A New Circular Economy Action Plan - For a cleaner and more competitive Europe
Updated on 24.06.2024
The new Circular Economy Action Plan aims to steer the EU's transition towards a circular economy, decoupling economic growth from resource use and contributing to the achievement of climate neutrality by 2050. It is a product policy framework aimed at making sustainable products the norm by implementing initiatives along the entire life-cycle. The first action plan was adopted in 2015, and the new one was adopted in 2020.
Key objectives and (or) targets related to cities & regions
Relevant take aways from this action plan for cities and regions are as follows:
The new Action Plan aims to halve the amount of residual (non-recycled) municipal waste by 2030.
The Commission will support capacity building with guidance, training, dissemination of good practices, and by encouraging public buyers to participate in the ‘Public Buyers for Climate and Environment’ initiative, facilitating exchanges among those committed to Green Public Procurement. The European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform will remain a hub for stakeholder information exchange.
Circular solutions will be tailored to the outermost regions and islands, considering their higher dependence on imports and increased waste generation from tourism.
The Just Transition Mechanism, part of the European Green Deal Investment Plan and InvestEU, will provide funding for circular economy projects.
At the city level, the European Urban Initiative, the Intelligent Cities Challenge Initiative, and the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative will offer key support. Circular economy will be a priority area in the Green City Accord, a movement of European mayors committed to cleaner and healthier cities.
The Commission encourages the harmonisation of separate waste collection systems, addressing the most effective combinations of waste processing models and distribution of collection points, considering local and regional conditions from urban to outermost areas.
The Commission will also monitor and support the implementation of the Drinking Water Directive, making drinkable tap water accessible in public places to reduce reliance on bottled water and prevent packaging waste.
Examples of how it was adopted/transposed by Member States
In 2015, the EU published a report on the implementation of the first action plan (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1551871195772&uri=CELEX:52019DC0190), which describes how the different actions have been implemented.
Another report published in 2023 by the European Court of Auditors (https://www.eca.europa.eu/ECAPublications/SR-2023-17/SR-2023-17_EN.pdf) documents the performance of Member States in the transition to circularity, based on EU directives and regulations, including the new CEAP.
e.g. commercial, residential, service, industrial
