Brussels, 31/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Although resource efficiency is part of the strategy for 2020, the EU is a long way off the mark and everything remains to be done to achieve the circular economy - a vital if the EU is to “live well within the limits of our planet by 2050”, Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for the Environment, said on Monday 30 March. Speaking before the MEPs of the committee on the environment of the European Parliament, who have just been presented with the alarming report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) on the state and prospects of the environment (see EUROPE 11268), he sang the praises of the circular economy. In so doing, he gave the MEPs a clearer vision of the new proposal expected from the European Commission by the end of this year.
In order to turn the page on a wasteful economic system (in 2012, it recycled just 36% of the natural resources it used) and manage to combine more growth, less environmental damage and budgets under constraint, “the only solution is to change and update radically our production and consumption patterns”, the commissioner said. He went on to add that “the approach we are preparing will look at smarter use of raw materials, intelligent product design, product re-use and repair and, of course, recycling targets. We are also exploring different kinds of incentives in market-based instruments to boost the necessary investments and promote the transition to a fully circular economy. We want to give a clear and positive signal to those waiting to invest in the circular economy, and provide the private sector with the legal certainty it needs”.
The commissioner is hopeful that the Juncker investment plan of more than €300 billion will “kick-start investment in waste, water and waste water management, rehabilitation of contaminated sites, soil protection and the many sectors that need hefty investment to adapt to new models of production and consumption”. However, full implementation of the EU's environmental legislation must be a priority, the commissioner stressed, because failure to do so “costs €50 billion a year”; the full application of the legislation on waste “would create over 400,000 jobs by 2020” and the correct implementation of the water blueprint would help improve water efficiency “at a time when Europe still wastes 20 to 40% of the available water”. (Aminata Niang)