Last Friday, June 13, the Biodiversity Foundation published the resolution on the assessment of the allegations submitted to its provisional resolution proposal of April 9. The same document also details the documentary requirements prior to the final resolution of the call.
According to this resolution, approximately 40 projects have been provisionally proposed as eligible for funding, selected from among the approximately 75 that passed the initial admission phase, for a total amount of nearly 32,5 million euros. Textile and Fashion Observatory (OTYM) It is noted that these results They do not respond to the real needs of the sector in its complex and prolonged process towards greater circularity.
An initial assessment of the call points to the low business participation, possibly attributable to both structural factors —The transformation from a linear model to a circular one requires time and stability— as well as current circumstances related to regulatory, technological, and market uncertainty. This context could have hindered the incorporation of new agents into the call. OTYM is considered to Only through continued support over time can the barriers that limit this type of adaptive investments in circularity be overcome..
A second reading, focusing on the small number of applications submitted, points to the difficulties in access arising from Basic Order TED/167/2024, of February 20, applicable to the plastics and textile sectors.
As has been reiterated on several occasions, it is likely that the conditions established for eligibility for this program were not adequately adapted to the reality of the textile sector.
Added to this are the evaluation criteria applied to applicant entities and groups, which could have acted as a third barrier to entry. In the case of textiles, a third of the projects that passed the initial admission phase were ultimately rejected, with the technical quality of the projects presented not having sufficient weight to outweigh other formal requirements.
The Observatory —in close collaboration with the FashionSpain Confederation and the Spanish Intertextile Council— Numerous actions have been implemented between 2022 and 2024, including sector positioning work with specialized consulting firms, training, dissemination of regulations and procedures, and project preparation. A notable example is the collaboration with FI Group, which presented projects with a 90% success rate.
In view of the results, the OTYM considers It is essential that the development of the PERTE for the textile, footwear and clothing sectors include new callsThis practice is common in other transformative PERTEs, such as the Electric and Connected Vehicle (ECV) or Decarbonization, which—like the 2030 Strategy for the sector—have a solid regulatory foundation.
To ensure the continuity and effectiveness of this process, the Observatory proposes two specific proposals: