The European Commission has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan - one of the main blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth.

Building on the work done since 2015, the new Plan focuses on the design and production for a circular economy, with the aim to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.

The Circular Economy Action Plan put forward 11 March as part of the EU Industrial Strategy presents measures to:

• Make sustainable products the norm in the EU (The Commission will propose legislation on Sustainable Product Policy);
• Empower consumers;
• Focus on the sectors that use the most resources and where the potential for circularity is high;
• Ensure less waste.

An accompanying Staff Working Document looks at the global use of material resources, which comprise biomass, fossil fuels, non-metallic minerals and metals

The Staff working document underlines that minerals and metals provide crucial raw materials for society and are used by almost every sector of the global economy, and that their extraction and further processing will be key to deliver the clean technology, mobility and digital solutions necessary for the transition of all industrial sectors towards climate neutrality and a circular economy. Given the size of the demand, their extraction will continue to play a key role. The EU can benefit from ensuring that all countries and regions manage their natural resources sustainably.