Sari Piippo (left) representing the Circwaste project. © EESC
The Circwaste project was invited to participate in plenary discussion in the Annual Conference 2023: Recovery, Open Strategic Autonomy and Resilience - European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (europa.eu).
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission hosted the 2023 European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference. It was held in Brussels on 27th and 28th February 2023 in a hybrid mode. The sixth conference brought together Europe's biggest circular economy stakeholders to discuss the role of the circular economy in driving sustainable recovery, open strategic autonomy and resilience.
During the first day, the plenaries presented innovative regulations and initiatives, showcased best practices of the EU-funded projects and schemes, and explored future developments in circular economy policies in the EU.
The conference had many encouraging and timely speeches from the respected keynote speakers; Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, president of the European Economic and Social Committee Christa Schweng, and Romina Pourmokhtari, Swedish Minister for Climate and the Environment had an on-line speech, among other speakers.
The conference had many plenary sessions and Circwaste was invited to speak in the session “The circular economy at the heart of EU recovery” to explain how the recovery and resilience are carried on at the project level. The plenary discussion was profound and thought-provoking; the panel highlighted challenges but also possibilities for circular economy in the current geopolitical situation, both resilience and recovery ability of the regions and municipalities, how projects are implemented under these unsure times, and how we all can continue the important work in the future.
A lot of interest was aroused also in the audience. After the discussion, many participants wanted to hear e.g. what kind of work we are doing in the Circwaste project in practice, what are the main results so far, how big consortium we are and who are the partners, can there be cooperation and can we help with their plans to apply funding in the future etc. We had nice talks with participants from ministries, projects, NGO’s, companies etc. from many countries.
During the second day, the event focused on stakeholders' views in a series of sessions and interactive workshops. They were grouped under two main topics Biodiversity and climate and Resilience for Europe. This two-day conference trip to Brussels was really intensive but also fruitful and encouraging; now we can see the importance of circular economy and our daily project work more clearly. We are really pleased and honoured that Circwaste project was part of such an important event.
More information
- Senior research scientist Sari Piippo, firstname.lastname@syke.fi, tel. +358 29 525 1046 (Circwaste's international contact person)