Strategisch relevante Publikationen
Als strategisch relevante Veröffentlichungen weisen wir vor allem auf Dokumente der Europäischen Kommission hin.
Publikationen der Europäischen Kommission
Ecodesign requirements for sustainable products
- This framework regulation replaces and enlarges the scope of the current ecodesign directive (Directive 2009/125/EC – see summary). It becomes then the legal basis for assessing and setting ecodesign* requirements via delegated acts. Ecodesign requirements could be set either for a specific product group or horizontally (more than one product group) on the basis of a regularly updated pluriannual working plan.
- The regulation is part of a package of measures that are central to achieving the objectives of the 2020 circular economy action plan, one of the central pillars of the European Green Deal.
- Ecodesign requirements, if suitable, could potentially cover any physical good put into service or placed on the EU market with some exceptions, such as food and feed, along with medicinal products and vehicle aspects already covered under sector-specific EU legislation. Defence- and national security-related products of non-dual use will not be addressed via ecodesign requirements.
- It provides for the detailed assessment of the feasibility and subsequent setting of ecodesign requirements designed to:
- improve products’ durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability;
- make products more energy and resource efficient;
- tackle the presence of substances that inhibit circularity;
- increase recycled content;
- make products easier to remanufacture and recycle;
- reduce carbon and environmental footprints;
- improve the availability of information on product sustainability;
- address the destruction of unsold consumer products.
*Ecodesign: The integration of environmental sustainability considerations into the characteristics of a product and the processes taking place throughout the product’s value chain.
Circular Economy Action Plan
The European Commission adopted the circular economy action plan (CEAP) in March 2020. It is one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s agenda for sustainable growth. The EU’s transition to a circular economy will reduce pressure on natural resources and will create sustainable growth and jobs. It is also a prerequisite to achieve the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality target and to halt biodiversity loss.
The action plan includes initiatives addressing the entire life cycle of products. It targets how products are designed, promotes circular economy processes, encourages sustainable consumption, and aims to ensure that waste is prevented and the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.
It introduces legislative and non-legislative measures targeting areas where action at the EU level brings real added value.
Circular Economy Action Plan - European Commission
A new Circular Economy Action Plan
While up to 80% of products’ environmental impacts are determined at the design phase*, the linear pattern of “take-make-use-dispose” does not provide producers with sufficient incentives to make their products more circular. Many products break down too quickly, cannot be easily reused, repaired or recycled, and many are made for single use only. At the same time, the single market provides a critical mass enabling the EU to set global standards in product sustainability and to influence product design and value chain management worldwide.
*https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4d42d597-4f92-4498-8e1d-857cc157e6db
Communication of the European Commission
Zero Pollution Action Plan
Pollution harms our health and our environment. It is the largest environmental cause of multiple mental and physical diseases and of premature deaths, especially among children, people with certain medical conditions and the elderly. In addition to affecting people’s health, pollution is one of the main reasons for the loss of biodiversity. It reduces the ability of ecosystems to provide services such as carbon sequestration and decontamination. The public health, environmental, moral and socio-economic case for the EU to lead the global fight against pollution is today stronger than ever.
On 12 May 2021, the European Commission adopted the EU Action Plan: "Towards a Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil" - a key deliverable of the European Green Deal. You can get more information and get involved in the implementation of the Action Plan through the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform.
Zero Pollution Action Plan - European Commission
European industrial strategy
We updated our industrial strategy in May 2021 to ensure our industrial ambition takes account of the circumstances following the COVID-19 crisis, while ensuring EU industry can lead the way in transitioning to a green, digital and resilient economy.
In March 2020, we presented an industrial policy that would support the twin green and digital transitions, make EU industry more competitive globally, and enhance Europe’s open strategic autonomy. The next day, the World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
The updated industrial strategy reaffirms the priorities set out in March 2020, while responding to important lessons learned to ensure the recovery of Europe’s industry and economy.
Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS)
Chemicals are essential for the well-being, high living standards and comfort of modern society. They are used in many sectors, including health, energy, mobility and housing. The European Commission published a chemicals strategy for sustainability on 14 October 2020. It is part of the EU’s zero pollution ambition, which is a key commitment of the European Green Deal.
Strategic research and innovation plan for safe and sustainable chemicals and materials
The Strategic Research and Innovation Plan (SRIP) for Chemicals in the Green Deal era delivers on the announcement of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). The SRIP sets out an overarching plan addressing R&I needs across the lifecycle of chemicals and materials to achieve the goals of the CSS and the overall societal transition as envisioned by the Green Deal and the related policy initiatives. The objective of the SRIP is to stimulate and guide R&I funders at EU, national and private level as well as R&I performers to take a joint and coordinated approach to address the outstanding challenges to make chemicals and materials Green Deal compliant.
Safe and Sustainable by Design Chemicals and Materials (SSbD)
Within the European Green Deal, the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) (EC, 2020a) identified a number of actions to reduce negative impacts on human health and the environment associated with chemicals, materials, products and services commercialised or introduced onto the EU market. In particular, the ambition of the CSS is to phase out the most harmful substances and substitute, as far as possible, all other substances of concern, and otherwise minimise their use and track them. This objective requires novel approaches to analysing and comparing, across all life cycle stages, effects, releases and emissions for specific chemicals, materials, products and services, and move towards zero-pollution for air, water, soil and biota.
Bioeconomy: the European way to use our natural ressources
This updated bioeconomy strategy proposes actions to scale up and deploy the bioeconomy locally, capitalising on and going beyond the previous successful research an innovation investments in order to create growth and job opportunities at the local level, to reinforce the bio-based sector and contribute to the modernisation of Europe's industry, to protect the environment and enhance ecosystems’ functions and biodiversity. The strategy focuses on a system approach in order to increase the overall sustainability and circularity of the bioeconomy. It offers a complementary and integrative framework that cuts across multiple sectors and policies concerned with the bioeconomy, interlinks them, facilitates synergies, addresses trade-offs and helps deliver various policy objectives, with greater coherence.
The European way to use our natural resources : action plan 2018 - EU
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Planet Positive Chemicals Report (SYSTEMIQ, University of Tokyo)
The Planet Positive Chemicals report provides an unprecedented blueprint for the future of the industry, exploring how it can reinvent itself as a climate solution, operate within planetary boundaries and power the global transition to net zero. It presents practical, tangible steps for the industry to begin its journey to becoming planet positive.
The full report can be downloaded on the website of SYSTEMIQ.