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The current energy crisis makes it imperative to reduce the EU’s dependency on fossil fuels and imported raw materials.
Industrial production of virgin plastics, steel, aluminium and cement alone accounts for 13 percent of yearly energy consumption and 581 Mt of annual emissions. The EU also imports very large amounts of gas, oil and coal to produce plastics and other energy intensive materials.
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Enhanced recycling and greater material efficiency hold enormous untapped potential for the transition to a fossil free production of energy-intensive materials, in both the short and long run.
With ambitious policies, annual EU industrial emissions could be reduced by up to 10 percent (70 Mt) until 2030 and by 34 percent (239 Mt) until 2050 compared to 2018 levels. Plastics production alone could avoid using fossil fuels equivalent to roughly 2.7 billion cubic metres of gas and 149 million barrels of oil annually by 2030.
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Realising these abatement and savings potentials must be a priority in the EU’s new Circular Economy legislation. To synchronise energy security and climate neutrality, this legislation must spur demand for high quality recycling while boosting collection and supply of high quality recyclates.
Required policy instruments are expanded quotas for recycled content; investment aid for rapid deployment of innovative recycling technologies; as well as labelling and best practice mandates for collection, sorting, recycling and re-use.
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EU Member states can now implement key policy measures that effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions already within the next 1 to 5 years.
Examples are wider bans on single use and non-recyclable plastics, the implementation of deposit-refund schemes for plastic packages, investments into ex-post re-sorting and state of the art recycling practices.
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