A budding pan-industry European Partnership under Horizon Europe, Process4Planet, seeks to transform the European process industries for a sustainable society. It is early days, but momentum is set to gather pace alongside announced European zero-pollution targets.
We are delighted to share with you some upcoming news from the renewed Environmental Technology Verification programme including an upcoming webinar and project updates.
Corrected Link: Green Public Procurement (GPP) News Alert - July 2021 issue
EU recent bilateral Summits with India, Japan, US and Canada reflected growing support to evolving green agenda. The Joint Statements recognized the interdependence between climate and biodiversity crises and the need to act on these in parallel. Individually, there are joint commitments in the field of water management, ocean and biodiversity protection, including through the global 30x30 conservation targets. In addition, the first ever EU Green Alliance with Japan was launched reflecting all EGD priorities.
The G7 Summit set out a broad vision for addressing the inter-linked climate and biodiversity crises and the importance of acting on them in parallel. The leaders pledged to support a green revolution that creates jobs, to reach zero emissions by 2050 and to halve them by 2030; to increase climate finance by 2025; and to protect at least 30% of our land and oceans by 2030. The preceding G7 Ministerial Meeting on Environment outlined the need to act on specific challenges such as deforestation, wildlife trade, healthy oceans and mainstream nature into all sectors and policies.
EU Summits environmental highlights
test
This time we will be testing your overall understanding of Level(s). Be careful! There are a few trick questions, based on some popular myths. Prepare yourself for a top score by watching the brief video introduction to Level(s), recorded by AHK Debelux (the German-Belgian-Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce). Take the quiz.
Embracing the circular economy can help you to save raw materials, identify opportunities for reuse or recycling and to ensure buildings are sufficiently adaptable, should occupants’ needs change.
The RICS World Built Environment Forum hosted a fascinating webinar on ‘Building Circularity into the European Economies through Sustainable Procurement’ as part of its series exploring important challenges.
If you are interested in understanding how Level(s) complements building certification systems across the EU, be sure to watch the recently recorded LIFE Level(s) workshop video. The session highlights, through practical examples, how national certification schemes are adopting the Level(s) common language to stay aligned with European priorities and address climate change.
Thank you to community members who have been emailing queries to the Level(s) helpdesk. We have developed answers to three frequently asked questions (FAQs).
The group is the perfect place to share experiences of Level(s) with the sustainable building community. You’ll also be among the first to learn about Level(s) tools, e-learning materials, events and publications. Since the group launched in March it has grown to more than 700 members from all over Europe. Join the LinkedIn group.
We have added a new ‘Let’s meet Level(s)’ section to our website. This new learning hub helps you identify how Level(s) works, what’s in it for you, and how to get started. An e-learning package and calculator tool will also be added to the website towards the end of 2021 to help you learn how to apply Level(s) in practice. To be notified when these resources are released, simply join the LinkedIn group.
Thanks to those who joined the session on the ‘Search for sustainable buildings’ at EU Green Week on 3 June, which showed how the New European Bauhaus (NEB) and Level(s) can drive a circular and inclusive built-environment transformation.
Legislation featuring performance criteria to help the built environment sector reduce the whole-life carbon impact of new buildings has been approved by the European Commission. The criteria for new buildings also cite Level(s) as a tool to support companies and other stakeholders to track performance in this area. The technical screening criteria for new buildings are part of the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act, which guides sustainable investments by highlighting economic activities that support the EU’s environmental objectives. As part of the provisions, developers of properties larger than 5 000 square metres will need to calculate the building's lifecycle global warming potential (whole-life carbon) and disclose their findings to investors and clients.
A study into the impact of EU policies and actions on the Arctic has just been released with the results presented in an online seminar on 17 June. By examining its own impact, both positive and negative, the EU demonstrated that it is a responsible and open Arctic actor. The study covered EU actions that directly target the Arctic, e.g. research projects, as well as EU actions that are not specifically targeting the Arctic but have a significant impact on the region, e.g. reducing air pollution. This study will contribute to the EU’s updated Arctic Strategy, which is now work in progress.
The report provides a general overview of the state of play of circular economy at a continental level as well as in the eight case study countries, including Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa. It also provides recommendations on how to enhance EU-Africa cooperation towards a faster transition to a circular economy with the focus on specific sectors.
