Politics

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) states that the European Commission’s new RESourceEU package could align mineral policy with defence objectives and weaken environmental and social safeguards.

The European Commission has adopted the RESourceEU Action Plan to strengthen the EU supply of critical raw materials, including rare earth elements, cobalt and lithium.

RREUSE has published a new report urging EU policymakers to adopt binding, ambitious, standalone targets for reuse and preparing for reuse. The report also provides a comprehensive overview of existing targets and their institutional and policy context in EU Member States.

European Bioplastics (EUBP) welcomes the European Commission’s new Bioeconomy Strategy, which confirms – more clearly than ever – that biobased plastics are a strategic pillar of Europe’s future industrial base. Additionally, the revised Strategy recognises the sector as a lead market in the transition away from fossil-based materials, acknowledging its potential to scale up the EU bioeconomy

Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) welcomes the EU Bioeconomy Strategy’s vision of a bioeconomy that “strengthens resilience, ensures food security, and protects Europe’s ecosystems”. However, while the strategy presents opportunities to advance Europe’s bioeconomy, it currently lacks the ambitious targets and safeguards needed to deliver real environmental and social impact.

Many EU countries struggle to meet the targets for reusing and recycling municipal waste, and still rely too heavily on landfill because of financial constraints and weaknesses in their waste management plans, according to a report published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

Today, the European Commission adopted its EU Bioeconomy Strategy, setting out new measures to make Europe’s use of biological resources more sustainable, resilient, and circular.

Today’s revised Bioeconomy Strategy makes some headway but falls short on giving a clear vision for a European bioeconomy that operates within planetary boundaries, says ECOS. This risks continuing the degradation of resources (such as forests, soils, farmland, and water systems) instead of steering the bioeconomy towards resilience and circularity.

The new Bioeconomy Strategy released today by the European Commission lacks the ambition needed to align Europe’s resource use with the ecological boundaries of our planet. While focusing on scattered product innovation efforts instead of tackling the root causes of nature, pollution, and climate crises, the Commission has missed a crucial opportunity, warns the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

Today, the Commission adopted a new Strategic Framework for a Competitive and Sustainable EU Bioeconomy, charting a way forward to build a clean, competitive and resilient European economy.

On 24 November, the European waste management sector met in Milan for the conference “Circularity in practice: ensuring policy effectiveness, realism and the right market”, organised by A2A, Assoambiente and FEAD. The event addressed how Europe can accelerate delivery of its circular and industrial objectives in the new political term.