The European Commission released its new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) in support of the European Green Deal on 11 March 2020.
It fits in a preeminent list of EU strategy documents with a strong impact on standardization, such as the new Biodiversity Strategy, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Industrial Strategy, the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the Sustainable Products Initiative. “To achieve climate-neutrality by 2050, to preserve our natural environment, and to strengthen our economic competitiveness, requires a fully circular economy,” said Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s vice-president in charge of overseeing the European Green Deal.
Europe’s economy is still mostly linear, Timmermans pointed out, with only 12% of materials recycled and brought back into the economy. “Many products break down too easily, cannot be reused, repaired or recycled, or are made for single use only,” the Dutchman pointed out, saying that the Commission’s new circular economy plan aims to “transform the way products are made and empower consumers to make sustainable choices”.
Building on the work already undertaken in the transition towards a more circular European economy, the Action Plan sets out objectives in product design, production and consumption. “We only have one Planet Earth and yet, by 2050 we will be consuming as if we had three,” added Virginijus Sinkevičius, the EU’s environment Commissioner. “The new plan will make circularity the mainstream in our lives and speed up the green transition of our economy,” he promised. It focuses on the sectors that use most resources and where the potential for circularity is high, such as electronics and ICT; batteries and vehicles; packaging; plastics; textiles; construction and buildings; food; water and nutrients.
This new Action Plan for the Circular Economy will have impacts on most – if not all – businesses in Europe. The need for constant, systematic monitoring of upcoming legislation is now higher than it has ever been for companies to best undertake this transition without affecting their profitability.
In this context, the Circular Economy Topic Group (CE-TG) of SABE was set up to provide a faster and more coordinated response to the horizontal and cross sectorial standardization needs related to the European Circular Economy-related initiatives.
The SABE CE-TG focuses on identifying and discussing strategic standardization issues and needs related to Circular Economy within CEN and CENELEC and the coordination with other standard organisations. It supports SABE in advising the CEN and CENELEC Technical Boards on standardization priorities for instance in support of the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan.
Here below it is possible to find a complete list of the sectors affected by the Circular Economy Action Plan. In contrast to the former Action Plan, which was largely based on sector-specific incentives with very little regulation, the CEAP is regulatory-based with a number of major new regulations in the pipeline along with amendments of existing directives to include stricter targets and actions.
More information on how standardization supports the ambitions towards a fully circular economy can be found on CEN and CENELEC’s dedicated brochure 'Standardization in a Circular Economy – Closing the Loop'.
For more information, please contact the CEN-CLC SABE CE-TG Secretariat or Andrea NAM.
Andrea NAM
anam@cencenelec.eu