The National Conference “Circular Economy for Business Development” was organized on 15 December 2021 within the “Circular Economy and New Growth Opportunities” Component of the EU- funded “EU4Environment” Action. The event was delivered online using the Zoom platform.
The objectives of the Conference
This event focused on the following key objectives:
- presenting the actions towards sustainable development: the circular economy concept, RECP, sustainable public procurement;
- discussing the current progress in the transition to green economy;
- raising awareness and understanding on the opportunities and benefits of RECP and Circular Economy principles at the national and regional levels among enterprises, government bodies, and the civil society;
- describing the benefits and new opportunities related to waste management;
- presenting the training course on Lean Production;
- presenting Circular Economy principles and practices for companies in the context of the regional “EU4Environment” Action implemented in Ukraine.
Participants
The event was open to all stakeholders interested in and related to the issues of green economy, circular economy, resource efficient and cleaner production, and environmental protection.
The target audience for this Conference consists of representatives from the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine as National Focal Points of the Action, the EU Delegation, UNIDO and Sweco (Sweden), international and national organizations, industrial enterprises, local authorities and agencies, associations, financial institutions, universities, NGOs and other stakeholders.
Background
In brief, Circular Economy has a tremendous potential to contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (such as SDG 12 and SDG 13) by altering the needs of the present, to avoid compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
In Ukraine, the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Centre is the national partner of UNIDO in implementing the “Circular Economy and New Growth Opportunities” Component of the “EU4Environment” Action funded by the European Union. It covers three core thematic areas:
- Resource efficient and cleaner production (RECP)
- Circular economy (CE) and industrial waste management (IWM)
- The Single Market for Green Products (SMGP)
RECP has been defined as the integrated and continuous application of preventive environmental practices and techniques to processes, products, and services, to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment.
The CE and IWM approaches include the development of new business models based on the principles of ecodesign, repair, reuse, recovery and exchange of products and waste prevention.
The SMGP initiative envisages developing a common methodology on the quantitative assessment of environmental impacts of products, throughout their life-cycle, in order to support the assessment and labelling of products based on their environmental footprint. This initiative will be particularly beneficial for companies exporting products to Europe.