Contactica continues to expand its role as a coordinator of European sustainability projects with the launch of GREENSPIRE, a new Horizon Europe initiative focused on improving how companies assess, compare and communicate the environmental footprint of everyday products.
Coordinated by Contactica, GREENSPIRE brings together ten partners from six European countries to develop harmonised, science-based methodologies for two key product categories: home textiles and polyurethane foam products. Over the next four years, the project will work on new Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules, sector-specific datasets, digital tools and ecodesign resources designed to support a more transparent and circular European economy.
For Contactica, GREENSPIRE represents more than the start of a new project. It reflects the company’s growing capacity to lead international consortia, connect technical sustainability expertise with project implementation, and coordinate initiatives that respond to real industrial and environmental challenges.
Contactica’s role in leading European sustainability projects
The GREENSPIRE Kick-off Meeting took place in Pontevedra, Galicia, marking the beginning of a four-year collaborative effort involving partners from across Europe. As project coordinator, Contactica hosted and led the first steps of the consortium, setting the foundations for technical work, project governance and long-term collaboration.
This role reinforces Contactica’s position as an active player in European innovation ecosystems. Coordinating European sustainability projects requires much more than administrative management. It involves aligning diverse partners, translating strategic objectives into concrete actions, ensuring progress across work packages and maintaining a shared vision throughout the project lifecycle.
Through GREENSPIRE, Contactica will contribute to guiding a consortium that includes expertise from industry, research, sustainability assessment, digital innovation and stakeholder engagement. This combination is essential for a project that aims not only to develop environmental methodologies, but also to make them practical, accessible and useful for companies.
Why GREENSPIRE matters for sustainable products
One of the main challenges facing the ecological transition is the lack of common and scientifically validated rules to measure the environmental impact of many everyday products. Without shared methodologies, companies may struggle to compare results, communicate sustainability claims or demonstrate improvements in a consistent way.
GREENSPIRE has been created to address this gap in two sectors with significant environmental relevance: home textiles and polyurethane foams. These product categories are present in daily life through items such as mattresses, sofas, bedding, curtains, cushions, pillows, insulation materials and other household applications.
The project will develop two Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules, commonly known as PEFCRs: one for home textiles and one for polyurethane foam products. These rules are expected to help companies calculate, compare and communicate the environmental impact of their products in a more standardised and transparent way.
For Contactica, this aligns directly with its sustainability expertise, particularly in Life Cycle Assessment, environmental footprint methodologies, ecodesign and sustainability communication. GREENSPIRE offers a strong example of how European sustainability projects can support more credible environmental decision-making in industry.
From methodology to practical tools for industry
GREENSPIRE is not limited to methodology development. The project is designed to support real-world adoption by companies, especially those that need accessible tools to assess and improve the environmental performance of their products.
Alongside the PEFCRs, the consortium will develop sector-specific life cycle datasets based on real industrial data, a free digital assessment platform tailored to the needs of SMEs, an Engagement & Information Centre to make technical results understandable for professionals and consumers, and an Ecodesign Optimization Framework to help identify more sustainable product design scenarios.
This practical orientation is particularly relevant for Contactica’s approach to European sustainability projects. Innovation does not generate impact only by producing technical results. It also needs tools, communication channels, stakeholder engagement and exploitation pathways that help results move beyond the consortium and reach their intended users.
By coordinating GREENSPIRE, Contactica is helping ensure that the project’s outputs are not only scientifically robust, but also usable, accessible and connected to industry needs.
A strategic coordinator for European sustainability projects
GREENSPIRE strengthens Contactica’s portfolio of European sustainability projects and highlights the company’s ability to operate at the intersection of sustainability, innovation and project coordination.
As coordinator, Contactica plays a central role in ensuring that the project progresses with a clear structure, a shared direction and an effective connection between technical development and impact. This includes supporting project governance, facilitating collaboration among partners, monitoring progress and helping translate complex objectives into coordinated actions.
At the same time, GREENSPIRE reflects Contactica’s wider expertise in sustainability-driven innovation. The project connects several areas that are increasingly important for European industry: environmental footprint assessment, ecodesign, digital tools, circular economy, stakeholder engagement and science-based sustainability communication.
This integrated perspective is one of Contactica’s key strengths. The company supports European sustainability projects not only from a management perspective, but also by connecting technical content with communication, dissemination, exploitation and long-term impact.
Building credibility through environmental data
The need for credible environmental information is becoming increasingly important for companies, public institutions and consumers. Sustainability claims must be supported by reliable data, transparent methodologies and clear communication.
GREENSPIRE contributes to this objective by working on harmonised rules and tools that can help companies understand the environmental performance of their products and communicate it more responsibly. In sectors where many products are used by millions of people every day, this type of work can contribute to more informed decisions across the value chain.
For Contactica, this is also a strategic area of growth. The company works with organisations that need to assess environmental impacts, improve product performance, develop sustainability strategies and communicate results with greater credibility. GREENSPIRE reinforces this positioning by placing Contactica at the centre of one of its European sustainability projects focused on product environmental footprint and ecodesign.
A growing portfolio of impact-driven European projects
The launch of GREENSPIRE adds to Contactica’s growing portfolio of European projects focused on sustainability, circularity, innovation and environmental transition.
Each project represents an opportunity to build knowledge, connect organisations and develop solutions that respond to specific societal and industrial challenges. In the case of GREENSPIRE, the challenge is clear: making environmental footprint assessment more consistent, accessible and useful for companies working with home textiles and polyurethane foam products.
By coordinating this initiative, Contactica continues to strengthen its role as a trusted partner for European consortia seeking not only technical expertise, but also strategic coordination and impact-oriented project implementation.
GREENSPIRE marks another step in Contactica’s journey as a leader in European sustainability projects, demonstrating the company’s capacity to guide complex collaborations, support science-based methodologies and contribute to a more transparent and circular European economy.
