to support business in improving - european...

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

‘A framework for Member States

to support business in improving

its resource efficiency’

Tentative project results as input to the 4th Meeting of the

Expert Group Greening the European Semester

Brussels, 07 September 2015

Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Project aim and logic

Identifying and analysing key support measures and their

employment in different Member States

Contributing to advancing implementation of EU and Member States'

policy in this area.

Identifying 10 important support measures – Desk research, client meetings

Assessing their scope of application and identifying best practice examples in

the EU Member States – Desk research for pre-filling, survey among MS

A huge THANK YOU to all Member States respondents!

Synthesising best practice cases and lessons learnt from measures’

application – Desk analysis, expert feedback and client meetings

4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester 2

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

The ten support measures identified

1. Support for industrial symbiosis

2. Incentivising external audits to support resource efficiency

3. Improving financing

4. Supporting voluntary agreements and initiatives

5. Providing targeted resource efficiency information and advice to companies

6. Building resource efficiency related skills and capacity within a company/business

7. Improving company accounting and reporting practices

8. Development of non-legal standards for products and services

9. Measures supporting extended producer responsibility (EPR) for materials/ products

10.Other non-legislative support measures promoting Circular Economy/resource

efficiency

3 4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings - Supporting voluntary agreements

and initiatives


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu


Potentially interesting case examples from 18 Member States

Dutch Green Deals policy (since 2011)

Green Deals are agreements between the Dutch government and other

parties (companies, civil society organisations and other public authorities),

aimed at removing non-financial barriers such as regulation and permits in the

fields of energy, climate, water, raw materials, biodiversity, mobility, bio-based

economy, construction and food

By the end of 2013 around 160 Green Deals had been concluded; 679 actors

participated in those deals (67% companies and industry associations); Green

Deals did contribute to more recycling (bottom ashes, textiles) and to using

alternative bio-based materials

Tentative findings - Supporting voluntary agreements

and initiatives

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Measures supporting EPR

for materials and/or products


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu



“Prevent and Save” initiative in Ireland (since 2005)

Led by industry funded organization Repak to facilitate and increase

packaging recycling

Provision of free Packaging surveys to Repak Member companies

Confidential report then compiled and submitted to the Member company with

recommendations outlining the main target areas for Packaging Optimisation

On average during 2005-2013, each successive year saw approximately

11,000 tonnes of packaging being prevented by Repak’s members;

Almost 520,000 tonnes of packaging prevented

Tentative findings – Measures supporting EPR

for materials and/or products

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu


Many interesting examples found for several measures

Most for Providing targeted advice, Supporting voluntary agreements,

Development of non-legal standards (mostly ecolabels), Improving Financing

Least for Improving company accounting, Incentivising external audits

Support for EPR primarily through national legislation transposing Directives

Likely potential for up-scaling, but still to be investigated; e.g.

systematic adoption appears promising for

Financially supported on-site advice/checks/audits

Web platforms and online-markets for secondary raw materials

Preliminary conclusions – Diversity and

up-scaling potential

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Next steps and invitation for feedback

Receiving your views, feedback and additions today and to the

input-paper until 18 September 2015

Synthesis of lessons learnt per and across measures

Compilation of conclusions and recommendations

Draft Final Report by 25 September 2015

Receiving your views, feedback and additions to the Draft Final

Report until 06 October 2015

Final project meeting with Commission services

Final Report until mid October 2015

URBINE consortium meeting 9

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Questions to the participants

Are the correct ten support measures for improving business

resource efficiency identified? Is there value-added in exchanging

information on them?

The study cannot be comprehensive, but have we missed good

practice examples?

Is the level of detail provided on different measures appropriate?

Is the scoring (no national policy in place; a little use of this measure;

wide support of this measure) useful?

URBINE consortium meeting 10

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Ecologic Institute

Pfalzburger Str. 43/44

10717 Berlin

Germany

Tel. +49 (30) 86880-0

ecologic.eu

Thank you for your attention!

Any questions?

Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers

martin.hirschnitz-

[email protected]

#Title of Presentation# 11

mailto:[email protected]



Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings - Support for industrial symbiosis


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings - Support for industrial symbiosis



UK’s National Industrial Symbiosis Programme NISP (2005-2013)

NISP is aiming to help businesses improve profitability, commercial

competitiveness and environmental performance. Operating regional services

in the UK (in addition to national scope), and globally supporting regional and

national programmes in over 20 countries.

More than 15,000 companies have been members of NISP; Impact of 8 years’

investment (£36.8M) for the time period 2005-2013 covers 47 million tonnes of

material recovered and reused, 60 million tonnes virgin material savings, £1.1

billion cost savings and £1.0 billion additional sales

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Incentivising external audits

to support resource efficiency


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings - Incentivising external audits

to support resource efficiency



PIUS resource checks in Germany (since 2000)

PIUS checks help SMEs in analysing relevant material flows and the current

level of production technology in order to optimise production, primarily by

implementing new production equipment or by organisational changes

About 2,000 consultations in businesses have been conducted by the EFA

since the launch; by 2010, investments of approx. 36 million EUR were

induced by the PIUS-checks, while annually approx. 10.4 million EUR could be

saved through improved production processes (i.e. material savings)

Further federal states are copying the concept, e.g. Baden-Württemberg,

Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings - Improving financing


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Improving Financing



‘Green Technology Incubator’ in Latvia (since 2014)

Financial support for (i) Creation of new knowledge-intensive businesses via

the ‘incubation mechanism’ and supporting green industry growth; (ii)

Stimulation and management of knowledge exchange between universities,

research organisations and green industry companies; (iii) Facilitation of

international business/institutional cooperation within green technology sector

Implementation period July 2014 to April 2016; Incubation grants (<140,000

EUR) available for proof of concept, commercialisation and business

development

370 ideas received so far, of which 84 ideas accepted for pre-incubation phase

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Providing targeted resource

efficiency information and advice to companies


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu



Hungarian ‘Money Thrown Out the Window’ initiative (since 2002)

Aims to promote resource efficiency measures in the industry sector which

result in financial savings, providing a list of suggested measures to achieve

environmental savings; list based on a site visit, a discussion with the

employees of the company and the examination of documents

In 2014, 78 organisations participated in the programme, with 370 measures

initiated and contributing to company savings worth EUR 71.29 million, 663

thousand tonnes of non-hazardous and 60.5 thousand tonnes of hazardous

waste and 751 GWh of energy

Tentative findings – Providing targeted resource

efficiency information and advice to companies

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Building resource efficiency

related skills and capacity within a company/business


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu



Spanish Green Jobs Programme Empleaverde (2007-2013)

Trainings for employees aiming to reduce the environmental impacts of

activities in their respective sectors

Operated nation-wide by the Fundación Biodiversidad (a foundation within the

Spanish Ministry of Environment)

17,100,000 EUR allocated to the measure (12,700,000 EUR ESF contribution)

By 2013, 55,000 workers in existing jobs had been trained through the Green

Jobs Programme

Tentative findings – Building resource efficiency

related skills and capacity within a company/business

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Improving company accounting

and reporting practices


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu



Danish support for EP&L reporting (since 2013)

Financial and technical support to companies for Environmental Profit and

Loss (EP&L) reporting (Corporate Natural Capital Accounting NCA)

Reporting on environmental costs related to water consumption, greenhouse

gas emissions, and air pollution => helping to identify potential for reductions

A budget of 200,000 EUR is allocated to this measure

Introduction of a legal obligation for large companies to report whether or not

they have a corporate environmental policy in place => companies must either

disclose or state explicitly that they do not have environmental policies

Tentative findings – Improving company accounting

and reporting practices

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Tentative findings – Development of non-legal

standards for products and services


Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu



Polish Eco-labelling programme EKO (since 1998)

EKO promotes products with reduced impact on the environment and which

are resource efficient in the whole product lifecycle

Ecolabel “EKO” confirms compliance (product/service) with ecological criteria,

in accordance with ecological criteria for the European Ecolabel

Eligible product groups include beauty care, cleaning-up, electronic

equipment, paints, floor coverings, furniture, lubricants, gardening products,

household appliances and items, paper products, holiday accommodation, etc.

Measure is self-financing without need for national or European funding

Tentative findings – Development of non-legal

standards for products and services

Ecologic Institute

ecologic.eu

Rationale for the ten support measures identified

26 4th Meeting of the Expert Group Greening the European Semester

to support business in improving - european...

Documents