In a report published on Thursday 22 February, the European Environment Agency (EEA) identifies the circular economy and action on waste as major levers for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union.
Intensifying their implementation would therefore be a fundamental strategy, both for achieving the EU’s target of net zero emissions by 2050 and for fundamentally transforming Europe’s approach to the production, use and management of materials.
Although measures such as the ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products’ Regulation (see EUROPE 13326/22) are gradually being introduced, and although there are already many waste management and circular economy initiatives, the EEA points out that these are included in only 6% of national climate policies.
The study also points out that their impact on emissions is rarely quantified.
In light of these findings, the EEA proposes six steps to better integrate circular economy into climate policies, including promoting collaboration between experts, using models to identify the most promising actions and integrating these policies into climate change mitigation reporting, analysing if further legislative proposals are needed and monitoring the progress of adopted policies.
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/az2 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)