Business and practitioners workshop on financial opportunities and legislative barriers for the circular economy

This workshop is for business representatives who are engaged in, or will engage in, circular economy projects or business models.

The first part will offer the chance to get a better understanding of the available instruments and tools for access to finance.

In the second part, the main legal barriers for investment and innovation will be discussed.

Background

On 2 December 2015 the European Commission adopted an ambitious new Circular Economy Package to help European businesses and consumers make the transition to a stronger and more circular economy where resources are used in a more sustainable way.

The proposed actions will contribute to 'closing the loop' of product lifecycles through greater recycling and re-use, bringing benefits for both the environment and the economy. This transition will be supported financially by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), €650 million from Horizon 2020 (the EU funding programme for research and innovation), €5.5 billion from structural funds for waste management, and investments in the circular economy at national level.

The broad measures for changing the full product lifecycle go beyond a narrow focus on the end-of-life stage and underline the Commission's clear ambition to transform the EU economy and deliver results. Innovative and more efficient ways of producing and consuming should increasingly emerge as a result of the incentives we are putting in place. The circular economy has the potential to create many jobs in Europe, while preserving precious and increasingly scarce resources, reducing environmental impacts of resource use and injecting new value into waste products.