Aspiring to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal setting out an ambitious environment policy agenda for the coming years. SMEs make up 99% of all businesses in the EU and thus they are an essential partner of the EU to steer our economy towards a circular model. SMEs are increasingly aware of the benefits of circular business models and clean production which have shown to bring significant cost reductions. Nevertheless, several enabling factors and conditions are necessary to speed up the transition and further foster SMEs’ green innovation and growth.
Standards have also an important role to play by supporting the practical implementation of these objectives. They can provide test and assessment methods and metrics on different aspects such as durability, reparability or energy efficiency. Standards can also help to promote more sustainable products and services and open markets for new products and technologies.
This year’s conference, as a partner event of the EU Green Week 2021, focused on the opportunities and challenges of the circular economy for SMEs and show how standards support the green transition. It explored possible gaps and barriers of the current standardisation and legislative system.
How can SMEs and standards contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal? What are the gaps in the present standardisation system and what could be changed to achieve the green transformation of the EU economy? What can businesses do to cut pollution and reduce waste while remaining profitable? Can the circular economy enable SME recovery? What are the trade-offs between different criteria (cost, sustainability)?
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