Carbon Market Watch input to public consultation on the Circular Economy Action Plan

Carbon Market Watch urges the European Commission to expand the New Circular Economy Action Plan beyond textiles, construction, and electronics to include heavy industries like steel, chemicals, and cement. The organization highlights that resource-intensive industries are the EU's third-largest polluters and could reduce emissions by 56% by 2050 through circular models. Specific recommendations include mandatory recycled content for products and the implementation of CO2 performance standards at the material and product level.

• Resource and energy-intensive industries are the third-largest greenhouse gas polluters in the EU, emitting 708 MtCO2 annually, with emissions from heavy industry remaining stagnant since 2012.
• Adopting fully circular economy models in sectors such as steel, chemicals, aluminium, or cement could reduce European emissions by 300 MtCO2 (56%) by 2050, representing the second largest reduction potential after clean electrification.
• Specific circularity opportunities exist in heavy industry: increasing the share of recycled steel (currently under 40%) could cut emissions by 90% with decarbonised electricity; increasing recycled plastic use (currently 10% of new demand) could reduce production and incineration emissions by 56%; and 90% of construction waste can be revalorised.
• To increase circularity and reduce emissions, the New Circular Economy Action Plan should introduce mandatory minimum percentages of recycled materials for finished and semi-finished products and apply CO2 performance standards and Ecodesign requirements at the material and product level.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2020). Carbon Market Watch input to public consultation on the Circular Economy Action Plan. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/carbon-market-watch-input-to-public-consultation-on-the-circular-economy-action-plan/

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Carbon Market Watch input to public consultation on the Circular Economy Action Plan. 2020. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/carbon-market-watch-input-to-public-consultation-on-the-circular-economy-action-plan/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Carbon Market Watch input to public consultation on the Circular Economy Action Plan |date=28 January 2020 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/carbon-market-watch-input-to-public-consultation-on-the-circular-economy-action-plan/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2020carbon, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Carbon Market Watch input to public consultation on the Circular Economy Action Plan}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2020}, month = jan, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/carbon-market-watch-input-to-public-consultation-on-the-circular-economy-action-plan/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }