Euractiv Partner Content

Listen to this podcast to learn more:

- how current European health policy corresponds to the expectations of European citizens;
- proposals on how to improve the state of Europeans’ health;
- how to create a European Health Union and establish it in the Treaty on European Union;
- the dangers of postponing European Health issues for the future.

Listen to this audio to learn more about the findings from Open Society European Policy Institute’s new report, How clean are Europe’s food supply chains? The myths fuelling the massive growth of Spain’s pork industry, which seeks to uncover the environmental and human rights impact of industrialised meat production in the EU.

Prof. Ettore Capri from the OPERA research center, had the privilege of inviting policymakers, academia, industry and civil society to join us in a lively debate moderated by EURACTIV. Our panelists tackled questions including:

- What is cadmium and why it is present in European soils?
- What are the latest scientific findings on cadmium in phosphates?
- What are the bottlenecks to achieving clean soils in the EU?
- What can policymakers do to incite farmers to use cleaner phosphates while preserving the EU’s agriculture sector?
- How can we make the population aware of soil pollution and incite the value chain contribute to ‘get clean’?

In this event, the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives discussed how to make a successful story for small producers in the international market, while a representative of the country Ministry for Agriculture delivered the country efforts to enhance this phenomenon from a legislative perspective. The German Cooperation for Sustainable Development, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ, GmbH, joined the discussion adding on how synergies between supply and demand markets can contribute to this process.

The webinar focused on the solutions to the Irish challenge of decarbonising its transport sector and how sustainable biofuels, alongside other measures, can contribute towards it. Land use and sustainability issues; food security; second generation and advanced biofuels; voluntary certification and traceability within supply chains; Brazil’s new National Policy on Biofuels and its decarbonisation credits (RenovaBio and CBios) all were discussed. The Irish proposals and possibilities to decarbonise its transport system were outlined by the Irish Bioenergy Association and its experts.

The future of Europe’s digital economy, be it in quantum computing, artificial intelligence, communications infrastructure or autonomous driving, will have an leading-edge semiconductor at its heart.

The EU has set forward an ambitious goal to produce 20% of the world’s cutting-edge semiconductors by 2030, up from 9% today. The current chip shortage and its effects on European industry have demonstrated how important a reliable and resilient supply of semiconductors is today. At the same time, Europe’s consumption of leading-edge semiconductors is expected to skyrocket in the next decade.

The global management consultancy Kearney has produced a report for Intel on the future demand of leading-edge semiconductors for Europe and their role for strategic industries in Europe. The report draws on input and intelligence from a cross-section of the ecosystem that surrounds the semiconductor industry in Europe and beyond.

Rewatch this Intel event, in partnership with our media partner EURACTIV, to learn more about the importance of leading-edge semiconductors for the European economy.

ORGANISED BY: Intel

MEDIA PARTNER: EURACTIV

Buildings are at the center of our daily lives, where we work, live and rest. On average, people spend 80% of their lives inside buildings – from office buildings, schools, hospitals, to homes. With the Covid 19 crisis, we have never spent so much time indoors since the last 18 months.

At the same time, around 11% of the EU population is living in inefficient homes and affected by energy poverty; the annual renovation rate of the building stock varies from 0.4 to 1.2% in the Member States; more than 220 million existing buildings are energy-inefficient, with many relying on fossil fuels for heating and cooling while the energy prices have recently skyrocketed in a number of EU countries, highlighting the need to cut down Europe’s long-time dependency on fossil fuels.

Not only do we need to speed up the decarbonization of the building stock, which still represents 40 % of EU’s energy consumption and 38% of its emissions, but we must renew our approach by putting buildings at their right place, e.g. as the cornerstone of our efforts.

By laying down new foundations, buildings could become the centre of our energy system, with an holistic approach combining decarbonization with energy efficient buildings, direct electrification with on-site renewables, distributed and flexible energy resources such as electric vehicles charging stations. Digital will be the backbone of this integrated, decentralized and decarbonized, adjusting to people and system needs.

Rewatch this Virtual Conference to find out how buildings could lay the foundation of an energy-efficient and decarbonized future. The event covered the following questions:
- Which policy measures are needed in the fit for 55 package (Renewable Energy Directive, Energy Efficiency Directive, ETS, Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation etc.) to unleash the full (holistic) potential of buildings?
- Following the EU System Integration Strategy and the Renovation Wave, how can buildings be at the center of an integrated, digitalized and decarbonized energy system?
- After the last revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, what are the remaining hurdles and needs, to accelerate the deployment of digital technologies in buildings?
- Which impact for consumers and citizens in this renewed efficient energy system?

ORGANISED BY: SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC

MEDIA PARTNER: EURACTIV

Current major issues have profoundly changed the way we work, highlighting the crucial needs for European societies to constantly develop the skills of workers and their well-being. Life-long-learning schemes, upskilling and reskilling are the cornerstones to empower workers to steadily face the most important shifts in the workplace and the job market, brought by globalisation, digitalisation, robotisation and the green transition.

In 2020, the European Commission launched its “Pact for Skills” and has invited public and private organisations to take concrete actions to upskill and reskill people in the support of a fair and resilient recovery. In a changing world, the key to the improvement of the well-being of workers can be found in the development of skills programmes by public authorities and companies. Upskilling and reskilling are an essential part of a healthy workplace and, ultimately, healthy people. Upskilling & reskilling programmes that takes the well-being of the workforce into account need to be developed.

The coalition All Policies for a Healthy Europe is keen to demonstrate the interlinkages between health and all other major aspects in European citizens’ lives. In the event, a wide panel of organisations and institutions will exchange on the topic and share flagship actions and best practices on upskilling and reskilling as part of the well-being of European citizens.

On Monday, 25 October, ESWET organise an online event to discuss the issue of non-recyclable waste and the role of Waste-to-Energy as a sustainable waste management option, gathering supporters and opponents of the technology around the same table.

How will European waste management look like in the next thirty years? Can we avoid the generation of non-recyclable waste? Can Waste-to-Energy become carbon neutral thanks to the integration of CCS? These are some of the questions that will be addressed by experts covering the waste management industry as well as the consultancies and the NGOs most active on the topic.

Starting from the EU Green Deal pillars – Circular Economy, Zero Pollution, and Climate Neutrality – the event aims to debate how to improve the sustainability of waste treatment in the EU and discuss the role of Waste-to-Energy.

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