{"id":69853,"date":"2019-12-19T07:23:48","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T06:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=69853"},"modified":"2019-12-17T13:07:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T12:07:23","slug":"eu-chief-likens-green-new-deal-to-europes-man-on-the-moon-moment-and-includes-plan-for-biodegradable-plastics-framework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/eu-chief-likens-green-new-deal-to-europes-man-on-the-moon-moment-and-includes-plan-for-biodegradable-plastics-framework\/","title":{"rendered":"EU chief likens Green New Deal to Europe\u2019s \u2018man on the moon\u2019 moment and includes plan for biodegradable plastics framework"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen has responded to calls for climate and environmental action by unveiling plans for a European Green Deal<\/a> with promises to develop a regulatory framework for biodegradable and bio-based plastics.<\/p>\n

The EC\u2019s Green Deal, which was published today (11 December), contains a total of 50 policy measures, including a legally binding target of reducing EU emissions to net zero by 2050, a carbon border tax to prevent companies relocating outside the EU to avoid climate legislation, and a new climate law.<\/p>\n

The EC also propose to broaden the scope of the EU emission trading system (ETS) by adding maritime emissions to the sectors already included (power, industry and aviation).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Europe\u2019s man on the moon moment,\u201d Von der Leyen said. \u201cOur goal is to reconcile the economy with our planet, to reconcile the way we produce and the way we consume with our planet and to make it work for our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EC also has plans to adopt an EU industrial strategy to address the twin challenge of the green and the digital transformation in March 2020. Together with the industrial strategy, a new circular economy action plan will aim to help modernise the EU\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Under its new circular economy plan, the EC will develop requirements to ensure that all packaging in the EU market is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable manner by 2030, will develop a regulatory framework for biodegradable and bio-based plastics, and will implement measures on single-use plastics.<\/p>\n

While the circular economy action plan will guide the transition of all sectors, action will focus in particular on resource-intensive sectors such as textiles, construction, electronics and plastics. The Commission will follow up on the 2018 plastics strategy focusing, among other things, on measures to tackle intentionally added micro plastics and unintentional releases of plastics, for example from textiles and tyre abrasion.<\/p>\n

In addition to this, the circular economy action plan will include a \u2018sustainable products\u2019 policy to support the circular design of all products based on a common methodology and principles. It will prioritise reducing and reusing materials before recycling them.<\/p>\n

It will also aim to foster new business models and set minimum requirements to prevent environmentally-harmful products from being placed on the EU market. According to the EC, extended producer responsibility will also be strengthened.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the EC will propose what it describes as the first European \u2018Climate Law\u2019 by March 2020. This will enshrine he 2050 climate neutrality objective in legislation. The Climate Law will also ensure that all EU policies contribute to the climate neutrality objective and that \u201call sectors play their part\u201d, the EC said.<\/p>\n

Executive Vice-President Frans\u00a0Timmermans\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cWe are in a climate and environmental emergency. The European Green Deal is an opportunity to improve the health and well-being of our people by transforming our economic model.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan sets out how to cut emissions, restore the health of our natural environment, protect our wildlife, create new economic opportunities, and improve the quality of life of our citizens. We all have an important part to play and every industry and country will be part of this transformation. Moreover, our responsibility is to make sure that this transition is a just transition, and that nobody is left behind as we deliver the European Green Deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the EU\u2019s Green Deal, Jeremy Wates, Secretary General of\u00a0the European Environmental Bureau\u00a0(EEB)\u00a0\u2013 Europe\u2019s largest network of environmental citizens\u2019 groups\u00a0\u2013\u00a0said: \u201cThis is a significant moment both for the environment and\u00a0for\u00a0the EU as Ursula von der Leyen has rightly chosen to make the European Green Deal her Commission\u2019s defining policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the\u00a0Green Deal\u00a0clearly falls short of adequately addressing\u00a0the challenges posed by the existential crises of climate change,\u00a0biodiversity loss and\u00a0toxic\u00a0pollution,\u00a0it\u00a0does promise\u00a0\u2018deeply\u00a0transformative policies\u2019 in the future\u00a0and is an important first step by the new Commission, even if the\u00a0hard\u00a0work of shaping and delivering those policies is still to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking forward, the EC will invite the European Parliament and the European Council to endorse the Commission\u2019s ambition for Europe\u2019s future economy and the environment and to help realise it. The Commission will bring forward the measures announced in the European Green Deal roadmap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen has responded to calls for climate and environmental action by unveiling plans for a European Green Deal with promises to develop a regulatory framework for biodegradable and bio-based plastics. The EC\u2019s Green Deal, which was published today (11 December), contains a total of 50 policy measures, including […]<\/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":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,5838,10416,7105],"supplier":[2317,6091,4571,4514],"class_list":["post-69853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioeconomy","tag-circulareconomy","tag-packaging","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-council","supplier-european-environmental-bureau","supplier-european-parliament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69853","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=69853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69853"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=69853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}