![\"\"](\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/03\/shutterstock_1934118089-800x450-1.jpg\")
\u201cThese two days will have enabled us to exchange views on various regulatory measures and practical actions aimed at establishing this model of sustainable production and consumption, following the example of France with the Anti-waste law for a circular economy and the Climate and Resilience law,\u201d said French Energy Transition Minister Barbara Pompili.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While France has placed the circular economy among its priorities for the its EU Council presidency, it wishes to stimulate an acceleration of the issue at a European level by drawing on its experience. To this end, it supports a different consumption model, one that is far removed from the \u201cproduce-consume-discard\u201d approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impact of the circular economy will be on production and will reduce the pressure on raw material resources. \u201cOver 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress comes from resource extraction and processing. And we know that half of all greenhouse gas emissions come from resource extraction and processing,\u201d said Franz Timmermans, the European Commission vice-president in charge of the Green Deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fight against global warming, therefore, requires a more circular economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several proposals in the pipeline<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
At the two-day conference, EESC president Christa Schweng said that \u201conly 8.6% of the economy is circular,\u201d adding that \u201cthe Green Deal will only be successful if the policy is linked to practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Implementation involves a reduction in the use of resources, recycling, eco-design and new service-based business models. \u201cThe products we use and the way we use them must be adapted to a future where reduction, reuse and repair are prioritised. New products must be sustainable, fully recyclable, chemically safe and made from recycled materials wherever possible,\u201d said Timmermans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To encourage stakeholders to move in this direction, the Commission will present several legislative proposals to be negotiated by the Council and the European Parliament, including a so-called Circular Economy package due on 30 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This package will include a Sustainable Products Strategy Initiative, which aims to regulate products placed on the EU market and whether they are produced on European soil. It will also have a specific strategy for textile products and new regulations on the sustainability of construction products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive is also expected by the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stepping up efforts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The European Parliament is \u201ceager\u201d to work on the legislation and wants \u201cproducts designed to last, easy to repair, easy to recycle\u201d, MEP Delara Burckhardt, who sits on the Environment Committee (ENVI), has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France, which currently holds the six-month EU Council presidency, will also push the Battery Regulation, on which the Parliament is due to adopt an opinion next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe would like to see a compromise on the battery regulation adopted quickly,\u201d said Pompili. \u201cSimilarly, we will start discussions in the Council on the sustainable products initiative as soon as it is adopted,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister also said that France wanted to progress the fight against imported deforestation and mirror clauses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have in mind the fact that changing our products also means changing our way of trading, as today\u2019s value chains are globalised. The priority of the FPEU [the French EU Council presidency] is, therefore, to reach an ambitious general orientation, in the Council, on the draft European regulation to fight against imported deforestation\u201d, she stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Going up a notch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On product circularity, the EU intends to increase its efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInitially, we are looking at high-impact products where the environmental challenges are greatest: textiles, furniture, electronics, steel and chemicals,\u201d said Timmermans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need an incentive framework, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution; we cannot assume that the sustainable products package will solve everything,\u201d said Burckhardt, who also called for \u201ca clear regulatory framework for the sectors\u201d and \u201cregulatory proposals that work well with each other\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea is thus to create a general framework to move forward, product by product, \u201cwithout over-regulating\u201d, said the Director of the Commission\u2019s DG ENVI, Kestutis Sadauskas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Circular products and their value will also be promoted through labelling and a \u201cproduct passport\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This \u201cproduct passport\u201d will contain all the information concerning the product, for example, how it was made, how to repair it and how to recycle it. The General Commissioner for Sustainable Development at the French ecological transition ministry, Thomas Lesueur, also mentioned the \u201cuse of blockchain\u201d to enable the information attached to the product to be \u201creliable and authentic\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA detailed knowledge of the product\u2019s history will make it possible to fuel the circular economy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EU\u2019s ambition is to, over time, create a genuine market for circular products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we can ensure a fully functioning European market for recycled materials of the highest quality, we can make \u2018Recycled in the EU\u2019 a global reference and create jobs while reducing our dependence on primary raw materials,\u201d Timmermans said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His last point is made all the more salient by the soaring prices of raw materials following Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, \u201cif we want to succeed, all parts of society, from businesses to consumers, local authorities and the research community, must be involved,\u201d Timmermans also warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Legislative proposals on the circular economy are expected by the end of March, according to a two-day joint conference organised by the French EU Council, the EU Commission and the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 1 and 2 March. EURACTIV France reports. \u201cThese two days will have enabled us to exchange views on various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"To encourage stakeholders to move in this direction, the Commission will present several legislative proposals, including the so-called Circular Economy package due on 30 March","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5838,10416],"supplier":[2317,6091,15818,4514,9149],"class_list":["post-106027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bioeconomy","tag-circulareconomy","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-council","supplier-european-economic-and-social-committee-eesc","supplier-european-parliament","supplier-french-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106027"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=106027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}