Circular economy: European Parliament adopts report on it
On 8 February, the European Parliament adopted a comprehensive set of policy recommendations aimed at achieving a carbon neutral, sustainable, toxic-free and circular economy by 2050.
The own initiative report gathered wide support, with 574 votes in favour, 22 against, and 95 abstentions. The recommendations look to set binding targets for materials use and the consumption footprint by 2030, taking into account the whole lifecycle of each product category placed on the European market.
In addition, parliament has urged the European Commission to put forward further legislation in 2021 and to expand the Ecodesign Directive to include non-energy-related products. Such legislation is expected to significantly help the shift to a more all-encompassing circular economy, ensuring products in more sectors are durable, reusable, easily repaired, upgradable, recyclable, include recycled material, and are resource and energy efficient.
The plenary debate focused on the importance of ushering in new legislation, as MEPs emphasized that Europe must first move to a circular economy to achieve the objectives of the Green New Deal. The full recording of the debate can be viewed here.
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