The EU needs to introduce stronger environmental requirements for construction products – new ECOS paper
Cement, concrete, steel beams, windows, bricks, doors, roof tiles... Life would be quite different without construction products; they are essential components of buildings, tunnels and bridges. However, they also have a major environmental impact.
Construction product life cycles are largely linear, starting when raw materials are sourced, followed by their manufacturing, distribution and assembly or installation; finally, their life often ends in a landfill. For these products to be more environmentally sustainable, we need to focus on improving their circularity. This can be done by introducing EU-wide rules that incentivise and enforce better maintenance, repair, reuse, and recycling wherever and whenever possible.
Our paper explores how the Construction Products Regulation should be revised to improve its role to support for environmental sustainability, as well as the functioning of the Single Market.