At the presentation of its Clean Industrial Deal on 26 February, the European Commission once again stressed the important role the circular economy plays in supplying raw materials to European industry and reducing "overdependencies" on third-country suppliers. "The ambition of the Clean Industrial Deal is to make the EU the world leader on circular economy by 2030," according to the Commission's Communication, a roadmap summarising the current and planned measures to strengthen and simultaneously decarbonise European industry.
The Clean Industrial Deal (CID) is flanked by various other initiatives, including an Action Plan for Affordable Energy. The Commission also published a package of measures to simplify certain sustainability reporting obligations to ease the administrative burden for businesses in the EU on 26 February.
The Commission also affirmed its plans to present a proposal for a Circular Economy Act in the fourth quarter of 2026. The Act is to build on the EU single market and will enable the "free movement of circular products, secondary raw materials and waste", according to the Commission's Communication regarding the CID. Further, the Circular Economy Act will "foster a higher supply of high quality recyclates and stimulate demand for secondary materials and circular products while bringing down feedstock costs". By contrast, it appears the Commission wants to introduce new restrictions on trade with non-EU countries....
