Rapporteur Talks

Listen to this EURACTIV Virtual Conference audio to find out how close relations between the EU and Kazakhstan can help the greening of the Kazakh economy and transport sector. What scope is there for Kazakhstan's energy production to move towards cleaner, renewable energy sources? And what role can the EU play in this process, in line with its Strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia?

Discrimination in Europe is a topic high on the agenda of European leaders and policymakers. But despite all the legislation and policy aimed at its prevention, questions remain as to whether these laws and rules are being applied effectively.

According to the Fundamental Rights Agency, the proportion of those who think discrimination in the EU is widespread has increased drastically since 2012, but is the public aware of the tools at their disposal?

MINDSET, a collaborative project between EURACTIV in Brussels and Romania and JEF Europe funded by the REC Programme, has attempted to raise these concerns by focusing on the media and youth in Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe. MINDSET discusses how these areas differ and what needs to be done on both a national and European scale to support both victims and entities supporting victims of discrimination.

The EU Commission “Fit for 55” places Europe as the global leader on climate ambition. The EC package has charted a path to reach further decarbonisation in 2030, with a special focus on decarbonising transport and buildings.

It also proposes ambitious targets for energy efficiency and renewables, all complemented with social measures to ensure the energy transition will be inclusive, leaving no one behind.

European gas prices have rocketed in the past months as tight gas supplies have coincided with strong demand in economies recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, gas storages have not recovered their usual seasonal levels. EU countries have already taken a range of measures to combat the impacts of rising energy costs, such as social schemes for low-income households and temporary tax breaks on electricity prices.

The negotiations on the "Fit for 55" package will be happening in the midst of high concerns about the impact that the current prices might have on vulnerable consumers and industry competitiveness.

Today, 95% of the hydrogen produced in Europe is of fossil origin and a major emitter of CO2. For the EU to achieve carbon neutrality, hydrogen must be produced in a way that emits low amounts of CO2.

One way to do this is to produce hydrogen by electrolysis, using largely decarbonised electricity from the grid. Electricity grids based on renewables and nuclear allow hydrogen to be produced close to industrial consumption centres (without having to rely on dedicated hydrogen pipelines).

Sometimes called “purple hydrogen”, using nuclear electricity for hydrogen production can complement the production of “green hydrogen” (renewable) as it both offers the benefit of low emissions and steady electricity input for electrolysers, allowing large amounts of hydrogen to be produced.

In order to achieve the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality target, the European Commission is planning to announce new initiatives addressing the entire life cycle of products.

The objective is a design of products that allows circularity, the promotion of circular economy processes and sustainable consumption, and the initiatives should ensure that waste is prevented and that the resources used remain in the EU economy for as long as possible.

The Sustainable Products Initiative, which is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2022, is a cornerstone of the EU’s endeavours to create a circular economy. It will include proposals to revise the Ecodesign Directive and other legislative measures with the aim to make products placed on the EU market more sustainable.

The European Commission considers detailed and comprehensive information about the composition and nature of products to be a key factor for an effective reuse or recycling of goods. In this respect, the potential of ‘digital’ is key to make information about products more transparent.

The Sustainable Products Initiative will therefore include rules for setting requirements on mandatory sustainability labelling and/or disclosure of information to market actors along value chains in the form of a digital product passport.

A fear of industry is that additional bureaucratic burdens, especially for SMEs, will be created. They claim that a digital product passport could mean the disclosure of internal company data and technological know-how, which could prevent companies from innovating and put them at a competitive disadvantage.

The passport can however prove valuable if it collects and processes climate neutrality and circular economy data. Such data would provide learnings for industry, facilitating new business models and services.

Join this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to discuss the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan and whether its new initiatives, such as the digital product passport, will achieve the transparency for products that policymakers are looking for. And how easy will it be for industry, big and small, to comply with?

The question of how to achieve sustainable agriculture and a balanced relationship between the environment, farmers and consumers is more and more pressing.

Biodiversity is one key player closely linked to and influenced by this relationship, as well as by agricultural practices and production.

Technological solutions are needed for ensuring sustainable agriculture and can contribute to greater biodiversity. One of these solutions is glyphosate, a herbicide used for weed control in the EU. The European Commission granted a five-year approval for glyphosate in 2017 and it is currently approved for use until 15 December 2022.

The brewing sector continues to explore a variety of new ideas to become more sustainable and more ecologically responsible.

Since 2020, European brewers have been taking steps to align themselves with the aims of the new European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy.

Many brewers have expressed a willingness to reach net zero emissions in their production processes by 2030, by further reducing emissions through energy efficiency and accelerating the transition to renewable energy.

A big part of the industry's carbon footprint, however, comes from other parts of the value chain, where agriculture, packaging, distribution and cooling represent the majority of emissions outside of breweries.

Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in the EU after cardiovascular disease. 2.6 million people are diagnosed every year. Considering that Europe has a quarter of all cancer cases and less than 10% of the world’s population, cancer presents a serious threat to Europe's society and economy, with an overall economic impact of €100 billion annually.

Earlier this year, the European Commission launched its “Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan”, with the aim of tackling the entire disease pathway around four key action areas: prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life of cancer patients and survivors. Breast cancer is a strong focus of this plan.

The new EU Circular Economy Action Plan is one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal for a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and competitive economy. The proposals that are sketched out as part of the Action Plan are set to influence almost every stage of Europeans’ lives, by ensuring that products and materials we see everywhere, from home to office, or school and doctors’ clinics, are truly sustainable.

The upcoming review of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) will aim to ensure that “all packaging on the EU market are recyclable or reusable in an economically viable way by 2030”. It will build on the last revision of the PPWD that set new recycling targets for packaging, measuring the actual recycling of packaging materials – not just collection rates.

Closed loop recycling, whereby packaging is collected and recycled into new packaging, has a key role to play in a well-functioning Circular Economy that keeps resources productive in the economy for as long as possible, reducing the use of virgin raw materials and CO2 emissions, and saving energy. EU and national policymakers across Europe are debating what the solutions are to promote closed loop recycling.

Cybersecurity is one of the European Commission's top priorities and a cornerstone of the digital and connected Europe. An increase of cyber attacks during the COVID crisis has shown how important it is to protect hospitals, research centres and other critical infrastructure.

According to the Commission, the review of the Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS2) is an essential step towards a more resilient Europe, ensuring state-of-the-art risk management of current and emerging cyber threats to vital sectors of the EU economy and society.