Since its inception, the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) has sought to be a tool to help companies reduce their environmental impact and gain acceptance in their area by being transparent about their environmental performance and maintaining an open dialogue with stakeholders.

• But how can you involve staff in environmental management?
• How are the EMAS tools helping to involve staff and top management in reducing environmental impacts and enhancing resource efficiency?
• What good practices has EMAS identified for involving employees and stakeholders in its 30 years of experience?
• Do people recognise the importance of their day-to-day behaviour in achieving environmental improvements at work and at home?

To answer these questions and have an interesting discussion with the audience, EMAS and ECESP organised a webinar on 26 October 2023, to learn more about EMAS and the importance of involving staff, top management and stakeholders in the circular transition.

On 10 May 2023, the EESC hosted the event Financing local circular economy initiatives: an event for financiers and project developers organised by ACR+ in cooperation with the two Horizon Europe projects Deciso and Hoop.

The report highlights milestones and achievements performed in 2023 by the ECESP under the stewardship of its Coordination Group.

This parallel session discussed the benefits of circular economy for climate goals, preserving the biodiversity and bringing about a fair transition through social enterprise.

The workshop presented an open discussion about the role of circular economy in the coming CRMs Act.

This workshop explored the interconnections and interaction between bioeconomy and climate change. One of the focus was systemic interconnection of bioeconomy systems from restoring ecosystems to creation of regenerative systems that feed the bioeconomy.

This workshop aimed to share insights from the collaboration of the ECESP Leadership Group on Enabling Circular Behaviours through Digitalisation and facilitate a dialogue between different actors.  The dialogue addressed how to make circularity the rule among the overwhelming majority of consumers in Europe, how stakeholders can support circular behaviour among consumers, and how digitalisation can play a role in this process.

The concept of sufficiency is necessary to broaden horizons of circular economy and look beyond key concepts such as reuse and recycle, to facilitate lifestyles that involves not just consuming better but also consuming less.

The ambition of the workshop was to present the role of network governance and circular diplomacy to embrace climate change and biodiversity.

System-level changes with long-term consistency are needed and therefore transformation of existing governance structures is unavoidable. Understanding of network governance, role of CE hubs and transition brokers as well as of circular diplomacy were in the focus of the workshop. Discussion was based on lessons learned on the ground, complemented with the presentation of initiatives focused on the identification of interventions needed to support systems change on national, regional and global level.  

An interactive session to bridge the EU public and private side of the built environment sector by sharing innovations, perspectives and opinions on current trends and future needs to scale up circularity in buildings and infrastructure and thereby achieving EU’s climate and biodiversity goals.