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The European Commission has taken several initiatives to streamline the circularity concept into the member states’ policy developments across different areas (mainly in waste management) since the first decade of this century. The European circularity approach embodied in action plans, involves two stages in its evolution: first plan in 2015 and the second one in 2022. Both represent a comprehensive body of legislative and non-legislative actions aimed to “transition the European economy from a linear to a circular model”.
The first CEAP-2015
The proposed actions were called “closing the loop”, i.e. making the transition to “stronger circular economy where resources are used in a more sustainable way”; in this way, the product lifecycles would go through greater recycling and re-use while bring benefits for both the environment and the economy.
The initial circular economy action plan (CEAP) intended to extract the maximum value and use from all raw materials, products and waste, fostering energy savings and reducing GHG emissions. The action plan covered the full lifecycle: from production and consumption to waste management and the market for secondary raw materials. This transition was supported by ESIF funding with €650 million from Horizon 2020 (the then EU funding for research and innovation), €5.5 billion from structural funds for waste management, cope with investments in the circular economy at the member states’ level.
Reference to: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_15_6203
The CEAP-2015 included 54 actions and four legislative drafts on waste management in order to eliminate waste and associated pollution, as well as “circulate products and materials” (at their highest value) and consequently regenerate nature. Generally, the CEAP was designed as “an economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment”.
Source: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/circular-economy/first-circular-economy-action-plan_en
The CEAP-2015 also aimed at assisting businesses and consumers in the member states “to make the transition to a stronger and more circular economy where resources are used in a more sustainable way”.
More in press release at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_15_6203
For example, the EU adopted in 2018 the regional waste legislation; however, the circularity efforts were already in place in several member states. Thus, already during 2012-2016, according to Eurostat, jobs related to circular economy activities in the EU have increased by 6 percent. Generally, the CE’s action plan has encouraged over half of the member states, eight regions, and 11 cities to put forward circular economy strategies. The action plan covered several policy areas, material flows and sectors alongside cross-cutting measures to support a “systemic mindset change” through innovation and investments. E.g. it also announced a sectoral strategy for plastics with over €10 billion of public funding allocated to the transition between during 2016-2020.
The second CEAP-2022
By 2019 all the “actions” envisaged by the CEAP-2015 have been fulfilled and the Commission adopted the European Green Deal, EDL as the result of an evolution in climate change and sustainability by the international efforts, i.e. Paris Climate Accord and SDGs in late 2015. Facing new challenges, the EDL was aimed at transforming the member states’ political economy towards modern, resource-efficient and competitive economies, ensuring that: a) zero-GHG emissions by 2050, b) economic growth decoupled from resource use, and c) inclusive socio-economic policies prevail (i.e. “no person and no place is left behind”).
More on “green deal” in: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
New, and so far the latest, EU circularity’s action plan was adopted in March 2020 (so-called CEAP-2020) as one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal, the EU agenda for sustainable growth, with the following aims: making sustainable products the norm in the EU member states; empowering consumers, public and private sectors focusing on using less resources as well as increasing potential for circularity(the following sectors were mentioned: electronics and ICT, batteries and vehicles, packaging, plastics, textiles, construction and buildings, food, water and nutrients), ensuring less waste in all production and manufacturing sectors, making circularity work for people, regions and cities; and leading global efforts on circular economy.
Source: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en
The new CEAP-2020 announced circularity’s initiatives along the entire life cycle of products: it targeted the ways the products were designed, promoting circular economy processes and encouraging sustainable consumption, as well as ensuring that the wastes are prevented and the resources used and kept in the economy for as long as possible. However, the draft notes that “transition to the circular economy will be systemic, deep and transformative; “it will be also disruptive at times, so it has to be fair”. Hence the action plan required an “alignment and cooperation of all stakeholders at all levels”, i.e. the EU, national, regional, local and international”.
Source and citation from the legislative draft on “new Circular Economy Action Plan For a cleaner and more competitive Europe” in:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1583933814386&uri=COM:2020:98:FIN
The European Investment Bank supports the transition to a circular economy with three mutually reinforcing activities: finance, advisory support and awareness-raising. From 2019 to 2023, the EIB provided €3.83 billion to co-finance 132 circular economy projects (out of over 150 in CEAP-2022) in a variety of sectors. Besides, one third of the €1.8 trillion investments from the NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan, and the EU’s seven-year budget will finance the European Green Deal.