Business

The development of the circular economy requires a transformation in the operating models of companies to provide goods and services with reduced resource consumption. From a business perspective, the new circular economic paradigm offers benefits by decoupling profit from the downside risks of natural resource depletion, pollution and climate change, while also delivering improved competitiveness and responding to changing customer demands.

Assessment

• European companies are displaying signs of adopting circular approaches in their business models, as evidenced by a strong growth in registrations to the European Ecolabel.

• Increased production and consumption of chemicals suggests that the EU is not moving towards cleaner material cycles for its products.