The Revised European Framework for Safe and Sustainable by Design Chemicals and Materials Released in December 2025

Developed as an overarching guideline for implementing Design for Sustainability thinking, the Revised Framework is expected to play a pivotal role in accelerating the sustainability transition globally 

Initially proposed by the Joint Research Center (JRC)  in 2022, the Framework for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Chemicals and Materials supported the development of the EC Recommendation for SSbD adopted the same year. It presented a voluntary approach to guide the innovation process for chemicals and materials.

Following extensive practical testing and incorporating feedback gathered from diverse stakeholder groups, in December 2025, the JRC released a revised Framework. The revision introduces several important conceptual and structural changes. 

The main 5 novel aspects of the Framework include:

1. Introduction of the SSbD fundamentals

   to present the overarching SSbD principles that will help guide practitioners in their analysis.

2. A refined, more structured and stakeholder-driven Scoping analysis

   that identifies and prioritizes key issues and defines scenarios tailored to a project’s context and life-cycle actors.

3. New structure of the safety and sustainability assessments parts

   The safety part consolidates Steps 1–3 from the 2022 Framework into a single, integrated safety assessment. The sustainability assessment encompasses environmental, social, economic, and governance factors. It suggests incorporating both screening-level environmental life cycle assessments and more comprehensive socio-economic evaluations.

4. Evaluation and visualization

   Proposes an approach to evaluate the implementation of the SSbD framework. To help identify trade-offs, a dashboard-style visualization supports the illustration of hotspots, critical elements, and potential conflicts among objectives.

5. Focus on documentation

   designed for systematic and transparent documentation of the crucial steps in implementing SSbD.

Horizon Europe SUNRISE project is at the forefront of developing SSbD knowledge and tools inline with the SSbD Framework. Building on the foundational work of its predecessor, the H2020 SUNSHINE project, several of our peer reviewed publications have been referenced in the Revised Framework in key refined areas. These include contributions to a better understanding of the strategic link between the innovation process and SSbD goals and identifying relevant socio-economic categories and aspects to be considered in a sound and more comprehensive socio-economic assessment. 

You can access the referenced peer reviewed publications here:

• Stoycheva, S., Zabeo, A., Pizzol, L., & Hristozov, D. (2022). Socio-economic life cycle-based framework for safe and sustainable design of engineered nanomaterials and nano-enabled products. Sustainability, 14(9), 5734. doi.org/10.3390/su14095734

• Stoycheva, S., Peijnenburg, W., Salieri, B., Subramanian, V., Oomen, A., Doak S.H., Stone, V., Livieri, A., Kesten, V., Garmendia, I., Rauscher, H., Hunt, N., Soeteman-Hernández, L. G. (2025). A Conceptual Framework for Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design to Support Sustainable Business Model Innovation and New Product Development. Sustainability & Circularity NOW; 2. doi: 10.1055/a-2498-8902

Read the full JRC publication of the Revised Framework here:

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC143022