At the Heart of the Circular Economy
The EU Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference, the most important summit on the circular economy in Europe, has now reached its 6th edition. On 27 and 28 February, 500 policymakers, analysts, trade...
Cillian Lohan: the Circular Economy is a Positive Story
The sixth edition of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference opens today, Monday 27th February. We asked Cillian Lohan, Vice-President of the EESC and promoter of the initiative, how fa...
Extractivism: Sooner or Later, Everything Becomes Critical
The process of decarbonisation and electrification of the economy requires increasing quantities of metals and minerals. Some of these, due to their economic importance and the risks linked to their...
A new EU industrial plan for the net-zero age
This week, the European Commission published the Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age. This is the EU’s first move in response to US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction ...
Ecodesign for sustainable products: what will change for consumers and businesses?
In March 2022, the European Commission published proposals to extend the scope of eco-design regulations to all physical products on the EU market. The new regulations will – most likely – touch...
Enershare, Europe's first common space for energy data
A consortium of international energy, industry and science leaders has launched the Enershare project, funded with 8 million euros from the European Commission. Announced in Lisbon on November 9, th...
Packaging waste: a preview of the European Commission's draft proposal
On November 30, the European Commission is due to submit its proposal for a "Regulation of the European Parliament and Council on Packaging and Packaging Waste." Renewable Matter was able to view a ...
Europe under fire as rubber industry is destroying African forests
Fueled by European demand, the rubber industry is allegedly responsible for massive deforestation in West-Central Africa quantified at 520 km2 since 2000, says a report released by the NGO Global Wi...
How to develop a textile recycling industry in Europe: Euratex's plan
The end of 2024: meaning, two and a half years from now. This is the deadline that the states of the European Union have set for organizing and implementing mandatory separate collection of textile ...
The Sustainable Products Revolution: the New European Commission Proposal
Ecodesign, circular textiles, regulations for construction products, greenwashing, and consumer power. These are the main points addressed in the new set of proposals presented on the 30th of March ...
John Bell: The bioeconomy can support the European Green Deal on all its objectives
John Bell is the Healthy Planet Director in DG Research and Innovation (R&I) of the European Commission. He leads R&I transitions on climate change, bioeconomy, food systems, environment, bi...
Stakeholder Conference 2022: the European circular economy under the mark of a double emergency
Talking about circular economy has never been more pressing. If the conflict in Ukraine and the international crisis seem to have put the climate and environmental emergencies of the planet on the b...
Europe: Digital Product Passport is Coming Soon
The Sustainable Products Initiative, included in the new Circular Economy Action Plan and one of the goals of the Green Deal, plans to establish a digital product passport (DPP) that collects data o...
A (green) steel deal between US and EU. And what about Italy? “Taranto can be a protagonist”
The road to the green economy is paved with geopolitics. A resource like steel makes this even clearer. Inaugurating a new era in transatlantic cooperation, on the sidelines of the G20 in Rome, the ...
Europe: a crackdown on waste exports is on the way
“Our waste is our responsibility. Letting waste pollute the environment, end up in illegal dumpsites or in our oceans is a real loss of resources, which are precious for the EU’s transition to a...
Unreal Estate: a New Way of Building
Our buildings are immobile goods. Silent behemoths, slowly changing over the years. Every so often, they are torn down. More frequently, they are renovated, to limit their decay. More rarely, we reg...
What is the New European Bauhaus?
100 years after Bauhaus, a movement that radically changed art, design and architecture in Germany and beyond, the European Commission has launched a New European Bauhaus to rethink our lifestyles a...
More Shadows Than Light on the Future of Food in Europe
Not enough care for the climate and biodiversity, and an imbalance that favours larger farms that aim to perpetuate industrial approaches. This, in short, is the assessment of European trade associa...
A new Eu policy for sustainable product
The EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan 2020 strives to bring about a green transition of the European economy. It looks at the entire life cycle of products and their materials, from design to end-...
Sustainability in Packaging Europe conference returns to Barcelona in November 2021
Following on from last year's hugely successful online event and the 2019 in-person event which attracted over 500 attendees, Sustainability in Packaging Europe plans to return to Barcelona across t...