Ecologic Institute
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‘A framework for Member States
to support business in improving
its resource efficiency’
Tentative project results as input to the 4th Meeting of the
Expert Group Greening the European Semester
Brussels, 07 September 2015
Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers
Ecologic Institute
ecologic.eu
Project aim and logic
Identifying and analysing key support measures and their
employment in different Member States
Contributing to advancing implementation of EU and Member States'
policy in this area.
Identifying 10 important support measures – Desk research, client meetings
Assessing their scope of application and identifying best practice examples in
the EU Member States – Desk research for pre-filling, survey among MS
A huge THANK YOU to all Member States respondents!
Synthesising best practice cases and lessons learnt from measures’
application – Desk analysis, expert feedback and client meetings
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 2
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The ten support measures identified
1. Support for industrial symbiosis
2. Incentivising external audits to support resource efficiency
3. Improving financing
4. Supporting voluntary agreements and initiatives
5. Providing targeted resource efficiency information and advice to companies
6. Building resource efficiency related skills and capacity within a company/business
7. Improving company accounting and reporting practices
8. Development of non-legal standards for products and services
9. Measures supporting extended producer responsibility (EPR) for materials/ products
10.Other non-legislative support measures promoting Circular Economy/resource
efficiency
3 4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester
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Tentative findings - Supporting voluntary agreements
and initiatives
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 4
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4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 5
Potentially interesting case examples from 18 Member States
Dutch Green Deals policy (since 2011)
Green Deals are agreements between the Dutch government and other
parties (companies, civil society organisations and other public authorities),
aimed at removing non-financial barriers such as regulation and permits in the
fields of energy, climate, water, raw materials, biodiversity, mobility, bio-based
economy, construction and food
By the end of 2013 around 160 Green Deals had been concluded; 679 actors
participated in those deals (67% companies and industry associations); Green
Deals did contribute to more recycling (bottom ashes, textiles) and to using
alternative bio-based materials
Tentative findings - Supporting voluntary agreements
and initiatives
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Tentative findings – Measures supporting EPR
for materials and/or products
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 6
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4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 7
Potentially interesting case examples from 22 Member States
“Prevent and Save” initiative in Ireland (since 2005)
Led by industry funded organization Repak to facilitate and increase
packaging recycling
Provision of free Packaging surveys to Repak Member companies
Confidential report then compiled and submitted to the Member company with
recommendations outlining the main target areas for Packaging Optimisation
On average during 2005-2013, each successive year saw approximately
11,000 tonnes of packaging being prevented by Repak’s members;
Almost 520,000 tonnes of packaging prevented
Tentative findings – Measures supporting EPR
for materials and/or products
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4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 8
Many interesting examples found for several measures
Most for Providing targeted advice, Supporting voluntary agreements,
Development of non-legal standards (mostly ecolabels), Improving Financing
Least for Improving company accounting, Incentivising external audits
Support for EPR primarily through national legislation transposing Directives
Likely potential for up-scaling, but still to be investigated; e.g.
systematic adoption appears promising for
Financially supported on-site advice/checks/audits
Web platforms and online-markets for secondary raw materials
Preliminary conclusions – Diversity and
up-scaling potential
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Next steps and invitation for feedback
Receiving your views, feedback and additions today and to the
input-paper until 18 September 2015
Synthesis of lessons learnt per and across measures
Compilation of conclusions and recommendations
Draft Final Report by 25 September 2015
Receiving your views, feedback and additions to the Draft Final
Report until 06 October 2015
Final project meeting with Commission services
Final Report until mid October 2015
URBINE consortium meeting 9
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Questions to the participants
Are the correct ten support measures for improving business
resource efficiency identified? Is there value-added in exchanging
information on them?
The study cannot be comprehensive, but have we missed good
practice examples?
Is the level of detail provided on different measures appropriate?
Is the scoring (no national policy in place; a little use of this measure;
wide support of this measure) useful?
URBINE consortium meeting 10
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Ecologic Institute
Pfalzburger Str. 43/44
10717 Berlin
Germany
Tel. +49 (30) 86880-0
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Thank you for your attention!
Any questions?
Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers
martin.hirschnitz-
#Title of Presentation# 11
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Tentative findings - Support for industrial symbiosis
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 12
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Tentative findings - Support for industrial symbiosis
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 13
Potentially interesting case examples from 22 Member States
UK’s National Industrial Symbiosis Programme NISP (2005-2013)
NISP is aiming to help businesses improve profitability, commercial
competitiveness and environmental performance. Operating regional services
in the UK (in addition to national scope), and globally supporting regional and
national programmes in over 20 countries.
More than 15,000 companies have been members of NISP; Impact of 8 years’
investment (£36.8M) for the time period 2005-2013 covers 47 million tonnes of
material recovered and reused, 60 million tonnes virgin material savings, £1.1
billion cost savings and £1.0 billion additional sales
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Tentative findings – Incentivising external audits
to support resource efficiency
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Tentative findings - Incentivising external audits
to support resource efficiency
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 15
Potentially interesting case examples from 15 Member States
PIUS resource checks in Germany (since 2000)
PIUS checks help SMEs in analysing relevant material flows and the current
level of production technology in order to optimise production, primarily by
implementing new production equipment or by organisational changes
About 2,000 consultations in businesses have been conducted by the EFA
since the launch; by 2010, investments of approx. 36 million EUR were
induced by the PIUS-checks, while annually approx. 10.4 million EUR could be
saved through improved production processes (i.e. material savings)
Further federal states are copying the concept, e.g. Baden-Württemberg,
Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate
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Tentative findings - Improving financing
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 16
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Tentative findings – Improving Financing
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 17
Potentially interesting case examples from 19 Member States
‘Green Technology Incubator’ in Latvia (since 2014)
Financial support for (i) Creation of new knowledge-intensive businesses via
the ‘incubation mechanism’ and supporting green industry growth; (ii)
Stimulation and management of knowledge exchange between universities,
research organisations and green industry companies; (iii) Facilitation of
international business/institutional cooperation within green technology sector
Implementation period July 2014 to April 2016; Incubation grants (<140,000
EUR) available for proof of concept, commercialisation and business
development
370 ideas received so far, of which 84 ideas accepted for pre-incubation phase
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Tentative findings – Providing targeted resource
efficiency information and advice to companies
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Potentially interesting case examples from 24 Member States
Hungarian ‘Money Thrown Out the Window’ initiative (since 2002)
Aims to promote resource efficiency measures in the industry sector which
result in financial savings, providing a list of suggested measures to achieve
environmental savings; list based on a site visit, a discussion with the
employees of the company and the examination of documents
In 2014, 78 organisations participated in the programme, with 370 measures
initiated and contributing to company savings worth EUR 71.29 million, 663
thousand tonnes of non-hazardous and 60.5 thousand tonnes of hazardous
waste and 751 GWh of energy
Tentative findings – Providing targeted resource
efficiency information and advice to companies
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Tentative findings – Building resource efficiency
related skills and capacity within a company/business
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 20
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Potentially interesting case examples from 21 Member States
Spanish Green Jobs Programme Empleaverde (2007-2013)
Trainings for employees aiming to reduce the environmental impacts of
activities in their respective sectors
Operated nation-wide by the Fundación Biodiversidad (a foundation within the
Spanish Ministry of Environment)
17,100,000 EUR allocated to the measure (12,700,000 EUR ESF contribution)
By 2013, 55,000 workers in existing jobs had been trained through the Green
Jobs Programme
Tentative findings – Building resource efficiency
related skills and capacity within a company/business
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Tentative findings – Improving company accounting
and reporting practices
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 22
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Potentially interesting case examples from 4 Member States
Danish support for EP&L reporting (since 2013)
Financial and technical support to companies for Environmental Profit and
Loss (EP&L) reporting (Corporate Natural Capital Accounting NCA)
Reporting on environmental costs related to water consumption, greenhouse
gas emissions, and air pollution => helping to identify potential for reductions
A budget of 200,000 EUR is allocated to this measure
Introduction of a legal obligation for large companies to report whether or not
they have a corporate environmental policy in place => companies must either
disclose or state explicitly that they do not have environmental policies
Tentative findings – Improving company accounting
and reporting practices
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Tentative findings – Development of non-legal
standards for products and services
4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 24
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4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 25
Potentially interesting case examples from 19 Member States
Polish Eco-labelling programme EKO (since 1998)
EKO promotes products with reduced impact on the environment and which
are resource efficient in the whole product lifecycle
Ecolabel “EKO” confirms compliance (product/service) with ecological criteria,
in accordance with ecological criteria for the European Ecolabel
Eligible product groups include beauty care, cleaning-up, electronic
equipment, paints, floor coverings, furniture, lubricants, gardening products,
household appliances and items, paper products, holiday accommodation, etc.
Measure is self-financing without need for national or European funding
Tentative findings – Development of non-legal
standards for products and services
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Rationale for the ten support measures identified
26 4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester
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