ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

News & events

  • 08 September 2026

    A recipe for change: Transitioning to an agroecological food system

    At ECOS, we work across sectors to ensure the technical rules that shape our economies also protect people and the planet. We now bring our expertise to the agrifood sector - where strengthening rules and standards could have profound environmental and social benefits.

  • 07 September 2026

    Low-carbon concrete quota could be as high as 80%, new research finds

    By Tudor Cherhat
    By Katarzyna Krok

    Europe has all the tools necessary to ensure public money rewards innovative technologies, including low-carbon concrete. It only needs equal political ambition to be reflected in the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA).

  • 04 September 2026

    Buildings are for people: aligning social and environmental lifecycle assessments

    Buildings are where people live, work, learn, and heal. Yet European housing and construction policy defaults to metrics that obscure this: costs per square metre, emissions per floor area, units delivered per year. The European Affordable Housing Plan (EAHP) — and the simplification work underway — is an opportunity to change this logic and put the function a building serves for its users, and the resources it consumes over its lifetime, at the centre of how housing quality is defined, measured, and funded. Read on to learn how social lifecycle assessment (sLCA) and environmental LCA (eLCA), underpinned by strong European standards like EN 16309 on the social performance of buildings, can make this shift happen.

  • 04 September 2026

    Register now: Towards a greener ICT value chain – dialogue for Europe and Africa

    As digitalisation accelerates across Africa, how do we ensure the environmental impact of the ICT value chain is considered, from product design, use, reuse and end of life management? On 24 September in Nairobi, Kenya, join the conversation and contribute to shaping a sustainable digital future for Africa.

  • 25 August 2026

    Call for experts – Furniture circularity and sustainability

    ECOS is looking for experts in the field of furniture to represent and defend environmental interests in the development of standards and related policies. Our experts provide us with technical and scientific input and may represent ECOS in standardisation processes and multi-stakeholder discussions.

  • 06 August 2026

    Ecodesign for furniture: The unbearable lightness of making things

    By Christine Birkhoven
    By Emily Best

    The EU process to set mandatory ecodesign requirements on furniture to improve their environmental performance has begun and ECOS recently submitted a response to the European Commission’s survey. Learn more about what ecodesign for furniture means in an excerpt from an interview with industrial designer, Christine Birkhoven.

  • 30 July 2026

    Call for experts – industrial decarbonisation in Africa

    Interested candidates should be able to demonstrate in-depth technical and scientific knowledge on decarbonisation pathways for the future concrete and steel value chain. They should have a good understanding of international, regional, and national building codes, polices, and standards concerning construction materials and the construction of buildings and infrastructure.

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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