The European Union has announced a new bundle of sustainability-focused policy proposals that will expand existing ecodesign rules on energy efficiency by encouraging longer product lifespans, supporting the growth of circular economy business models and helping consumers combat greenwashing and make more environmentally friendly purchasing choices, as regional lawmakers work to make good on a Circular Economy Action Plan announced two years ago.
The bloc’s overarching European Green Deal plan has the stated goal of making the region “climate neutral” by 2050.
That mission translates to no net emissions of greenhouse gases within a timeframe of (now) just under three decades while decoupling the EU’s economic growth from resource use — aka a shift to a circular economy where products are designed to last longer and also to be easy to disassemble for reuse or recycling at end of life. So there is, very clearly, lots of work …
