Global manufacturing industry is undergoing tremendous transformation towards increased sustainability. This vital, industrial sector is rapidly enhancing its capability for resource efficient, circular, and climate neutral processes and business models. Industry is also rapidly recognizing sustainability and resilience measures as competitive advantages and unique selling points. Companies are being both nudged and forced into sustainable, resource-efficient businesses to comply with new demands and regulations from for example the European Commission’s Green Deal and global policy like the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Customer needs as well as government policies and regulations are enforced through e.g. economic bonus and penalty systems, accelerating transformation. This change process is complex, requiring new knowledge and innovation. Therefore, Industrial sustainability is at the core of Produktion2030, the national Swedish Strategic Innovation Programme for manufacturing industry.

The vision of Produktion2030 is to enable a competitive and sustainable Swedish manufacturing industry. Produktion2030 is putting strong efforts into acceleration of the green transformation, creating crossdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaboration, increasing national innovation capacity and agility, and driving competence development as well as workforce upskilling. In 2020, the Produktion2030 Programme Office and Supervisory Group commissioned a study to map sustainability achievements within the programme's total product portfolio.

A national group of sustainability experts from Chalmers University of Technology, Linköping University, Royal Institute of Technology, and the institute RISE were invited to analyse all past and present Produktion2030 projects, from sustainability and circular economy perspectives.

This report presents the results from the study, highlighting a selection of contributions to industrial sustainability achieved by Produktion2030 during the programme’s first six years. Data for the study was gathered during the spring of 2020. Representatives from all ongoing and finalised projects within the Produktion2030 programme were invited to an online survey. The objective was to investigate specific project impacts in terms of sustainability and implementation of a circular economy.

Results showed that all Produktion2030 projects had applied at least one dimension of sustainability, economic. Further, 71% of the projects also covered the environmental dimension. Several projects applied sustainability trade-offs, where an improvement within one sustainability dimension affected other dimensions negatively. The UN Sustainable Development Goals #8, #9 and #12, were considered most relevant by the projects. Implementation or inclusion of circular economy was also common (45%) among the projects. Projects adapted circular economy concepts differently, according to their self-defined project scope and system boundaries. Finally, 65 % of the projects implemented Industry 4.0 concepts and digital solutions, to increase and accelerate the sustainability impact. In conclusion, the study of sustainability efforts within the complete portfolio of Produktion2030 projects by 2020 showed that the programme is strongly contributing to the transformation of manufacturing industry in Sweden towards sustainability.

Produktion2030 has a deep, strategic commitment to address the challenges of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This study shows that Produktion2030 also has an excellent transformational capability to deliver research, innovation, and education results that influences sustainability factors. The results strongly support the manufacturing community in Sweden, allowing industry, academia, and institutes to act towards a more sustainable, resilient, and circular society.