To mark the launch of IEEP’s latest Think2030 paper on EU sustainable consumption, this event will provide space for stakeholders from the European Parliament, the European Commission, academia and civil society to debate the next steps needed to move from the Parliament’s resolution on the CEAP towards the establishment of science-based EU material budgets and related material use targets.
The second EU Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) notes that global consumption of materials is expected to double in the next forty years, that waste generation is set to increase 70%, and that half of greenhouse gas emissions and 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress come from resource extraction and processing. It calls for the EU to keep its “resource consumption within planetary boundaries”.
Responding to the second CEAP, the European Parliament has further called for an absolute decoupling of economic growth from resource use, and for a series of science-based, binding EU mid- and long-term targets, including to reduce the use of primary raw materials and environmental impacts, and to significantly reduce the EU material and consumption footprints. The resolution suggests that such targets should be based on the indicators to be adopted as part of the Circular Economy Monitoring Framework, due at the end of 2021.
Agenda
09:30 – Welcome and introduction – Tim Gore (IEEP)
09:35 – Keynote presentation: Why the material footprint of rich countries must be reduced – Dr Jason Hickel
09:50 – Panel 1 – The European Parliament’s call for EU material footprint targets: The next steps
• Sirpa Pietikäinen, MEP (EPP)
• Mick Wallace, MEP (GUE/NGL)
• Margrete Auken, MEP (Greens/EFA)
• Simona Bonafè, MEP (S&D) – TBC
10:40 – Panel 2 – Responding to the Parliament’s call: Overcoming barriers and building support
• Emanuelle Maire, Head of Unit (DG ENV) – TBC
• Arturo de la Fuente, Deputy Head of Unit (Eurostat)
• Meadhbh Bolger (Friends of the Earth Europe)
11:25 – Concluding remarks – Tim Gore (IEEP)
