The EU Science Hub, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), has recently published a significant report on construction and demolition waste (CDW).

The report confirms that the circular economy is crucial for reaching climate neutrality by 2050. Significantly, it references and promotes the use of Level(s) to integrate Life Cycle Assessment in public procurement and the EU sustainable finance framework.

This report reviews and analyses data on CDW generation, composition and management at EU27 level and performing an environmental and techno-economic assessment of the most important management technologies. This includes lifecycle assessment and lifecycle costing to provide data on the preparation for reuse and recycling objectives for individual material fractions.

Here are some key insights from the report:

• CDW accounts for almost 40 % of all waste generated in the EU, highlighting the urgent need for effective waste management strategies.
• The new JRC study estimates the potential for recycling and preparing for re-use of CDW to be roughly 83 %.
• Realising this potential would lead to an additional 33-52 Mt CO2e savings annually, equivalent to at least the combined annual emissions of Estonia, Latvia, and Luxembourg. 

The findings of this report reaffirm the critical role of the circular economy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving towards a more sustainable future.

 Read the full report here

You can learn more about the background to the report in the Level(s) Interview below.