Metabolic Institute

Metabolic Institute is an Amsterdam-based think tank dedicated to accelerating the transition to a fundamentally sustainable global economy. Our work focuses on two core areas: the bioeconomy and urban transitions.

Our mission is to harness scientific knowledge to drive practical action, inspiring the shift toward an economy and society that regenerates rather than depletes the environment. We leverage cutting-edge digital tools and data science to design solutions that are both innovative and actionable.

Within the bioeconomy domain, our team focuses on three key research areas:

• Bioregional Metabolism Scans: Assessing the impacts of local bioeconomies on health, equity, and the environment to guide sustainable regional development.
• Sustainable Land Use and Nature-Based Solutions: Mapping rural land management practices, developing frameworks to identify trade-offs among current and potential land use strategies, and collaborating with communities to select and deploy effective nature-based solutions.
• Regenerative Bio-based Value Chains: Analyzing biomass value chains to identify resource competition, opportunities for material cascading, and pathways to implement regenerative best practices.

Role in LandShift

Metabolic Institute is leading Work Package 4 in the LandSHIFT project, focusing on the selection and deployment of nature-based solutions (NBS) to enhance land management practices within the Living Labs. As part of this role, Metabolic will develop an open-source, New European Bauhaus-inspired library of proven NBS tailored to rural land use management. This library will serve as a tool for evaluating and supporting land use decisions across the five LandSHIFT pilot regions. We will assess the trade-offs and synergies of these solutions in each region to guide their effective deployment.

In addition, Metabolic is leading Task 3.5 under Work Package 3, working directly with the Living Labs communities to co-create transition strategies and roadmaps. These strategies will adapt and implement context-specific NBS, supporting each region’s transition toward more sustainable and resilient land-use systems.