ONLINE POLICY DIALOGUE
Wednesday 17 November 2021
14.00-15.30 (CET)
The circular economy: Closing the loop with information transfer
William Neale
Adviser, Circular Economy & Green Growth, DG Environment
European Commission
Dorothée D’Herde
Head of Sustainable Business, Vodafone Group
Stefan Šipka
Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre
Francesca Poggiali
Public Policy Director Europe, GS1
Prof Dr Gabriel M. Crean,
Adviser to the Minister of the Economy of Luxembourg
Annika Hedberg
Head of Sustainable Prosperity for Europe Programme, European Policy Centre (Moderator)
Click here to register
The European Policy Centre (EPC) is delighted to invite you to this online Policy Dialogue and launch of the EPC Discussion Paper Building a circular economy: The role of information transfer in the framework of the EPC project ‘Digitalisation as an enabler for Circular Economy’, supported by the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications.
Shifting from the current linear ‘take-make-dispose’ economic model to that of a circular economy, would improve resource efficiency, minimise waste and help reduce the enormous environmental and climate footprint created by current production and consumption patterns. One of the key barriers to achieving a circular economy is that information does not travel with products and materials, between stakeholders and across value chains. This means that it is not always transparent how materials have been sourced, what actually is in the products that we use and discard, nor how product durability could be improved and efficiently recycled. Data and digital solutions such as online platforms, blockchain and digital product passports can support information sharing for the circular economy, but they are not used to their full capacity.
This Policy Dialogue will shed light on the challenges and prospects for using data and digital solutions to enable information transfer and create a circular economy, as well as the policy framework needed at EU level going forward, including the establishment of a European common data space and introduction of digital product passports.