydrogen technology. It critiques current mobility policies' narrow focus on technological upgrades at the expense of broader systemic reforms, advocating for a more integrated approach to sustainability. Furthermore, the report examines the EU's ambition to double the annual energy renovation rate by 2030, considering systemic factors such as cost reduction, material usage, and the promotion of circular economy principles to overcome barriers to building renovation.

The European Union's innovation framework mandates the Multi-Actor Approach (MAA) in Horizon Europe (HEU) projects to foster co-creation among stakeholders, linking science and practice. A critical component of this strategy is the explicit recommendation to involve EIP-AGRI Operational Groups (OGs), which are pivotal in fostering interactive innovation and producing practical solutions at the local level. This conference paper presents the main findings from the 3rd PREMIERE Focus Group, which was motivated by the European Commission’s (EC) expectation that more interactive innovation groups from the grass-root level should be included in Horizon Cluster 6 proposals, reinforcing the MAA. The involvement of such local level, practice oriented project members in European projects is intended to advance the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) and drive systemic change towards sustainable agriculture. Despite the policy ambition, the successful integration of OGs into HEU projects faces significant structural, administrative, and capacity barriers. Findings from the PREMIERE Focus Group revealed numerous obstacles. These include administrative burdens and limited funding reported by OG members, the lack of information reach regarding HEU opportunities, and the challenge of OGs frequently lacking legal entity status, forcing indirect participation. Furthermore, practitioners like farmers, and newcomers often lack the necessary experience or soft skills for interdisciplinary collaboration.

At the project Female-Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas (FLIARA) a range of policy briefs has been developed and based on these policy briefs and other outcomes of the project a Policy Booklet has been written. This report contains (Part A) the policy booklet, (Part B) de policy briefs, and (Part C) a short introduction to the process of coming to briefs and booklet.

The Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork strategy mirrored the policy objectives of the European Commission. A mix of policy programmes and measures was in place aiming to realise them in practice since 2014. The European Innovation Partnership for agricultural productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI) with its underlying ‘interactive innovation’ or ‘co-innovation’ is one of the policy approaches that aims to enhance the development of innovative solution for sustainable land use and rural business. Since 2012, the systematic implementation of co-innovation is underway because such a collaboration of diverse actors with complementary knowledge, based on participatory practices, is seen as a promising solution to aiming at a more sustainable future. The purpose of this paper is to identify and cluster the needs identified for capacity development, as these are policy-driven factors, which are promising elements to speeding up innovation for a sustainable future in land use sectors and rural business. Moreover, the engagement with the ESEE community aims to refine the five principles presented by the authors and to move towards a European capacity development framework for the EIP-AGRI policy concept with its underlying co-innovation approach driving different funding streams for research and innovation projects.