In recent years, the concept of green jobs has been the focus of increasing attention. The principles of green jobs and green employment are grounded in a variety of evolving concepts such as green economy, green growth, sustainable development and circular economy, which are multi-dimensional and their understanding evolves in both academic and political contexts.
At the EU policy level, the green transition is seen as an opportunity to create jobs in existing and emerging economic sectors. A large number of different approaches to how green jobs can be defined and classified have been put forward. Differences and gaps identified in these existing definitions and frameworks have exposed the need to create a novel, integratedtaxonomy for green jobs, which is developed in this report.
In the context of the data needs for EU policies in economic activities related to circular economy, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation and bioeconomy, in 2019 Eurostat initiated a project implemented by Prognos and DevStat to develop a method that allows deriving key economic variables on these activities, which can be used as a framework also for other transition sectors.
This Prognos study contracted by the European Commission and Eurostat, and published in 2023, is a description of a generic conceptual framework to define various sectors of the environmental economy, identify activities, and analyse data by using different data sources (e.g. national or regional data).
Other documents produced under the same project can be consulted here.
The Expert Forum on Materials for Battery Innovation will take place on 11 October in Darmstadt. It will spotlight the vital role that materials play in driving innovation in the field of batteries. Recognising the increasing importance of energy storage for various applications, stakeholders from the EIT RawMaterials network will gather to discuss cutting-edge materials research, manufacturing techniques and sourcing principles that can enhance battery performance, safety and sustainability.
The forum will provide a platform for collaboration and knowledge exchange to accelerate the development of advanced battery technologies and skill sets.
The Expert Forum on Photovoltaic and Hydrogen Materials Driving the Net-Zero Transition will take place on 21 September 2023. It is the first in the Expert Forum Series happening across Europe and will delve into the pivotal role played by materials in facilitating the transition to a future with zero carbon emissions.
This forum will focus on the significance of materials in hydrogen and solar energy. It will explore the latest developments in materials, science and engineering by bringing together stakeholders from academia, industry and research. These developments have the potential to enable the efficient and sustainable production and utilisation of hydrogen, and to enhance the performance and circularity of solar energy systems.
The European Commission is spearheading initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in European buildings, with particular emphasis on the embodied carbon in construction materials. The Whole Life Carbon Roadmap is set to be unveiled in autumn 2023, focusing on CO2 reduction throughout a building's lifespan.
Concurrently, the European cement industry aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and has already outlined its vision in the 2020 Carbon Neutrality Roadmap. The conference on 24 October will explore sustainable cement/concrete use in buildings, strategies to lower carbon footprints throughout building lifecycles, and the role of circularity in decarbonisation, while evaluating supportive policy frameworks.
This EC GPP Helpdesk webinar on 27 September will analyse how public procurement can be used as a strategic tool to support the upskilling and reskilling of the construction workforce and help futureproof the European construction sector.
The BRILIAN project is designed to support the adoption of sustainable and cooperative business models in rural areas, enabling a smoother transition to bio-based economies. It plays a fundamental role in revitalising these regions and promoting sustainable economic and social development by transforming primary producers into active players in the supply chain, aligned with the goals outlined in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Green Deal and the European Bioeconomy Strategy.
Plastic multi-layer composites are often used to package food in a functional and safe way. However, current recycling technologies are unable to reprocess these multi-layer composites into high-quality materials and so they are excluded from the circular economy.
For flexible food packaging, recyclability is even more complicated due to the high hygiene and safety standards that recyclates must meet when reused in contact with food. This is why CIRCULAR FoodPack is developing innovative solutions along the entire recycling value chain to make flexible food packaging circular.
At the Circularity FoodPack conference on 23 November, project partners and experts will present the latest findings and developments.
After Pazardzhik, Barcelona and Naples, the Biocircularcities partners are coming to Brussels on 28 September. Come and be inspired to bring the Biocircularcities approach to your garden by learning more about the project and its results. Discuss the future of a circular bioeconomy in Europe and exchange notes with your peers.
The Taskforce for climate neutral and circular materials and products was launched at COP26 in September 2021, convened by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The Taskforce to positively influence policy discussions by enabling progressive businesses across sectors and value chains to join forces. It seeks to bring together companies committed to using climate neutral and sustainable materials and which are raising awareness about the need for EU measures to help decarbonise materials.
The key objective is to drive the development and implementation of and support for more ambitious, future-proof policies, programmes and initiatives in Europe with a view to creating an ecosystem moving rapidly away from the energy- and resource-intensive production of materials.