Resource efficiency climbing up the political agenda

Sustainable materials management should be a priority for top EU policymakers. And the Belgian EU presidency would like to bring the issue of sustainable materials management to European level by organising an informal environment council on the subject in mid-July.
At the Informal Council of Environment ministers and experts, the following issues in particular will be discussed:

•    Closing cycles: how can EU policy promote waste reduction and recycling?
•    Dealing with the finite nature of raw materials: how can European policy contribute to increasing the efficient use of raw materials? How can we stimulate new forms of cooperation between players in one chain and between policymakers, industry and consumers, to achieve sustainable material chains? How can policy contribute to the development of new business models which are compatible with a complete lifecycle?
•    Towards an ambitious European materials policy: how can current EU initiatives on raw materials, production and consumption, waste, etc., best be coordinated? What new EU policy tools can contribute to sustainable materials management?

A paper presented to the ministers outlined possible policy directions for greener materials use in Europe (see attachment below).
EU environment commissioner Janez Potočnik has named resource efficiency as his priority for 2011, when his department is expected to publish a roadmap to decouple growth from all kinds of resource use. Mr Potočnik supports the development of efficiency indicators. He also said he would consider setting targets.

More on the event: Informal environment council homepage