{"id":453118,"date":"2026-05-21T16:22:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/453118\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:22:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:22:27","slug":"circular-economy-offers-the-eu-win-win-on-environment-and-economy-press-releases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/453118\/","title":{"rendered":"Circular economy offers the EU win-win on environment and economy | Press releases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press releasePublished 19 May 2026<\/p>\n

Imageudmila Miklo\u0161ov\u00e1, Environment&Me 2025 \/ EEA<\/p>\n

Stepping up\u00a0a\u00a0circular economy\u00a0offers the European Union the\u00a0potential for\u00a0significant\u00a0positive\u00a0impacts on Europe\u2019s environment and\u00a0poses an\u00a0untapped\u00a0and strategic\u00a0economic opportunity\u00a0in terms of\u00a0better\u00a0access to\u00a0materials and\u00a0the creation of new businesses. Three new assessments\u00a0on\u00a0circularity, published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA), also stress the need to accelerate investment in circularity efforts to meet EU climate and environment policy targets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A\u00a0set of\u00a017\u00a0circular economy actions have the potential to reduce the EU\u2019s impact on climate\u00a0change\u00a0by 22%, or almost one billion tonnes of CO2-equivalents, reduce its impact on biodiversity\u00a0loss\u00a0by 19% and reduce air pollution\u00a0(fine particulate matter)\u00a0by 25% according to\u00a0the EEA briefing\u00a0\u2018The environmental and climate benefits of circular economy<\/a>‘.<\/p>\n

These estimated\u00a0benefits, based on modelling of specific circularity measures carried out in selected sectors like housing, mining, food,\u00a0and\u00a0mobility\u00a0also have positive aspects in terms of building resource supply security.\u00a0They would reduce the EU\u2019s reliance on strategic raw\u00a0materials produced elsewhere around the world.\u00a0For example, the EU reliance on aluminium, nickel, and platinum group metals ores extracted in other world regions would\u00a0decline\u00a0by around 20%, and\u00a0by 12% for copper.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Circularity measures generate environmental and climate benefits by reducing demand for natural resources\u00a0\u2013 and their associated negative impacts on nature.\u00a0This in turn\u00a0leads to economic opportunities\u00a0by\u00a0shifting value creation from material extraction to\u00a0other parts of the economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reducing\u00a0natural\u00a0resource use\u202fin Europe\u00a0has\u00a0benefits\u202fboth\u202fwithin and\u202foutside the EU\u202fas\u202fthe EU imports\u00a0large amounts\u00a0of resources and products,\u00a0the\u00a0extraction\u00a0of which\u00a0burdens\u00a0the\u00a0local environment\u00a0in\u00a0other\u00a0world regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>Untapped business opportunities\u00a0<\/p>\n

The circular economy\u00a0represents a strategic business opportunity to expand Europe\u2019s market, unlock\u00a0significant economic returns and\u202fdecrease\u202fresource dependence at the same time as reducing pressure on\u202fthe\u202fclimate and the environment, according to the EEA report\u00a0\u2018Unlocking the circular economy: investment needs, barriers and enabling conditions<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Building on the\u00a0most recent\u00a0estimates,\u00a0the EEA report shows that\u00a0accelerated investment is needed to meet\u00a0the\u00a0objectives\u00a0of the\u00a0circular\u00a0economy\u00a0policies\u00a0already adopted,\u00a0with\u00a0an\u00a0investment gap\u00a0of\u00a0around\u00a0EUR 82 billion a year\u00a0up to\u00a02040.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Unlocking<\/p>\n

It points to product design\u00a0and\u00a0end of life-stages as areas that need the most attention\u00a0with\u202fthe\u202fgreatest sectoral gaps in construction, textiles,\u202fand\u00a0batteries\u202fand vehicles.\u202fIt adds that while private finance currently dominates investment, public funding plays a catalytic role in de-risking projects and enabling blended and long-term financing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0progress of\u00a0the\u00a0circular economy\u00a0faces\u00a0structural economic and financial barriers\u00a0that need to be addressed\u00a0adding that policy action is needed to improve access to finance and marketability of circular projects. Better monitoring is also crucial to follow financial flows\u00a0and how they deliver the best socio-economic and environmental benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>Better\u00a0circularity and\u00a0use of\u00a0longer lasting materials\u00a0<\/p>\n

Improving the circularity \u2014 reuse or recycling\u00a0potential\u00a0\u2014 of\u00a0Europe\u2019s\u00a0long-lived\u00a0products like buildings, cars,\u00a0roads\u00a0or\u00a0machinery\u00a0can provide the EU\u00a0economy\u00a0with more cost-competitive\u00a0homegrown\u00a0raw materials, according to the EEA briefing\u00a0\u2018Material stocks in a circular economy<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s economy depends\u202fheavily\u202fon\u202flarge amounts\u202fof materials: 14.4\u202ftonnes\u202fare consumed\u202fby each\u202fperson per year.\u202fAlmost half of that,\u202fover 6\u202ftonnes,\u202fends\u202fup embedded in buildings,\u202finfrastructure\u202for machinery, forming what\u202fis\u202fknown as material stock.\u202fStocks\u202fare essential for our quality of life,\u202fthey are buildings and roads, hospitals and schools, cars and washing machines, but they\u202fincreasingly shape Europe\u2019s resource dependency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Material<\/p>\n

Material\u00a0stocks\u202fhave a key part to play in a circular economy,\u00a0Increasing the circularity of material stocks can transform them into a source of secondary raw materials, strengthening European competitiveness\u00a0and economic security.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>Background information<\/p>\n

These\u00a0EEA circular economy publications are part of a series of\u00a0publications\u00a0the EEA is producing this year\u00a0to support circular economy policies in Europe. For additional publications on circular economy, published recently, see our earlier press release<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Our latest press releasesGo to slide 1Go to slide 2Go to slide 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Press releasePublished 19 May 2026 Imageudmila Miklo\u0161ov\u00e1, Environment&Me 2025 \/ EEA Stepping up\u00a0a\u00a0circular economy\u00a0offers the European Union the\u00a0potential…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-453118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}