New paper! Standards in time of the European Green Deal
In order to support the implementation of the expected legislative and policy initiatives under the Circular Economy Action Plan, robust and reliable methods will need to be used. Our new paper shows that the standardisation system has the potential to offer those services in a wide range of sectors, as long as the methods delivered are appropriate and come in a timely manner.
The European Green Deal and its Circular Economy Action Plan lay out a bold and ambitious strategy to transition from a “throwaway” economy to a clean and circular one.
From theory to practice, its realisation depends on an equally ambitious and timely execution of the underpinning initiatives and policies, as well as a recognition that the EU Green Deal should be a key pillar of any economic stimulus following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The upcoming plethora of policy initiatives under the EU Green Deal covers a wide range of sectors and aims at making both production practices and products themselves more sustainable and less toxic. This wide sectorial coverage combined with an ambitious timeframe means methods and technical specifications will also be in high demand. This may entail the revision of existing standards or the development of new ones to account for new sectors, new materials, new testing procedures and new business models.
In our paper, we put forward our views on what the standardisation system should deliver in key sectors related to the environment, basing our reflection on the recently published Circular Economy Action Plan.
