On 5 May 2021, the European Commission updated the EU’s Industrial Strategy, originally adopted in March 2020. The document seeks to further spur the green and digital transitions and take stock of the impacts and challenges faced by different sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. RREUSE welcomes the updated Industrial Strategy and its reinforced commitment for industries to shift from linear to the circular economy. However, it regrets the lack of concrete actions to advance the social and circular dimensions of the twin transitions.
To begin with, the updated document includes a number of proposals aimed at addressing the green dimension of the industrial transformation. It contains proposals on energy decarbonisation, fostering innovation, multi-stakeholder partnerships, green public procurement as well as empowering consumers through initiatives such as a ‘right to repair’. RREUSE endorses these objectives as significant flagships of the green transition. However, we believe that the strategy’s focus on EU resource autonomy and green growth could have been an opportunity to mention the role and importance of re-use and preparing for re-use activities. Indeed, reducing European dependence on imported products starts with consumption reduction, made possible by re-use operators through the extension of product lifetime.
RREUSE’s initial reflections on the updated EU’s Industrial Strategy
