Eco-innovation in Spain

EIO Country Profile

2016-2017

Eco-Innovation Observatory

The Eco-Innovation Observatory functions as a platform for the structured collection and analysis

of an extensive range of eco-innovation and circular economy information, gathered from across the European Union and key economic regions around the globe, providing a much-needed integrated information source on eco-innovation for companies and innovation service providers, as well as providing a solid decision-making basis for policy development.

The Observatory approaches eco-innovation as a persuasive phenomenon present in all economic sectors and therefore relevant for all types of innovation, defining eco-innovation as:

“Eco-innovation is any innovation that reduces the use of natural resources and decreases the release of harmful substances across the whole life-cycle”.

To find out more, visit www.eco-innovation.eu and ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap

Any views or opinions expressed in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission.

Eco-Innovation Observatory

Country Profile 2016-2017 Spain

Author: Maialen Pérez Fernández de Retana

Coordinator of the work package: Technopolis Group

A note to Readers

Any views or opinions expressed in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.

A number of companies are presented as illustrative examples of eco-innovation in this report. The EIO does not endorse these companies.

The report is based on an updated methodology for calculating the Eco-Innovation Index, which has also been applied retroactively to all previous years, hence the outcome in the Eco-Innovation Scoreboard (Eco-IS) for 2017 presented in this report can be compared with the analysis in the previous reports to a limited extent.

Comments and suggestions on this document can be sent to Asel Doranova asel.doranova@technopolis-group.com

This brief is available for download from https://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/country_profiles_en

Table of contents

Summary ........................................................................................................................ 1

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 2

1 | Eco-innovation performance ....................................................................... 3

2 | Selected circular economy and eco-innovation areas and new trends ........ 6

3 | Barriers and drivers to circular economy and eco-innovation in Spain ........ 9

4 | Policy landscape in Spain ........................................................................... 11

ANNEX: Policy measures addressing circular economy and eco-innovations in Spain . 16

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Summary

Compared to 2015, the eco innovation landscape in Spain is rather stable. Spain is ranked number 9 in the Eco-IS 2017, losing one position since 2015. As it was the case in all previous editions of the Scoreboard, the country has above-average overall performance with score of 112 (against 106 in 2015). Besides keeping its performance high, the country lost one position but has won 6 score-point in comparison to its rank in the Eco-IS 2015.

In this edition, the Socio-Economic outcomes is the indicator in which Spain performs the worst, illustrating Spain’s low level of eco-industries exports. The country’s strongest performance is in resource efficiency outcomes, with an index of 162 and gaining 40 score-points in comparison to its rank in the Eco-IS 2015. It stands slightly above EU average when it comes to eco-innovation activities but outperforms with regards to eco-innovation outputs (index of 139), with a particularly strong performance in eco-innovation related media coverage (index of 286). Finally, Spain’s overall performance in terms of eco-innovation input is 25% below the EU average, against only a 4% below in 2015.

Public policy support for eco-innovation consists of a mix of first and second-generation policies and measures addressing technologies and resources for pollution control and energy efficiency. Eco-innovation is generally embedded in national and regional policies targeting resource efficiency, environmental innovations, clean technologies and sustainable development. The first Spanish Strategy on Circular Economy that will be published during 2018, will set up a new framework for the transition toward a more circular economy in Spain.

The most important eco-innovation areas and trends include waste management, eco-design, green engineering, recycling, energy efficiency, sustainable construction, water efficiency and urban water systems. The most important barriers for the eco-innovation in the country are the lack of cultural acceptance by the population even if this is gradually changing; the political and regulatory barriers that still exist; the lack of public and private funds to support these initiatives and also technological and infrastructure barriers. Among the drivers of the eco innovation, the pressure from existing European, national and regional legislation, the existence of a complete set of strategies, policies and programmes designed at counteracting the environmental impact of the economy and the importance that the green economy, the green jobs and the transformation of the economic model to a resource efficient and more environmentally friendly has.

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Introduction

Eco-innovation needs and challenges in Spain are associated with economic and environmental problems. Primary energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions have declined in Spain since 1999 reflecting the decoupling of economic growth from primary energy consumption. Many enterprises and technology providers are emerging in the sector of renewable energy. However, a large potential rests in the eco-innovations involving low energy consuming practices in industry and housing, ICT solutions, etc.

There is a high dependency in Spain on fossil fuels imported from non-EU countries, in particular natural gas. Construction is the most energy consuming sector in Spain, and therefore eco-innovation is of the utmost importance in the introduction of renewable energy sources and energy efficient materials in new and existing buildings. There is a demand for both systemic and technological eco-innovations that will help transform the Spanish building sector towards less materially intensive practices.

Spain faces a number of environmental problems that would need addressing through eco-innovative solutions. Despite water efficiency improvements over the last decades the country is facing ever increasing water shortage which poses the need in water efficiency innovations. There are growing amounts of solid wastes, while the resource efficiency and consumption needs improvements towards sustainable patterns; the growing number of cars in fact, cancelled out the improved energy and environmental efficiency achieved in other sectors. Industries and agriculture sector are increasingly contributing to the nation's water pollution problem.

Spain is having some difficulties to implement some of the requirements of the European Commission in terms of recycling targets that the countries need to achieve by 2020. Spain is still far away from the 50% target, since at the moment it is around 30%. The 60% of the municipal waste is landfilled at the moment, so there are still a lot of measures to be implemented in this area.

Spain has been introducing many new pieces of legislation during the past years and has been implementing many new measures in the area of Circular Economy. Until recently, these measures were not seen as priorities because of the many problems and challenges that the country was still facing since the economic crisis (2008-2013). Nowadays, the country has tread the path of growth, and in 2016 and 2017 the GDP growth rate was higher than the EU average, 3.3% and 3.1% respectively. For the upcoming years the forecast is also more positive than for the rest of the EU but will converge slowly to the European average according to the European Commission Forecast.

In spite of the new policy measures in the field of circular economy, the companies and the involved stakeholders still consider that there is room for improvements in Spain. An important problem is the lack of harmonisation between the different political powers and authorities in the country. There is legislation at national level, regional level, sub regional level and town level. Sometimes this abundance of laws, instead of facilitating the process makes it more difficult. Because of that, the national government should aim to encompass under the first National Strategy on Circular Economy all the different legislation that are in force now.

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1 | Eco-innovation performance

The analysis in this section is based on the EU 28 Eco-innovation Index (EcoI Index) for the year 2017. The Eco-innovation index demonstrates the eco-innovation performance of a country compared with the EU average and with the EU top performers. EcoI Index is a composite index that is based on 16 indicators which are aggregated into five components: eco-innovation inputs, eco-innovation activities and eco-innovation outputs as well as environmental outcomes and socio-economic outcomes

Figure 2.1 EU27 Eco-innovation Index 2017, composite index

Source: EIO, 2018

Spain is ranked number 9 in the Eco-IS 2017. As it was the case in all previous editions of the scoreboard, the country has above-average overall performance (score of 112). Despite keeping its performance high, the country has gained 3 score points and lost one position in comparison to its rank in the Eco-IS2015.

The country preforms well and above average in 3 of the areas, whereas in the other two it performs well below the average. On the eco-innovation inputs dimension, Spain had a performance of about 25% less than the EU average (index of 75, see Figure 2) and ranked in the 16th position, which represents a substantial decrease from a score of 96 and the 12th position

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in 2015, even if in both cases the value is below the EU average. This figure illustrates the relatively low value of Spain’s R&D intensity, in particular with regards to the government environmental and energy R&D appropriations and outlays (index 87), but also a low share of R&D personnel and researchers among total employment (index 86). The level of green early stage investment is well below the EU average (index 45), which brings down the overall position of the country in regard to the eco-innovation inputs.

The Eco-innovation activities are slightly above the EU average, with an overall value of 106 and ranking in the 11th position. This is similar to last year but with an increase of 10 score-points. However, there has been a minor decrease in the number of ISO 140001 registered organisations from 299 per million population in 2015 to 295 in 2017. There is no new data on Spain’s business performance related to the share of firms having implemented innovation activities aiming at a reduction of material and energy input per unit output, based on the community innovation survey (CIS) results in 2008.

Figure 2.2 Components of the Eco-innovation index for Spain, 2017

Source: EIO, 2018

Spain stands considerably above EU average when it comes to eco-innovation outputs, with an index of 139. When looking into detail though, its performance in the area is contrasted. The country registered on average only 7.32 eco-innovation related patents per million inhabitants, against 15.34 on EU average, according to the last figures of 2014. Its number of eco-innovation related publications is slightly higher than the EU average (index of 103), but it outperforms the

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EU level with regards to eco-innovation related media coverage (index of 286), ranking in the first position with Greece and Luxembourg.

The country’s strongest performance is the resource efficiency outcomes with an index of 162 and ranking in the fifth position. In comparison to 2015, Spain gained one position in the ranking, but gained 40 score points. The country outperforms the EU average in all of the indicators, especially in material productivity (index of 223) and water productivity (index of 328), whereas energy productivity (index of 116) and greenhouse gas emissions (index of 106) are better aligned with the EU average.

In terms of socio-economic outcomes, Spain’s overall performance is 28% below the EU average, which is lower than the 2015 performance (2% below EU average in 2015). The green economy contributes an estimated 1.76% of GDP, 1% less than in 2014. The share of eco-industry employment continues to be above the EU average, but to a lesser extent: it was 2% higher than average in 2016 against 35% in 2014. Eco-industries exports remain at very low level, with an index of 36. The eco-industry exports are 745 million euros of a total of 259.973 million euros in 2016.

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2 | Selected circular economy and eco-innovation areas and new trends

There has been little change in the leading Spanish eco-innovation areas compared to 2015. Waste management and the reduction of waste generation continue to be an important area in the context of circular economy. One of the main areas for improvement is the appropriate management of waste in the Spanish municipalities. The generation of municipal waste has maintained a general downward trend in recent years in Spain, achieving a better the value than the average in Europe. However, Spain had a better starting point. The country has to intensify its efforts to improve its performance in waste management and to meet the EU targets, especially to reduce landfilling (55% of municipal waste is landfilled, whereas the EU average is 28%) and increase recycling (17% is recycled and 16% is composted). According to the Eurobarometer, 65% of the Spanish companies are taking steps in order to minimize the waste they produce and to be more resource efficient. Full implementation of EU waste legislation could create more than 54,200 jobs in Spain, 400,000 in the whole European Union and increase annual turnover of the waste sector by over EUR 5690 million (The EU Environmental Implementation Review Country Report – SPAIN, EC, 2017). Moving towards the targets of the Roadmap on resource efficiency could create over 69,500 additional jobs and increase the annual turnover of the waste sector by over EUR 7,300 million in Spain, according to some estimations of the European Commission (The EU Environmental Implementation Review Country Report – SPAIN, EC, 2017). Spain continues to be very active at EU level on Eco-design. The most active region in this area is the Basque Country. The international standard ISO 14006 assesses the incorporation of eco-design in companies, and half of the Spanish enterprises that have it are from the Basque country. This might be linked to the fact that this topic has been on the political agenda of the region for the last 15 years. Nowadays, there are 150 companies involved in the Basque regional strategy on Circular Economy. In addition, the Basque Country organises every two years an international conference on the topic, the most relevant one in southern Europe – the Basque Eco-design Meeting. In spite of the prominence of the Basque region, all the communities of Spain are committed to the circular economy.

Energy efficiency is still an important topic in the country. As well as in the case of waste management, the EU has stablished some targets that the countries need to achieve (Directive 2012/27/EU). By 2020, each country should have reduced the energy they consumed by 20% (when compared to the projected use of energy in 2020). In addition to this, in November 2016 the Commission proposed and update to the Energy Efficiency Directive to include a new 30% energy efficiency target for 2030. In April 2017, Spain sent to the European Commission the Plan Nacional de Acción de Eficiencia Energetica 2017 – 2020, which gives continuity to the Plan for 2014 – 2020. In this new version, Spain sets a reduction target of the 24,7% by 2020 (112,6 Mtep), above the European target of 20%. This new estimation is slightly lower than the one made in 2014, but it takes into account the new macroeconomic estimations, which forecast a growth rate of the Spanish economy higher than that estimated in 2014. However, in February 2017 the Commission requested Spain to fully comply with all the requirement of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (Directive 2010/31/EU).

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Spain has no Green Infrastructure Strategy as such yet, but the topic is incorporated explicitly in various places in existing legislation, and Spain is planning to publish an integrated document on green infrastructure presumably during 2018. This does not hinder the Sustainable Construction to play an important role in the country. If in 2015 the country scored the highest score among the Member States in the synthesis report on the assessment of Members States’ building renovation strategies by DG RTD’s Joint Research Centre (JRC, 2016), now the situation is not the same, since Spain does not comply with two of the requirements and only partially with the other three in the updated version of the Spanish renovation strategy (BPIE, 2017). The report also states that some of the strong point of the 2014 Spanish renovation strategy have not been carried through this new version.

A consequence of the severe drought that the country has been suffering in the last years, water is a scarce resource in Spain, some areas are water stressed, meaning that water demand exceeds the available water resources under sustainable conditions. Because of that water efficiency is an important challenge. The current water-pricing policy gives no incentive for efficient use of this resource. The prices do no ensure the recovery of the cost of all water services, and prices and subsidies are not always transparent. This is the case especially in the agriculture sector, the largest consumer of water, where a lot of water is wasted. In addition to the lack of incentives, there is also an outdated irrigation system and lose control of water abstraction. However, the country is taking some actions in order to improve the water governance, as the Spanish Government launched a process in 2017 to reach a “National Water Deal” (Pacto Nacional por el Agua), which is currently under consultation with regional governments and stakeholders.

The EU Ecolabel is a third party certified Type I ISO 14024 aimed to promote products and services which have a reduced environmental impact thus helping European consumers distinguish more environmentally friendly products. Spain has 226 ecolabel licences of a total of 2130 available in September 2017. There were 54,115 products and services with the label in Europe in September 2017. A third of the total, 18,508 were from Spain (EC, DG ENV, Ecolabel). Apart from the EU Ecolabel there is not any other scheme at national level, but yes at regional level. In Catalunya, there is the Product environmental quality guarantee label created in 1994. At the moment there are 4 main categories (Products, services, vehicles and tourist accommodations) and multiple subcategories in each of them.

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AERNNOVA, aeronautics components manufactured in a more efficient way

AERNNOVA is a leading aerostructures company specializing in the design and manufacturing of aeronautics

components, such as wings and fuselae sections.The company wanted to improve resource efficiency and reduce the generation of waste during the manufacturing process. The adhesives and sealants used to

make the fuselage parts are polymers mixed on site, this is a time-critical process and the unused mixer is thrown away. The process also produces

contaminated packaging and the cleaning of the aeronautic pieces leads to hazardous waste-water too. In

addition, the painting and varnishing processes also generate toxic waste.

The review led to some modifications in the company's purchasing policies and procedures; principally

checking product consumption to optimise purchasing, storage and availability in line with production peaks,

and adjusting purchasing and storage policies accordingly to avoid spoilage. Specific measure to reduce waste due to expired sealants included: centralising sealant purchasing and distribution; quantifying the use and number of sealants for different production jobs so sufficient is in stock and ready just in time for the job,

adopting a first expires, first out (FEFO) stock policy; and mixing the parts using a controlled Semkit system

Altogether, AERNNOVA managed to reduce hazardous waste by 178 000 kilos a year, saving € 100 000 in

materials and € 29 000 in waste management:

Key words: resource efficiency, sustainable manufacturing, waste prevention

Web link: h http://www.aernnova.com/en/

https://www.resourceefficient.eu/en/good-practice/aeronautics-firm-radically-cuts-waste-and-saves-resources

Mahou, making beers and reducing resources

Founded in 1890, Mahou San Miguel is the number one company in the Spanish brewing sector with a share

of market of the 34%. Today, it is present in more 70 countries on five continents and has more than 5,500

suppliers.

Mahou San Miguel has opted for a strategy of cross-cutting improvement of

all the processes and products in order to gain efficiency. On the one hand,

since 2009 it has implemented eco-design in its packaging to reduce the consumption of material (cardboard, plastics, metal and glass). Other initiatives have included the reduction of consumption water and energy by automating the cleaning

processes. In the framework of the circular economy, the company seeks to take advantage of any waste generated in the processes. For example, it reuses cleaning water, produces energy (biogas) from the wastewater, and uses the by-products of the manufacturing process of beer (bagasse and yeast) as feed for

livestock. In addition, it's been researching for the last 4 years with research centres how to use bagasse for more added value goals, such as its transformation to be used as a biomaterial for dental prostheses.

Improvements in product eco-design have resulted in savings of €10m. Despite the 48% increase in

production compared to 2000, energy and water consumption have fallen by 46% and 39% respectively. Now, 99.5% of the waste generated is recovered.

Keywords: Eco innovation, sustainable production, resource efficiency

Weblink: https://www.mahou-sanmiguel.com

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3 | Barriers and drivers to circular economy and eco-innovation in Spain

The main barriers and drivers for eco-innovation and circular economy in Spain identified in 2017 have not changed substantially since 2015.

The main barriers can be classified in 4 groups. First of all, there are the political and regulatory barriers. The lack of support and stimulus from governments (through the possibility of financing, training, effective tax policies, etc.) is widely recognized as a major obstacle in attracting environmental investment. In this area it is also stressed that there is still a need for harmonisation of standards and definitions to serve as a basis for the proper development of the circular economy and for the creation of certifiable standards for all types of industries. It should also regulate the substitution of harmful substances and promote eco-design aimed in particular at saving resources and energy efficiency.

Secondly, there are barriers to cultural acceptance. There is a lack of environmental awareness among providers and clients, which does not help the development of the Circular Economy. The buying decisions of the clients are to some extent influenced by sustainability criteria, but these are not considered of high importance. In addition, the clients have little information about the origin and the resources used in the manufacturing of the products (to an extent as consequence of the lack of international methodologies for the labelling of the products), does not help to raise awareness in the necessity of reducing consumptions or reusing, reclaiming and recycling of products. But this lack of knowledge can be found among small and medium enterprises too, there is a disregard towards the benefits of the Circular Economy which is the cause for the reluctance to implement it, since they think it will be very expensive.

Thirdly, there are barriers to access to finance and economics. One of the main barriers to the adoption of sustainable practices by SMEs is the cost of new innovation and green business models. The initial costs of any such investment and the expected payback period are particularly important for these companies, which are generally more sensitive to the additional financial costs resulting from green business activities compared to large companies. In addition to improvements in the current lack of public funding mentioned above, alternative financing models are needed that take into account the companies most committed to transparency, activity reporting and corporate social responsibility at the economic, social and environmental levels. Likewise, the elimination of value added taxes (or, failing that, a reduced tax) on products that, for example, have been recycled would also help to increase their consumption.

Lastly, there are technological and infrastructure barriers. The lack of skills, knowledge and technical abilities is another major cause of the slow development and expansion of the circular economy. Even if there is a high percentage of the citizens with a higher education diploma, and also a high share of researchers and technicians active in R&D activities in Spain, more specialised technical skills are needed that are not currently present in the workforce. This is aggravated by the loss of qualified human capital due to the brain drain caused by high unemployment rates. Recent graduates and young Spaniards are the collective more affected by this. In addition, many SMEs are not able to identify, evaluate and implement advanced techniques aimed at reducing their environmental impact, designing products with circularity in mind, or developing systems

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and processes based on reuse, refurbishment and recycling, with the cost savings that this would generate. As consequence, there are a lot of business opportunities or scientific developments that do not happen.

There are also some more specific barriers due to some of the particular problems of Spain. For example, the underlying causes for the distance to EU waste targets are as follows: lack of incentives to manage waste according to waste hierarchy; insufficient door-to-door separate collection of waste; lack of coordination between the different administrative levels; insufficient extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems; and insufficient management of bio-waste. It is also possible to find more specific obstacles to the proper management of other resources.

Some other barriers to the development of the eco-innovation in Spain are the long time to get permits for recyclers, the illegal import of thousands of tonnes of waste, the low public investment and support to the R&D in eco-innovation carried out by the Spanish authorities, the low number of tax deductions to environment related investments at national level, the many barriers to the development of the renewables energy sources, among others.

But there are some drivers to eco-innovation as well. In spite of the fact that there is yet no harmonisation between the different government levels, one needs to consider the efforts that the Spanish Government is doing. They are working towards the implementation of an extensive body of legislation at national level in relation to the environment and sustainability and to increase demand for eco-innovation. During the last years the Government has promoted the First Spanish Strategy on Circular Economy, the State Framework Plan on Waste Management 2016 - 2022 or the State Strategy for Green Infrastructure Connectivity and Ecological Restoration. These initiatives will help the country to continue promoting and supporting the Circular Economy, recycling or resource efficiency during the upcoming years. However, there is still room for improvement regarding the Spanish Strategy on Circular Economy.

There are also some other drivers in Spain, such as the growing volume of exports of eco-design and sustainable products from Spain to the EU market, investments in Resource Efficiency in technological processes or the relevance of some Spanish regions in the area of eco-innovation, especially in the Basque Country.

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4 | Policy landscape in Spain

Public policy support for circular economy in Spain is a mix of first and second-generation policies and measures (see Annex 1) addressing technologies and resources for pollution control and energy efficiency. The circular economy and eco-innovation are generally embedded in national and regional policies targeting resource efficiency, environmental innovations, clean technologies and sustainable development.

The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and environment started to draft the first Spanish Strategy on Circular Economy (Estrategia Española de Economía Circular) in March 2017, in order to promote the shift towards a model of circular economy in the country. Related to this is the Pact for a Circular Economy: the compromise of the economic and social agents 2018 – 2020 that was signed by 55 stakeholders in September 2017. The aim is to involve the most relevant economic and social agents of Spain in order to make the shift in the system. The strategy includes an action plan for the period 2018-2020 that will require an investment of 838,8 million euros. The 57% of the budget will be used in actions related with the reuse of waste water.

These are the main action areas of the Strategy on Circular Economy:

- The state government has the main competences regarding the reuse of waste water for agricultural purposes, and the biggest part of the budget will we spend in this area. In line with the established hydrological plans there will be an investment of 478,2 million euros in works for the reuse of waste water, mainly for agricultural activities.

- There are some autonomous communities that have already established taxes regarding waste whereas some others do not have it. The aim is to harmonise the taxation among the regions, as an essential tool to encourage the application of the principle of waste hierarchy and to prevent waste tourism in Spain.

- The plan will update the norms regarding construction and demolition waste. The goal is to increase the use of this kind of waste in public works, mainly in the construction of highways, harbours and the construction work led by the public enterprise Adif.

- For a decade now, there are projects in Spain in relation to waste fishing in the Mediterranean Sea mainly plastics. With the Circular Economy Strategy, the government intends to create a national scheme for this practice that will include criteria to develop the collection of waste and a database that will help to understand what kind of waste ends up in the sea. The investment will have two main targets: One million euros will be invested in the development of the scheme and another 4 million euros to install waste compilation areas in the harbours.

- There is no official definition at EU level of what obsolescence is. The strategy makes reference to this term and also highlights the fact that the “Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación” has a course of action in this area to promote new design systems of products to promote the extended service life, reparability and reduced obsolescence".

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- Lastly, the strategy also mentions the human food that has exceed the expiration date. The ministry of agriculture is going to modify the norms in order to increase the quantity of “old food” that can be used for livestock.

As mentioned the first Spanish strategy on Circular Economy is being drafted at the moment of writing this report (April 2018). Nevertheless, there is some criticism to the Spanish Strategy on Circular Economy, since there is a lot of room for improvement.

In spite of the lack of a general strategy in the field of Circular Economy at national level, there are already strategies at regional level for example in Andalucía (Estrategia Andaluza de Bioeconomía), Cataluña (La Estratègia d’impuls a l’economia verda i a l’Economia Circular) and the Basque Country (IV Plan Ambiental del País Vasco) among other regions.

In the meantime, the Plan Estatal Marco de Gestión de Residuo 2016 - 2022 (PEMAR 2016 – 2022) and the Estrategia Española de Bioeconomía Horizonte 2030 are the documents more linked to the topic until it comes into force and they constitute the key instruments for the application of waste prevention and management policy in Spain.

The PEMAR 2016-2022 was approved in November 2015, and among its main objectives is the recycling of household and similar waste, targeting that 50% of this waste must be destined to preparation for reuse and recycling by 2020. In order to achieve this target, Spain has to intensify its efforts to improve the performance of its waste management system and in particular to reduce landfilling and to increase recycling rates.

The Estrategia Española de Bioeconomía Horizonte 2030 (Spanish strategy of Bioeconomy Horizon 2030) was published in 2015 and since then has been the guiding document in terms of bioeconomy in the country. It aims to promote economic activity and improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the productive sectors linked to the use of biologically-based resources, promoting the generation of knowledge and its use for the development and application of derived technologies, through collaboration within the science and technology system and between Spanish public and private entities.

The Programa Estatal de Prevención de Residuos 2014-2020 (State Waste Prevention Program 2014-2020) was adopted in December 2013, together with the regional and local programmes, as well as the business prevention programmes and the minimisation plans. All of them aim to reduce by 10% the weight of waste generated in 2020. This Programme is structured around four strategic lines aimed at influencing the key elements of waste prevention: reducing the amount of waste, reusing and extending its useful life, reducing the content of harmful substances in materials and products and reducing its impact on human health and the environment.

In addition, during 2018, the Government will publish the Estrategia Estatal de Infrastructura Verde Conectividad y Restauración Ecológicas – EEIVCRE (State Strategy for Green Infrastructure Connectivity and Ecological Restoration). This strategy wants to be a guide of objectives and recommendations to put an end to the fragmentation that exits in terms of visions of the weight that ecological restoration should have at different administrative levels. Actually, there are some Autonomous communities that already have established the legislation to promote these infrastructures. There are even some cities that are already a reference in the topic such as Zaragoza, which already has its own plan on the topic, or Vitoria - Gasteiz, and the Green Belt that circumvents the city.

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Recently the Spanish Congress has agreed to carry out all the necessary legislative changes in order to ban the marketing, import and export of single-use plastic utensils (plates, glasses, cutlery, or straws) from 1 January 2020. The text proposes that all the aforementioned utensils should be manufactured with at least a 50% of biodegradable substance by 2020 and 60% from 2025 on. By April 2018, this text is at the proposal stage and has to be translated into legislation.

In spite of all the different plans and strategies that have been presented, the initiatives related specifically to the Circular economy in Spain are at a very early stage, and until now the measures adopted have focused on the adoption of environmental policies corresponding to the final phase of the economic cycles of products, such as waste management, instead of focusing on the circularity of the process. It is also remarkable to mention the fact that most of the regional governments have more developed strategies and plans in this area if we compare them with the developments of the national government.

The strategic framework offered by the EU should be the fundamental reference point for Spain in terms of strategic options for change. So far, the country's environmental policy does not favour some of the legislative changes already implemented in the EU, unlike other countries, where these changes are already being implemented in their environmental strategies.

The Circular Lab

The first center in Europe that brings together researchers, big companies, start-ups and universities with the goal of promoting the circular economy by means of innovation and entrepreneurship. The center is promoted by Ecoembes, the Spanish

national organization in charge of the coordination of the actors involved in the recycling process. There are four main research axes: intelligent waste management, public awareness, entrepreneurship and the search for the packaging of the future.

The center is based in Logroño (La Rioja). 10 million euros will be invested in the next 4 years, with the goal to create 40 direct jobs and 200 through network incubators.

Key words: circular economy, green economy, waste management, entrepreneurship

Website: https://www.thecircularlab.com/

Extremadura 2030, from brown to green economy

The region of Extremadura has recently presented their strategy to become an international reference in green and circular economy by 2030. The objective is a social and sustainable economy where the people who live in each of the towns and cities of Extremadura are the protagonists of innovation, creativity, the respectful production of goods and services, the

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creation of green business initiatives and the enhancement of the natural resources of the region.

The strategy is based in the following principles: participation; social justice; sustainability; collaboration and cooperation; leadership; co-leadership; entrepreneurship; talent; research technological development and innovation; equal opportunities; flexibility; governance; complementarity; transition; mainstreaming and gender mainstreaming.

As part of the strategy, there are 4 programs with the aim of promoting research in Circular Economy, training the citizens, developing a plan to identify the action that will help to develop the circular economy and promoting the participation of diverse stakeholders; and 30 projects going on.

Key words: regional strategy, circular economy, green economy.

Website: http://extremadura2030.com/

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Cotec, 2017, Situación y evolución de la economía circular en España, available at http://cotec.es/media/informe-CotecISBN-1.pdf

Compromiso empresarial, 2016, La economía circular y las cuatro barreras que debe superar, available at https://www.compromisoempresarial.com/rsc/2016/07/la-economia-circular-y-las-cuatro-barreras-que-debe-superar/

Ecoticias, 2017, A donde va la economía circular en España, available at https://www.ecoticias.com/especial-residuos-reciclaje-2017/175243/A-donde-va-la-Economia-Circular-en-Espana

El País, 2018, Pesca de basura, agua reutilizada y obsolescencia: así es el primer plan de economía circular de España , available at https://elpais.com/economia/2018/02/11/actualidad/1518363978_696129.html

European Commission, 2014, Green Infrastructure in Spain, available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/ecosystems/pdf/Green%20Infrastructure/GI_ES.pdf

European Commission, 2017, Country factsheets and roadmaps on municipal waste, available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/pdf/facsheets%20and%20roadmaps/Roadmap_Spain.pdf

European Commission, 2017, European Semester 2017: country specific recommendations Spain available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/2017-european-semester-country-specific-recommendations-spain_en

European Commission, 2017, The EU Environmental Implementation review country report – Spain, available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/pdf/report_es_en.pdf

European Commission, 2018, European Semester 2018: country specific recommendations Spain available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2018-european-semester-country-report-spain-en.pdf

European Commission, 2018, Winter 2018 Interim Economic Forecast, Available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-performance-and-forecasts/economic-forecasts/winter-2018-economic-forecast_en#winter-2018-interim-economic-forecast-a-solid-and-lasting-expansion

Joint Research Centre, 2016, Synthesis report on the assesmente of Member States’s building renovation strategies, available at http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC97754/syntesis%20report%20building%20renovation%20strategies_online%20fin.pdf

Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medioambiente, 2018 available at http://www.mapama.gob.es/es/calidad-y-evaluacion-ambiental/planes-y-estrategias/Planes-y-Programas.aspx

Paisaje Transversal, 2018, Infraestructura verde y urbanismo, ¿ una historia de amor?, available at http://www.paisajetransversal.org/2018/03/infraestructura-verde-y-urbanismo.html

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ANNEX: Policy measures addressing circular economy and eco-innovations in Spain

Group of policy measures Type of policy measure

Specific measure

Please provide reference to or brief summary of specific measures (national, regional)

add cells if necessary

Focus of policy measure (tick if relevant)

Circular economy

Generic focus on

eco-innovation

Resource efficiency

improvement

Energy efficiency improve

ment

Reduction of emissions incl. CO2

Other relevant

areas (e.g. renewable

energy, etc)

SUPP

LY S

IDE

FOCU

S

Equity/business support

Publicly co-funded venture capital funds

The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness has created the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), a Public Business Entity that channels the funding and support applications for national and international RDi projects of Spanish companies. The CDTI has one venture capital funding line at the moment:

- INNVIERTE program, which is intending to promote public-private venture capital investment designed for the enterprise and technological SME growth and internationalisation.

Public guarantee funds

The national sub-programme for Business RDI aims to increase, extend and systemise investments and the execution of R&D activities and to promote innovation as part of the companies’ competitive strategy. To that purpose, the CDTI supports RDI Projects that may be executed by one or more companies (individual and consortium projects). The projects originate from business initiatives, also including those carried out by regional business consortiums and multilateral and bilateral international technological collaborations. The funding modality for projects is Partially Reimbursable Aid, with financial cover of up to 75% of the total approved budget which, by way of exception, may amount to up to 85%. Such aid may comprise a non-reimbursable tranche (NRT) depending on the characteristics of the project and the beneficiary.

X X X

Support for R&D in public sector

and industry R&D funding

The National sub-programme for knowledge generation defines key priorities to promote, by means of highly competitive tenders, the execution of basic research projects and other activities, the results of which represent a significant advance in knowledge for developing new approaches and methodologies otherwise unachievable.

- The Technology Fund is a special item in European Union FEDER funds allocated to promoting business RDI in Spain. It is mobilised through the financial instruments of the CDTI and is assigned to the proposals submitted

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according to the availability of funds in the Autonomous Region where the project is to be developed.

National Plan for Energy Savings and Efficiency 2011-2020

National Plan for Waste Management (Pemar) 2016-2022

Collaborative grants

R&D infrastructure

The national sub-programme for scientific and technological infrastructures and equipment aims to provide, maintain and update scientific and technical infrastructures for them to be accessible by all stakeholders of the Spanish System for Science, Technology and Innovation and facilitate high quality scientific-technical research as well as the development of highly competitive R&D business activities.

Fiscal measures

Tax incentives for R&D and start-ups

Tax incentives for R&D personnel

Education, training and

mobility

Tailored training courses for companies, entrepreneurs

Advise/consulting for start-ups, companies, entrepreneurs

Ihobe is a public company established in the field of management and environmental protection. It provides advice to companies and research organisations on innovation projects, funding and technology transfer.

X X

Placement schemes for students

The National Sub-Programme for Training, by assigning competitive tendering, aims to select and train doctors, researchers, technologists, research personnel, RDI specialised technicians and RDI managers. The national sub-programme for incorporation aims to promote and finance, by means of competitive tenders, the incorporation of researchers, technologists, technical personnel and other professionals within the field of RDi facilitating their employment within the public and private sectors in order to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of Spain’s research and innovation Both subprograms provide the following funding lines:

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- Subsidies for initiation and introduction to scientific and technical research aimed at university students – undergraduates or postgraduates who are completing their last training stages prior to commencing a doctorate programme, using formulas which allow for compatibility between classroom activities and RDI training.

- Contracts for training doctors at national and international universities and public centres, including training within the framework of the “industrial doctorate” programmes considered within the Spanish strategy in collaboration with the private sector.

Support for R&D workers recruitments

Networks and partnerships

Competence centres, clusters, science-technology

parks

The National sub-programme for institutional strengthening aims to promote the competitiveness of the Spanish System for Science, Technology and Innovation and foster the scientific and technological leadership of the institutions, centres and units in the System by providing them with financing. It supports RDI programmes for strengthening centres and units of excellence through subsidies destined to identify, acknowledge and finance existing research centres and units in order to promote the international leadership of the Spanish System for Science, Technology and Innovation stakeholders by means of highly competitive tenders.

The sub-programme notably supports the acknowledgement, certification and granting of subsidies for “Severo Ochoa” Centres of Excellence in the public sector for the development of RDI programmes and strategic actions which increase their scientific leadership, ability for attracting and retaining international talent and their driving role throughout the entire System.

Technology platforms and innovation networks

Spanish Technology Platform for Environmental Technologies (PLANETA)

Eco-Union is a not-for-profit association that works to create and connect agents of change among the different sectors of society, public administration, economic and social actors to catalyse the transition towards sustainability.

Foresight and common vision building

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Market intelligence and other forms of information

sharing

DE

MAN

D SI

DE F

OCU

S

Regulations and standards

Regulations, targets, cap & trade schemes

Sustainable Economy Law X X X X X

Spanish Strategy on Sustainable Mobility X X X X X

Royal Decree on the Irrigated Lands Sustainable Modernisation National

Strategy – Horizon 2015

X

Strategic Plan on Infrastructures and Transport 2005-2020 X X X

Performance standards, labeling, certification

ISO 14001

EMAS certification of organisations and worksites

Eco-design management ISO 14006

Public procurement

“Green” public procurement of goods and services

National Plan on Green Public Procurement of the Ministry of Agriculture X X

Green Public Procurement Programme of the Basque Country 2020 X X

R&D procurement

The INNODEMANDA programme is a financing instrument that supports technology bids taking part in the public purchase of innovation processes. It is financed and managed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation through the CDTI. Cooperation between the CDTI and the contracting entities is formalised through two General Action Protocols that set forth the terms and conditions under which the CDTI can finance the R&D activities associated with innovative technology public purchase procedures.

Pre-commercial procurement

Technology Transfer

Advisory support for technology adopters

Sub-programme on experimental research projects on environment and eco-innovation, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

As part of the sub-programme for fostering Key Enabling Technologies, CDTI provides direct support through its “direct innovation line” to technological innovation and modernisation projects for increasing the capability for

20

technological absorption of companies, especially SMEs, by means of actively adapting and assimilating knowledge, as well as technological modernisation through of the incorporation of technology within mature sectors. Projects are divided into three categories: Individual R&D projects, National Cooperation R&D projects and International Technological Cooperation Projects.

CDTI also provides loans for RDI PROJECTS executed by one or several companies (individual and consortium projects) also including those performed by regional business consortiums and those involving multilateral and bilateral international technological collaboration. These projects focus on the development and dissemination of Key Enabling Technologies, including those that, despite being of an exploratory nature, are close to the market

Financial or fiscal support for technology adopters

(e.g. grants for purchasing new technology)

Support of private demand

Tax incentives for consumers (e.g. for purchasing

environmentally efficient products)

Tax reductions for products and services (e.g. VAT

reductions)

Demand subsidies (e.g. eco-vouchers, consumer

subsidies)

Awareness raising and information provision

Work of ECOEMBES in collaboration with Spanish municipalities X

Work of ECOVIDRIO in collaboration with Spanish municipalities X

About the Eco-Innovation Observatory (EIO)

The Eco-Innovation Observatory (EIO) is the initiative financed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment. The Observatory is developing an integrated information source and a series of analyses on eco-innovation trends and markets, targeting business, innovation service providers, policy makers as well as researchers and analysts.

Visit EIO and DG ENV EcoAP website and register to get access to more information

and to access all EIO resources.

www.eco-innovation.eu ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap