1. No category

Environment
for Europeans
Magazine of the Directorate-General for the Environment
Green week supplement 2014
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
saving resources, creating jobs
Environment
Editorial
Green Week 2014, Europe’s largest environment conference, held in Brussels
in the first week of June, was about the ‘Circular economy – saving resources,
creating jobs’. More than 3000 participants, including policy-makers, scientists
and stakeholders from business and civil society, took part in wide-ranging
debates on policy frameworks, business models, green jobs, eco-innovation
and many other facets of the circular economy.
European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik set the scene,
noting: “Europe’s competitiveness will be determined by its ability to use
resources efficiently and there will be no place for waste. We need to move
away from our throwaway culture and switch to a more circular model, cutting
waste and turning it into a resource.”
Green Week debate and discussion demonstrated the benefits of a circular
economy, but also showed that to succeed, the required transition from a linear to a circular economy would need all stakeholders on board. This means
policy-makers too – listening and learning from examples and experience,
ensuring a consistent and objective approach.
Looking back on the week, Commissioner Potočnik told participants that he felt
optimistic about a switch to the circular economy: “I know it can happen, I know
it will happen, I know it is inevitable – and after seeing so many bright ideas,
and so much willingness to confront change, I am starting to sense some reassurance that we can do it before we are forced to do it.”
The aim of the EU’s 7th Environment Action Programme is “Living well, within
the limits of our Planet”. This supplement of Environment for Europeans magazine spotlights the various debates during Green Week on how to achieve this
– and showcases some of the stakeholders in the exhibition area. We hope you
enjoy this special edition.
Environment for Europeans
ec.europa.eu/environment/news/efe/index_en.htm
EDITORIAL INFORMATION
Environment for Europeans is a quarterly magazine
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of the European Commission. It is available in
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Editor-in-chief: Bettina Doeser
Co-ordinator: Jonathan Murphy
For more information, please contact
the Communication Unit:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/contact/form_en.htm
Information and documents:
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Environment for Europeans website:
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ENVIRONMENT ONLINE
Do you want to know what the European Union is
doing to protect the environment, what an integrated
policy product is or how to qualify for an ‘Ecolabel’?
Find out all this and more at DG Environment’s
website:
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NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person
acting on its behalf may be held responsible for
the use to which information in this publication
may be put, or for any errors which, despite careful
preparation and checking, may appear.
Printed on recycled paper that has been awarded
the EU Ecolabel for graphic paper.
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel)
Luxembourg: Publications Office
of the European Union, 2014
ISSN 1563-4183 (print version)
ISSN 2363-1287 (epub version)
© European Union, 2014
© Cover : European Commission, 2014. All photos:
EU-Patrick Mascart, except p. 10 and 13 © Thinkstock,
p. 15 © Paolo Andrea Montanaro - Courtesy Slow
Food, p. 15 © Cor Kuyvenhoven; backcover: © Umicore
Reproduction of the text is permitted provided
the source is acknowledged.
Reproduction of the photographs is prohibited.
Printed in Italy
Contents
03
Fresh air for the environment03
Setting the scene05
Green jobs for inclusive growth06
Getting the framework right08
12
06
Green urbanism10
Sharing best practice11
New greener business models12
A nudge in the right direction14
Green Week 2014 Exhibition15
10
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
»» ECONOMICS, STRATEGY AND INFORMATION
Fresh air for the environment
Has progress towards a better environment
ground to a halt? If so, what and who
can trigger the changes needed? Is a
‘New Environmentalism’ likely to win the
middle ground between the sceptical and the
converted, and inspire the public’s imagination?
Green Week 2014 opened with a summit
that brought together leaders from the arts,
business, policy, academia and campaigners
to debate how to make environment policies and
actions more effective.
“For all the investment in cutting-edge clean technologies,
the popular support of vast swathes of society, and the
political rhetoric committing to urgent action, greener economic models are not cutting through into the mainstream
at the pace that is required,” said James Murray, Editor of
BusinessGreen, who introduced the summit.
“There is a kind of paradox in that we know we have the
potential for a sustainable economy but can’t seem to get
on track,” said Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute,
explaining this seeming paradox by the momentum and
inertia of the global economy. The challenge of our generation … is how to live together in a crowded world – bursting
at the seams in both human and ecological resource terms.
“
We have the know-how,
the technology and the need.
Let’s do it!
”
Different actors and actions have to be aligned to win the
fight for sustainable development, he said, finishing on an
optimistic note: “We have the know-how, the technology and
the need. Let's do it!”
Poetry as well as prose
Film-maker Yann Arthus-Bertrand said: “To be an environmentalist is to love life and others.” Looking back over his
books, films and projects, he called for a transformation
that was spiritual, and not just technological and economic:
“We have talked too much about guilt and not enough about
personal responsibility,” he said.
Environmentalists need to leave their comfort zone, to get to
“where the magic happens”, according to Marco Lambertini,
Director General of WWF. To convert awareness into action,
environmentalists need to talk to wider circles of interest
and connect with people. “By mobilising billions of people …
we will trigger change,” he said.
“We need to win the huge middle ground between the sceptical and the converted,” he added, stressing the importance
of empowering local people in their local battles.
Sandra Steingraber, biologist and author of Living Downstream, a documentary about the relationship between
environmental factors and cancer, began with a warning:
“We are 65 % water by weight and we breathe a pint of air
with each breath.”
Due to our reliance on fossil fuels, she said, we are facing
two crises – climate change and chemical pollution – and
the science says we must leave 80 % of remaining carbon in the ground. For this reason, “fracking is a bridge to
nowhere”, she said.
Fracking has environmental consequences, and expanding
it holds back the circular economy, she argued, calling for a
comprehensive health-impact assessment.
Positive vision
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, agreed that fracking contributes to the illusion of “buying time”, but he also
gave a more positive message: "We are privileged; we have
never had so much information or so much attention."
Even if the graphs are all pointing in the wrong direction, he
argued, environmentalists are “on the right side of history”:
12 % of land area is already under some kind of protection,
it has only been 25 years since the first high-level scientific
discussions on climate change, and yet we are now transforming our economy. Last year, he noted by way of illustration, more was invested in renewable energy infrastructure
than in oil, gas and coal combined.
Although we have allowed the economic paradigm to define
prices for environmental resources, he said, we have seen
new concepts emerge: gross national happiness, green
economy, resource efficiency and, from China, the ‘ecological civilisation’.
He concluded that the New Environmentalism will need to
be economically literate, to address finance and to articulate opportunities and solutions – not just problems.
3
4
According to Mitch Hedlund, Founder and Executive Director
of the NGO ‘Recycle Across America’, US recycling has plateaued at 34 %. But if it increased to 75 %, it would create
1.5 million new jobs. Noting that global waste is projected
to double by 2025, she spoke about the problem of poor
labelling on bins: public recycling bins are confusing, leading
to scepticism and mistakes.
Her organisation provides a standardised recycling label
system. The campaign uses media and big brand collaboration, which can lead to 50-100 % improvement in recycling
rates. Their target is to distribute 1 million standardised
labels by the end of 2014, and they have already donated
250 000 to schools. "Make it easier and people will do the
right thing," she concluded.
For Jacques Perrin, film-maker and actor, life is about connection: “No living being in the world is truly alone.”
Stressing the need to explore new concepts, he said that the
future of Europe lies in diversity, both cultural and natural.
We need “solidarité écologique” and a “Declaration of Interdependence”!
Circular path forwards
European Commissioner for the Environment Janez
Potočnik started by quoting the Polar explorer Robert Swan:
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone
else will save it.”
“The vast majority of individuals and businesses make
choices based on what seems to be best for them,” said
the Commissioner. So we need national and international
p­olicies and agreements which restrict individuals’ and
companies’ behaviour. Without them, the environment will
suffer.
But the paths to economic well-being and environmental
sustainability are the same: “Today we need a new revolution”.
“I believe that in the face of resource scarcities and rising
prices we will be able to perform miracles in raising resource
productivity,” he said. “To get there we will not only need
technological development and innovation; we will also
need new business models that decrease impact across the
whole life cycle of products.”
For PotoČnik, old and New Environmentalism need to go
hand in hand in the same way that the economy and the
environment do. “Together we need to make our governments – and yes, the EU also – realise that it’s not just the
economy, stupid,” he said.
Summing up, Murray concluded that protecting the planet
is linked to protecting the quality of life: clean technology is
better, renewables have lower operating costs, green businesses are safer, low-carbon investment delivers jobs – but
perhaps most of all, this stuff is cool!
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
»» RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
Setting the scene
Moving to a circular economy requires systemic
change, affecting all stakeholders in the valuechain, and substantial innovations in technology,
organisation, and society as a whole. Green
Week opened with an introductory session that
set the framework for the discussions to come.
“We can live well, and within the limits of our planet, but we
cannot do it by continuing as we are,” said Karl Falkenberg,
Director-General for Environment at the European Commission, in the opening session of Green Week.
In some ways, the efficiency of our current economic system is our worst enemy, said Janez Potočnik, the European
Commissioner for Environment. “The linear system is actually working very well. It is just that the world is changing to
make it no longer fit-for-purpose.”
Resource-poor, crowded and ageing, “Europe's comparative
advantage in the coming decades will be defined by the
relative availability of resources – and our ability to maximise their productivity,” he said. We need to move away
from our throwaway culture and switch to a more circular
model. That means innovative products designed to last,
to be repaired and to be recycled, and innovative business
models to match.
Recycling our riches
Karl Falkenberg agreed: “Waste is too valuable to be wasted.”
Recycling and 'urban mining' can now produce 350g of gold
from one tonne of electronic waste – many times more efficient than traditional mining.
Andreas Papastavrou, Deputy Permanent Representative of
Greece to the EU, added that if just 3 % of existing gold
supplies were recycled in this way, from mobile phones, for
example, it could satisfy 100 % of new demand. He also
emphasised that the EU needs to strengthen the environmental element of the Europe 2020 Strategy to meet the
coming challenges, with approaches optimised to suit conditions in the Member States.
“In the near future, we will be left with fewer resources for
more people,” said Cyndi Rhoades, Founder and Executive
Officer of Worn Again, a company she described as part of
“a closed-loop revolution in the fashion industry”.
“We are high-consumption countries, so we have the recyclable resources here in Europe”, she added. Her company
has focused on 'upcycling', using innovative design to turn
old textiles into products of higher value, and are now investigating technologies to recover mixed fibres.
She emphasised that businesses need to change the way
they measure and report on performance, explaining that
PUMA had pioneered the 'environmental profit and loss'
concept, and considered that a single model of financial,
social and environmental reporting was needed for the
whole industry.
On 2 July, the Commission adopted new policies on
the circular economy, which set out relevant instruments, a lifecycle approach, and new long-term
recycling targets for Europe.
Measuring the circular economy
With so many stakeholders and policy areas involved,
Europe needs a resource-efficiency target to give “clarity
in the direction of travel”, said the Commissioner. The Commission has chosen Raw Material Consumption relative to
GDP as the best candidate for such an indicator.
“The circular economy is exciting, it is where it's happening,”
he concluded, and it will be “the great innovation challenge
of the next decades.”
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/
»» http://webcast.ec.europa.eu/eutv/portal/archive.
html?viewConference=23014&catId=22743
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/
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»» ECONOMICS, STRATEGY AND INFORMATION
Green jobs for inclusive
growth
A circular economy in Europe will need a
skilled workforce, trained and equipped for
greener jobs.
The Green Week session on 'Green jobs and skills' focused
on how private firms and public bodies are gearing up for
the expected transformation. Speakers agreed on the need
for a coherent legislative framework at EU level, covering
all relevant policy areas, so that businesses have the confidence and certainty that investing in new jobs requires.
Dr Cristina Martinez, from the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), emphasised that
green jobs must create not only a sustainable economy
but also a fairer and more inclusive society, with greater
coherence between environmental and employment targets.
­“Traditionally, these two areas have been separate,” she
said. “What we need is multi-sectoral engagement.”
“
Green policy does not
automatically generate jobs,
or destroy them. It's a question
of how we do it.
”
She presented two recent OECD reports on Greener Skills
and Jobs and Making Inclusive Growth Happen. According
to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
employment in green sectors such as wind and solar energy
and water purification is growing strongly.
Restructuring and retraining is needed in a wide range
of traditional industries including mining, cement, oil and
chemicals, because innovations in those fields are generating the need for a workforce with very different skills from
the traditional ones. But new positions, for example in green
business management, tend to be held by men. “We need to
focus on areas where gender is playing a role,” she argued.
Some sectors, like recycling and waste management, have in
the past employed mainly low-skilled workers, who will need
to be offered the option of retraining where possible. Another
example is the mining industry, which is not only gender- but
also age-specific. “Many miners are 50-plus, and if there is
restructuring they are stuck with old skills. The greening of the
economy must be an opportunity for inclusive growth,” she said. Return on investment
José Lopes, Head of Technical Excellence at Jaguar Land
Rover Ltd, described how the company is reskilling its engineering workforce, making processes more efficient and
using materials in a more sustainable way. “It's important
to show that we develop all our products not only according
to what our customers require, but also what's needed for a
sustainable business.”
Jaguar has been running its Technical Accreditation Scheme
for five years in collaboration with eight UK universities.
“As we progress towards the greening of the economy, we
have to embrace new, emerging technologies,” he explained.
Jaguar has developed a 50-module programme for up-skilling its engineering workforce. A comprehensive evaluation
of the programme showed a return on investment of more
than 200 %.
A persistent problem is that only 7 % of engineers in the UK
are female, and efforts to recruit more women have had no
significant impact. This is “very worrying”, he said.
Industrial collaboration across national frontiers is important. “The technological challenges facing the automotive
industry have probably never been greater. Industry, universities and governments must work together collaboratively
in advancing new research areas,” said Mr Lopes.
Building skills
Austria has the highest proportion of green products and
services in the EU. Johannes Fechner coordinates vocational
education and training for the national climate initiative klimaaktiv. He noted that the country's green sector is developing well, with an increase in turnover from €31 billion in
2008 to €35 billion in 2012 (12 % of GDP).
The approach to the low-carbon economy in Austria has
three pillars: legislative, economic and education and training. A dual vocational education system enables young people to learn while they work as apprentices. He described
the 'Build Up Skills' scheme for training blue-collar workers
in the building sector. The EU Buildings Directive sets ambitious energy-saving targets which demand high-quality
­construction, and therefore additional skills. With state support, klimaaktiv has developed a freely available building
standard which provides a guiding principle for environmental and energy-efficient design, with training and assessment tools.
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
The three key words are “governance, networking and
integration,” said Mr Fechner. Creating green jobs requires
cost transparency – and this should include incorporating
the price of limited resources – as well as integration and
coordination between national and European strategies, and
where the development of new technical skills is concerned.
The challenges
On behalf of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Detlef
Eckert, Director of Europe 2020 and employment policies,
highlighted two challenges facing the EU. The first is how
to create the right conditions for more new jobs in the wake
of the economic crisis. Second is the fear that strict environmental obligations could jeopardise jobs and competitiveness.
“Green policy does not automatically generate jobs, or
destroy them,” he argued. “It's a question of how we do it.”
Speculating on what the EU's role should be, he said the
recent European election results underlined that Brussels could not provide all the answers. Nonetheless, the
EU does have a role to play in fostering skills, promoting
mobility – since skilled people do not always live where
they are needed – and supporting industrial restructuring,
in ­cooperation with the social partners, particularly to counter people's fear of unemployment.
As regards education and training, Mr Eckert said public policy should be about “developing a skills-enabling infrastructure, at the disposal of the private sector” – especially SMEs.
The Commission is already cooperating with international
organisations such as the OECD, and organising sectoral initiatives on strategies to move faster towards the prosperity
that EU citizens expect. The Italian EU Presidency, along with
Member State environment and employment ministers, is
developing proposals that will be put to the new Commission. Coherence between EU financial and R&D policies is
crucial to ensure that the EU is advancing technically and
technologically. Although no additional funding will be available for reskilling within the existing EU budget, “We need to
make the existing funds more efficient in this area. Member
States should learn from one another and set reforms in
motion. The challenges will be enormous,” said Mr Eckert.
More information
»» http://webcast.ec.europa.eu/eutv/portal/archive.
html?viewConference=23014&catId=22767
»» http://www.oecd.org/knowledge-sharing-alliance
»» http://www.klimaaktiv.at/english.html
»» http://www.jaguarlandrover.com/gl/en/innovation/
research-and-development
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»» ECONOMICS, STRATEGY AND INFORMATION
Getting the framework right
What obstacles prevent the EU from becoming
a circular economy? How can we use targets,
taxes, industrial policy and other instruments to
address them? These were the issues discussed
at the Green Week session on ‘Creating the
framework conditions for a circular economy’.
s­ ervices. If the world consumed at the EU rate of consumption, two planets would already be needed.
Bas de Leeuw, Managing Director of the World Resources
Forum, opened the session by asking contributors to focus
on the policies that were needed to support the circular
economy.
Much over-consumption is linked to waste and inefficiency:
“The world wastes 1 billion tonnes of food every year”,
he said, “even as 1 billion people are starving.”
“For 100 years, the prices of commodities and energy
steadily declined,” said Jocelyn Blériot, Head of Editorial and
European Affairs at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “but
in 2002 this trend hit a turning point.” He explained that a
century of decline in the price of raw materials has been
erased in just 10 years.
“
80 % of environmental
policies in Europe are set by
the EU, and 95 % of Europeans
believe protecting the
environment is important
”
Basing their approach on lessons learned from long-distance sailing – travelling light, managing resources and
reducing waste as much as possible – the Foundation has
developed a four-point approach to moving our current linear economy towards a circular model. It involves design
for reuse, enabling business models that favour access over
ownership, reverse logistics for the return and reclaiming
of products, and greater collaboration across sectors and
industries.
Incentivising these changes, he said, would need a shift in
the tax burden from labour to resources, a change in producer responsibility, and a greater focus on eco-design.
Preserving natural capital, he explained, requires a transformation in the political and economic system, addressing governance and finance in particular. The key is to cut
resource consumption in absolute terms, not just make savings. We need consumption to decrease even as GDP grows.
Looking to solutions, Godinot called for ambitious targets
for energy and climate, including mandatory targets for
energy efficiency; an EU framework for resource efficiency
with targets for carbon, water and land footprints; indicators
such as Natural Capital Accounting, which can be integrated
into policy processes; green public procurement; and a supportive industrial policy. He reminded the audience that the
WWF is calling for 10 % of EU tax revenue to come from
green taxes by 2020, a four-percentage-point increase from
the current average in OECD countries.
The EU also needs to provide international leadership, moving from the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals
towards Sustainable Development Goals and providing
financial support for climate and biodiversity actions in poor
countries. He suggested phasing out harmful subsidies such
as those for fossil fuels, and using these efforts to help
tackle problems like youth unemployment. From his analysis
of the EU budget, he concluded that conservation, resource
and energy efficiency and renewable-energy spending are
the most effective in terms of job creation.
Godinot concluded by emphasising the importance of
EU policy frameworks. “80 % of environmental policies in
Europe are set by the EU”, he said, “and 95 % of Europeans
believe protecting the environment is important.”
Industrial policy
Absolute decoupling
Jean-Paul Albertini, Executive Commissioner for Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable
Development and Energy, France, reviewed the policies that
governments could use. They should include bringing stakeholders together, investing in R&D, and formulating sectoral,
value-chain and territorial approaches.
Sebastien Godinot, Economist at the WWF European Policy Office, explained how the WWF uses the Living Planet
Index and the Global Ecological Footprint as indicators. “Currently, we globally need 1.5 planets per year,” he said, due
to the overuse of natural resources and stress on ecological
A sectoral approach should encourage cooperation, support
voluntary agreements and extend producer responsibility,
he explained. He also suggested involving local and regional
governments in a new industrial policy, as is now the case
in France, where each region develops strategies for the
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
c­ircular economy and industrial ecology. Turning to R&D,
he called for more eco-design for products, processes and
services, a greater understanding of consumer behaviour,
and a systemic approach to the innovation chain.
Speaking of the French government’s current initiatives,
he referred to the recent launch of a national strategy for
green jobs and policies to address consumer law, longerlived products and product lifetime labelling.
France is also planning to halve the 2010 national waste
levels by 2020, with more support for local policies on
waste sorting, and an effort to include social costs in landfill
prices. He added that the French government is working on
ecological taxes and better performance indicators.
Moving to the EU level, Albertini emphasised the need for
full implementation of the 7th Environmental Action Programme, as well as the greening of the European Semester
of economic governance under the Europe 2020 strategy,
with the inclusion of the “material productivity” indicator in
the process.
William Neale, Member of Commissioner Potočnik’s Cabinet,
noted how the circular economy is essential for attracting
industry to Europe and keeping it there.
Previewing the policy package launched on 2 July, he noted
the important role played by European waste legislation in
the past as a driver for change. The coming proposals, he
said, preserved the existing waste hierarchy, and aimed to
raise average recycling rates in Europe to the levels that are
current in the Member States where rates are now highest.
The circular economy would not be driven by technology
alone, he said, but also by changes in demand, which makes
policy more important in setting up the enabling factors.
These include the Single Market, looking at product life
cycles and footprints, eco-labels, eco-design, market-based
incentives, pull-and-push policies for innovation, and longerterm financing.
As for shifting taxes, the EU can set targets, he said, but it
is up to the Member States to choose their actions. Landfill
charges, he remarked, were one such effective policy.
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek
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»» URBAN, NOISE AND HEALTH
Green urbanism
High population density means that cities
can be more resource-efficient than smaller
agglomerations, with lower pollution and
emissions per inhabitant, acting as hubs for
innovation.
Cities can be incubators for new business models and lifestyles, said Francoise Bonnet, Secretary General of ACR+, an
association of cities and regions for recycling and sustainable resource management, at the Green Week session on
‘Gearing up cities for the circular economy’.
“Cities can do a lot within a small geographical territory,”
she said. Speaking about recycling, she noted the need to
prioritise symbiosis and the shortest loop, from neighbourhoods – via city, region, country and the EU – right up to the
global scale.
Urban agriculture, for example, can supplement food production, and food waste can be used for home composting.
This can work in synergy with rural efforts, working towards
local, sustainable and seasonal agriculture, and global
efforts, where we need sustainable and fair trade, she said.
Professor Maarten Hajer, Member of the UNEP International
Resource Panel and Director of the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, linked the urban and global
environment, referencing the PBL’s new ‘Smart about cities’
report.
“We need ‘smart urbanism’, not just ‘smart cities’,” he said.
“We have to ask, “What kinds of technology do we want?”
In informal settlements in the global South, for example,
we see uses of off-grid technologies that allow people to
organise themselves.”
He spoke of the need for new ideas to help the South to
leapfrog the mistakes of the developed world. Some 800
million people are expected to move to African cities in the
coming decades, he added, so globally-networked urbanism
would be required.
Innovative champions
Hajer spoke of the advantages of horizontal learning
between cities, including pooling data, collaboration, innovative approaches and public engagement. Temporary pedestrian zones set up in New York, for instance, had avoided
the legal barriers that blocked permanent ones, and their
popularity had generated the political will to make them
permanent.
Merete Kristoffersen, Head of Sustainability Unit for the City
of Copenhagen, agreed. As European Green Capital 2014,
the city wants to be carbon neutral by 2025.
“Our 2015 goal of decreasing CO2 emissions by 20 % relative to 2005 has already been achieved,” she said, helping
the city to develop around a new set of values.
Public procurement has great potential to be a pull factor for the circular economy, said Mark Hidson, Director of
the Global Sustainable Procurement Centre, ICLEI. He recommended greater use of life-cycle analysis in spending
decisions by city administrations, and taking environmental benefits into account. Greener approaches could also be
incentivised through contract management, results monitored via e-procurement, and training offered at open days
and workshops.
He used the example of Amersfoort and Utrecht, which have
committed to using 10 % of their procurement budget on
circular-economy projects. A Dutch ministry used their procurement process so successfully that they now sell waste
paper for pulping, instead of paying a company to remove it.
“We need brave politicians willing to take the long view,”
he concluded. “We need champions.”
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/
»» http://www.pbl.nl/en/
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
»» INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
Sharing best practice
The transition to a circular economy requires
private and public sectors to work together, as
well as international, national and local-level
initiatives and policies. The Green Week session
on ‘Circular economy: scaling up best practices
worldwide’ was on the lookout for successes,
examples and lessons from around the world.
Taking a holistic view
“Consumers of new technologies are also ready for new
business models,” explained Hermine, noting how electric
vehicle customers are interested in buying 'kilometres of
mobility' and leasing rather than buying batteries. “We also
need tax-deductible incentives, such as VAT reductions for
reused products,” he added.
Friends of Europe Trustee Monica Frassoni kicked off the
discussion, asking: “How can best practice become mainstream, in order to change the world?”
“Technology alone is not delivering”, said Michael Kuhndt,
Director of the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), “we need to address consumption itself.” He recommended exploring lending and
leasing models, although he warned that consumers can
never be sustainable when surrounded by unsustainable
infrastructure.
Social inclusiveness is vital, said Valdemar de Oliveira,
Impact Business Director for Fundación Avina, making the
case for price-points and uses that are accessible to the
poor, as “new technology only reaches the poor decades
after it has become obsolete”.
“Technological progress is step by step,” said Zhou Hongchun,
Director of the Department of Social Development Research
at the Development Research Centre of the State Council of
China, who also emphasised the needs of poorer consumers.
Jean-Philippe Hermine, Vice President for Strategic Environmental Planning for Renault-Nissan Alliance, said that
the company is developing a closed loop for plastics, copper
and catalytic convertors. “Around 70 % of our R&D budget is
dedicated to reducing consumption and emissions”, he said,
because “20 % of a car's price is now the cost of the raw
materials.”
“Today, there is a mismatch between demand and supply
systems,” said Jane Feehan, Natural Resources Specialist at
the European Investment Bank (EIB). “Resource-use is out of
step with what the planet can sustain.”
Investors have a role in making the circular economy a reality, and the EIB has put social and environmental safeguards
in place – such as excluding tropical logging to protect biodiversity. The bank also has a target to make 25 % of its loans
to climate actions.
“The circular economy is not just about waste,” said ­Kuhndt.
“Products are manufactured by many companies with different philosophies in the value chain. We need a holistic
understanding.”
De Oliveira agreed: “We need to design new business models based on understanding the value chain.”
“The EIB has an increasingly transparent process for investment decisions,” said Feehan. Investors need to make information on sustainability criteria available to the public.
Kuhndt noted how 50 % of products stay in our homes for
only one year. “We can't wait for consumers to change. In
a world where marketing often glamourises unsustainable behaviour, supply-side solutions are key, with 'smart,
­sustainable business models',” he said.
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/
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»» ECONOMICS, STRATEGY AND INFORMATION
New greener business models
What can business do to speed up the
transition towards a more sustainable society?
And how can it be made profitable for them?
Experts discussed recent innovations and
experiments, as well as the challenges still
to come, during the Green Week session on
‘New business models for sustainable lifestyles’.
“Ecosystems set an absolute limit on our resource use and
offer a compelling argument for a circular economy,” said
Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, setting the scene. “To live well, within the
limits of the planet,” he said, “we need the circular economy,
where nothing is wasted.”
He talked about the possibility of selling services rather than
products, using the example: “I don’t need a drill – I need a
hole in my wall.” He also suggested modifying the waste
hierarchy to reflect the desirability of reduced consumption:
before we think about “reduce, re-use, repair and recycle”,
we should start by thinking, “refuse”.
“
”
I don’t need a drill – I need
a hole in my wall.
New business models promoting this approach are already
emerging, he said, noting trends such as “collaborative consumption” that change the relationship between producer
and consumer, and the growing importance of “urban mining” – extracting materials from old cars, electronics and
other devices no longer in use.
Johnson Yeh of the Environment Initiative at the World
Economic Forum (WEF) detailed the advantages of a more
circular economy. The WEF has estimated that materials
worth $1 trillion could be saved per year by 2025, generating $500 million in benefits within 5 years – and creating
100 000 new jobs.
But while technology has helped to increase labour productivity, significant improvements in resource productivity
have yet to materialise.
“The circular economy has not become mainstream,” he said,
blaming a lack of connections between industries and along
supply chains. “We need a multi-stakeholder approach.”
This would bring the next industrial revolution, he concluded.
Retailers and consumers
Bart Goetzee of the Philips International Senior Group on
Sustainability explained that his company was already committed to the circular economy.
Philips is now using more recycled materials, and operating 'trade-in schemes' to collect used products and harvest
re-usable components from them. Philips is also looking at
service and repair models, which favour renovation over
replacement.
Design for modularity and repair is a challenge for engineers and designers, as is the need for innovation in packaging to cope with product returns and supplying spare
parts. The company is also exploring models that emphasise access rather than ownership, and sees some opportunities in the business-to-business sector. Social housing
corporations, said Goetzee, could include a menu of shared
appliances for residents in the rental agreement, making
the latest models more accessible and easing collection and
returns.
Increasing the durability and lifetime of products has clear
advantages for consumers, according to Carina Törnblom,
Head of Unit for Consumer Strategy, Representation and
International Relations at the European Commission’s
Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO).
She stressed the need for rental business models that
­represented a good deal for consumers.
“Consumers are often less informed and assertive than we
assume,” she said. When it comes to environmental labelling, “only 22 % can correctly identify the meaning of logos
on products”.
She cautioned against legislative gaps that opened up as the
distinction between producers and consumers became more
blurred in some new business models. The energy sector,
for example, is likely to see an increase in micro-generation,
collective switching and energy cooperatives, but consumer
protection legislation has yet to catch up. There is also a
grey area, she said, when people are selling energy back
to the grid: “When do you become a business?” she asked.
Collaborative consumption is another interesting model, she
continued, but it requires careful monitoring and analysis.
The circular economy must avoid “rebound effects”, where
consumer savings lead to an increase in spending on other
goods with a significant environmental impact.
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
Challenges ahead
The biggest challenge for Philips, said Goetzee, has been
convincing retailers of the value in new business models,
as many of them resist the extra work involved in offering
product collection schemes. For Yeh, the challenge was how
to ensure that consumers appreciate real improvements,
and how to get companies to collaborate on changing their
supply chains.
Bruyninckx felt that public funds and EU pressure should be
used to get circular economy thinking into the mainstream
– by removing environmentally harmful subsidies, for example. He reminded the audience that 35-50 % of GDP flows
through the state in European countries, and this is a powerful lever. Yeh agreed that shifting subsidies and using public
procurement, as well as standard-setting, was the way to
go. Industry also needs cross-governmental, public-private
dialogues, he said.
As a large company, Philips has the power to push circular economy models through their own procurement, said
Goetzee. He also noted new insurance and ownership issues
raised by the leasing economy, and suggested that people
consider “sell and buy-back” approaches, or contracts that
specify “repair first, then replace” with a second-hand product, and only replace with a new model after the full term
of the lease.
“We need to green the whole economy,” Bruyninckx concluded, to avoid money being pushed into negative activities. “We need to focus on greening the fundamental system
of production and consumption.”
He finished with an ambitious plea: “We have to move away
from incremental changes, and towards systemic change,”
he said. “We can make the car engine more efficient, but
if we don’t change our system of mobility, specifically
re-thinking private car use, we’re not going to reach the
decarbonisation of our transport system.”
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/
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»» ECONOMICS, STRATEGY AND INFORMATION
A nudge in the right direction
Influencing the way people behave, so as
to lessen their impact on the environment,
is a complicated business. Money matters,
but is not the only incentive.
In the Green Week session on 'Changing behaviour; people's
green choices', Ysé Serret from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris presented the
OECD's latest survey of 12 000 homes, in 11 countries, on
Greening Household Behaviour. It confirmed that environmental attitudes play an important but subtle role alongside
financial incentives and how easy it is to change.
“
Stimulating desirable
behavioural changes ultimately
requires a mix of policy
instruments.
”
When it comes to buying a car for example, safety, price and
reliability are the main considerations. A significant number
of people would be willing buy an electric vehicle, even if
it was more expensive, but this willingness varies across
Europe – from 38 % of respondents in the Netherlands to
just 13 % in France. Lack of recharging infrastructure was
the main disincentive. “So it is important for governments to
work on the supply side,” said Ms Serret. "Stimulating desirable behavioural changes ultimately requires a mix of policy
instruments."
The appeal of rational choices
‘Nudge theory’ is about changing behaviour through incentives rather than closing down options. While economists
assume that informed individuals will make rational choices,
“the real world is more complex,” said Stephen White from
DG Environment. People are influenced as much by habits
and routines, time and convenience, “so very small adjustments in information or legislation can make a difference,”
he said.
Psychologists study 'nudge tactics', and the UK government
even has a dedicated 'nudge unit'. Experts are looking for
innovative ways to influence both households and businesses. “Where do we go from here?” Stephen White challenged his audience. Is nudging easier at EU or local level?
And how can it be linked to price incentives?
Pricing strategies
Dominic Hogg, from Eunomia Research & Consulting,
focused on the range of economic instruments available
to environment policy-makers, including taxes, procurement, non-compliance fees, deposit refunds, subsidies and
charges.
Major corporations have been showing a growing interest in
the circular economy since commodity prices started to rise
around 2000. Yet costs were even higher 100 years ago,
and could fall again. “Future strategy should not be based
on the assumption that commodity prices will continue to
rise,” warned Dr Hogg.
Despite the fact that environmental taxes are less damaging to economies than levies on labour and income, they
make up just 6 % of all taxes across the EU, equivalent to
only 2.8 % of GDP. Few countries impose levies on primary
materials, yet such measures in the UK have successfully
cut the use of primary aggregates used in construction, for
example. Britain now uses the highest proportion of recycled
aggregates (29 %) in the EU.
In other words, “prices matter”, Hogg concluded, raising
the question of whether pricing strategies should be more
ambitious and better coordinated across the EU.
More information
»» http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/
»» http://www.oecd.org/env/consumption-innovation/
greening-household-behaviour-2013.htm
»» http://webcast.ec.europa.eu/eutv/portal/archive.
html?viewConference=23014&catId=22767
MAGAZINE OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | SUPPLEMENT
15
Green Week 2014 Exhibition
The Green Week conference was accompanied by an
exhibition in Brussels and satellite events across Europe.
Slow Food
Slow Food is a global grass-roots organisation which envisions a world in which
all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those
who grow it and good for the planet. The stand promoted ‘agriculture with
values’: more holistic, with fewer inputs and using traditional know-how.
Slow Food gathers millions of people in over 160 countries, and organises
events such as the Salone del Gusto, dedicated to artisan and small-scale
food and wine producers, and Terra Madre, the global meeting of food
communities – scheduled in Turin, Italy, from 23-27 October 2014.
»» http://www.slowfood.com
Healthy Seas
The ‘Healthy Seas, a Journey from Waste to Wear’ initiative – a collaboration between
the European Expertise Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainability, the Aquafil Group
and Star Sock – aims to remove waste, in particular fishing nets, from the seas.
In an example of the circular economy in action, the recovered fishing nets are
transformed into recycled nylon yarn, a high-quality raw material used to create new
products – such as the unique socks that were available as prizes from the stand.
»» http://healthyseas.org/
Green Growth the Nordic Way
This stand represented the Nordic Council of Ministers – the official governmental
cooperation among the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway, Sweden) along with Greenland, and the Faroe and Aaland Islands.
Among other things, Nordic cooperation focuses on sustainable development,
including green growth and the bioeconomy, from a regional perspective.
At the stand, the Nordic Council was promoting an initiative on recycling and sustainable
textiles, involving collaboration with major companies such as H&M and Ikea.
»» http://www.norden.org
RREUSE
Reuse and Recycling EU Social Enterprises (RREUSE) is a European umbrella
organisation representing national and regional networks of social enterprises
active in reuse, repair and recycling. The stand focused on repair and reuse, using
design to ‘upscale’ products, and the potential of these labour-intensive activities
for job creation – they can create five times more jobs than simply recycling.
The organisation also works on re-entry to the employment market: 42 000
full-time equivalent employees and over 43 000 volunteers and trainees work
throughout its 25 member organisations across 15 EU Member States.
»» http://www.rreuse.org
KH-AD-14-S01-EN-C
Seas at Risk and the Surfrider Foundation Europe
Seas at Risk is a European association of non-governmental environmental
organisations working to protect and restore the marine environment of European
seas and the North East Atlantic. They have called for a strengthened reduction
target for marine litter in Europe, and welcome the Commission proposal for an
80 % reduction in lightweight bags and the European Parliament’s support for it.
The stand was shared with one of the association’s member organisations, Surfrider
Foundation Europe – a non-profit organisation dedicated to defending, saving, improving
and sustainably managing the ocean, coastline, waves and the people who enjoy them.
»» http://www.seas-at-risk.org
»» http://www.surfrider.eu
Umicore
Umicore is a global materials technology and recycling group focusing on
application areas such as materials science, chemistry and metallurgy. In particular,
it is active in ‘urban mining’ and recycling metals from technological waste.
Egbert Lox, Umicore’s Senior Vice-President for Government Affairs, said: “Today’s
vehicles have catalysts, electronic components and Li-ion batteries that contain
valuable metals that merit being recycled. Recycling of emission-control catalysts
is a running business – a substantial amount of the platinum-group metals needed
for new catalysts is already supplied today through these recycling activities.”
»» http://www.umicore.com