The French National Institute for Circular Economy (INEC) has published this paper which aims to use schools - a place familiar to all - as showcases for the circular economy. It contains a series of good practices (for public and private actors, youth) comprising over 40 territorial initiatives and 50 operational solutions, on the following themes:
school buildings (construction, renovation)
energy supply
inner/outer spatial planning
stationery-equipment-furniture
school cleaning (products and apparel, staff training)
food loop (local and sustainable food, waste, water fountains)
The new EU Ecolabel criteria for cosmetics and animal care products will soon be here! It is the moment for industry, consumers, and pet lovers to join the green transition and the zero pollution ambition.
The roadmap Policy Framework on biobased, biodegradable and compostable plastics has been published on the European Commission’s portal. You are welcome to give your feedback on it until 27 October!
Reduce water use in Diageo's operations with a 40% improvement in water use efficiency in water stressed areas and 30% improvement across the company.
Other (Sustainable management of water)
To be achieved by:
Replenish more water than Diageo uses for their operations for all their sites in water-stressed areas by 2026.
Other (Sustainable management of water)
To be achieved by:
Invest in 150 projects to improve access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in communities near Diageo sites and local sourcing areas in all of Diageo's water-stressed markets.
Other (Sustainable management of water)
Start Date:
Engage in collective action in all of their Priority Water Basins to improve water accessibility, availability and quality and contribute to a net positive water impact.
Recycling (also including specific waste streams)
To be achieved by:
Achieve zero waste in Diageo's direct operations and zero waste to landfill in Diageo's supply chain.
Recycled materials as part of raw materials demand (recycled content)
To be achieved by:
Ensure 100% of Diageo's packaging is widely recyclable (or reusable/compostable).
Recycled materials as part of raw materials demand (recycled content)
To be achieved by:
Continue to reduce packaging and increase recycled content in Diageo's packaging (delivering a 10% reduction in packaging weight + increasing the % recycled content of the packaging to 60%).
Recycled materials as part of raw materials demand (recycled content)
To be achieved by:
Ensure 100% of Diageo's plastics are designed to be widely recyclable (or reusable/compostable) by 2025 and achieve 40% recycled content in Diageo's plastic bottles by 2025, and 100% by 2030.
Other (Sustainable agriculture management)
To be achieved by:
Provide all of Diageo's local sourcing communities with agricultural skills and resources, building economic and environmental resilience (supporting 150,000 smallholder farmers).
Other (Sustainable agriculture management)
To be achieved by:
Develop regenerative agriculture pilot programmes in 5 key sourcing landscapes.
Other (Accelerate to a low carbon world)
To be achieved by:
Become Net Zero carbon in Diageo's direct operations.
Other (Accelerate to a low carbon world)
To be achieved by:
Reduce Diageo's value chain carbon emissions by 50%.
Other (Accelerate to a low carbon world)
To be achieved by:
Use 100% renewable electricity across all of Diageo's direct operations.
Regenerating nature requires an economic transformation. To halt and reverse biodiversity loss, we need to fundamentally transform the way we produce, use, and consume our products and food. Conservation and restoration efforts alone – crucial though they are – will not be enough. The circular economy offers a framework for such a transformation. Applied together, its three principles are able to help tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss and enable the regeneration of nature. These biodiversity benefits can be demonstrated across different industry sectors, as shown in this new study by Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This paper also highlights the key steps businesses and policymakers can take to scale the circular economy potential and help shape a nature-positive future.
Society 2030: Spirit of Progress is Diageo's 10-year action plan to help create a more inclusive and sustainable world. This global leader in beverage alcohol has set itself 25 goals aligned to the UN's SDGs.
Given the need totake biodiversity more into account in circular economy projects, this study aims to stress the links between the two and to clarify the role played by the circular economy in preserving ecosystems.
Several guiding circular economy principles contribute to reducing the impacts of our activities on ecosystems, such as non-toxicity, optimisation of resource management, promotion of renewable resources and looping of flows. The study also highlights the fact that each lever for implementing the circular economy can and should factor in biodiversity: land-use planning, normative framework, innovation, awareness raising and training, and economic support.
The Federal Council for Sustainable Development Belgium has issued a formal response to the Federal Belgian Action Plan on the Circular Economy (in French). The council addressed issues regarding the substance and procedure of the action plan.
Procedural issues include the vagueness of the plan's exact intentions and deadlines as well as the lack of a better governance mechanism. Substantive issues include:
more focus needed on the social challenges associated with the introduction of a circular economy
more focus on the impact on the climate of increasing digitalisation
recycling of critical metals, and
importance of removing all known barriers (regulatory, fiscal, financial, etc.) to the circular transition.
