A report published by the European Court of Auditors points out that despite spending $10.9 billion through two action plans EU’s transition to a circular economy, has shown little sign of meaningful progress so far.
It states EU countries progress in this regard has stopped in recent years as there is little focus on product design and of the manufacturing process. The report further doubts the EU target of doubling the share of recycled material by 2030.
The report reveals that from 2015 and 2021, the average circularity rate for all 27 EU countries increased nominally by 0.4 percent only. In fact seven countries that include Lithuania, Sweden, Romania, Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland and Poland even regressed during that period.
“Preserving materials and minimising waste are essential if the EU wants to become resource efficient and achieve the environmental objectives of its Green Deal,” said ECA member Annemie Turtelboom. “But EU action has been so far powerless, meaning the circular transition is unfortunately almost at a standstill in European countries.”
The European Commission issued two circular economy action plans. The first, from 2015, contained 54 specific actions. The second, issued in 2020, added 35 new actions and set the target of doubling its ‘circularity rate’ – the proportion of material recycled and fed back into the EU economy – by 2030.
These plans were not binding on the member states. They were designed to support member countries in an increasingly circular economy. Nearly all EU member countries announced a circular economy strategy by 2022.
The report appreciated that the EU made substantial funding available to invest in green innovation and help businesses to adopt a circular economy. However, most of this amount was used by the members on managing waste instead of preventing it through circular design, which probably would have had more impact.
The auditors found little evidence EU action plans measures that included a range of measures to enable innovation and investment contributed effectively to a circular economy. The only impact of these measures was to modestly help businesses to produce safer products or to access innovative technologies with a view to making their production processes more sustainable.
EU Court of Auditors sees little progress on the EU transition to a circular economy
