The recent COP21 climate change talks in Paris have concluded with an agreement on the key principle of keeping “global temperature increase to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C”.
While the aspiration on limiting global temperatures must be applauded, we have a long way to catch up following both the Rio and Copenhagen Summit failures. With no binding legislation or measures it’s difficult to see how this target can be achieved and the dichotomy is that we must not even contemplate failure.
Moving towards a circular economy
The reality is that to achieve anything meaningful much of our locked up carbon has to remain in the ground and that means moving towards a circular economy as fast as we possibly can – is it coincidence that the European Commission released its Circular Economy package days before the Paris talks?
I believe that the role of a Producer Compliance Scheme in developing business partnerships or integrated sectoral approaches to resource and energy use could be pivotal – and with the European Commision estimating carbon savings of 450 million tonnes through the circular economy it’s an opportunity that’s literally too good to waste.
Robbie Staniforth
Head of innovation and policy
Robbie is Head of policy and innovation at Ecosurety. Having spent the past few years building an intimate understanding of the industry’s policies and politics, he uses this knowledge to help shape new legislation and develop new services. He is a spokesperson for the company and regularly uses his influence to communicate the importance of environmental responsibility to external stakeholders.
Useful links
Last year textiles were identified as a priority for future EPR, here we look at the wider issues and how it could be implemented.
Read More >>The government have committed to publicly consult on introducing two new extended producer responsibility (EPR) regimes by the end of 2022.
Read More >>Early in 2018, the European Commission proposed the introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) for fishing gear and Defra signalled their intention to explore the merits of such a system in their 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy.
Read More >>
