Beyond their economic goals, companies are according increasing importance to environmental and social factors.
The European Parliament outlines its view for a legislative initiative by the EU Commission for binding supply chain due diligence rules. A European solution is welcome as national rules lead to a diversion of trade barriers and distortions of competition in the internal market. Yet, it is key to define the scope of due diligence so as to avoid negative effects for the EU economy and third countries.
In many German companies, the implementation of sustainability is already well established. However, the complexity and uncertainties of global value chains make their seamless monitoring almost impossible. There are already numerous initiatives to strengthen sustainable business practices.
This paper calls for an increased discourse between Fridays for Future and representatives of business. Fridays for Future play a key role in educating the public and raising awareness of scientific reports, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment, which demonstrate the urgency with which we must tackle climate change.
This special issue contains a selection of six articles in the field of environmental and resource economics, which were presented in INFER workshops and supported events over the last two years.
The European Union is currently making significant strides to lead on green finance and align its financial system with its climate, sustainability and clean energy ambitions. To this end, the European Commission presented three legislative proposals on sustainable finance in May 2018.
This study delivers the first empirical findings on the relevance of digitisation to improving material efficiency based on the German company survey ‘IW-Zukunftspanel’.
Battery storage could go mainstream with growing shares of power produced from wind and sun and electric cars becoming more common in the streets. A rapid growth of the role of rechargeable batteries would, however, also lead to a significantly higher demand for certain critical raw materials needed to build these batteries. If e-vehicles penetrate the market by 2035 global annual demand for lithium could be almost 4 times higher than its current production.
The European Commission is taking serious steps towards realising the concepts of 'recycle, repair and re-use' and avoiding waste at all stages of the value chain with its EU circular economy package (December 2015). Besides setting new recycling and landfilling targets to enforce member states to climb up the waste hierarchy, the EU Commission also intends to harmonise the measuring of recycling and re-use rates in the European Union to make more transparent, how much is effectively recycled.
The European Commission wants to end the throw-away society and turn Europe into a circular economy. Yet, the planned regulations could go too far in certain aspects. The new targets are also less ambitious than planned by the previous commission.
Economist for Environment, Circular Economy and Sustainability
Tel+49 221 4981-838
MailFluchs@iwkoeln.de
Senior Economist for Green Economy and Resource Economics
Tel+49 30 27877-128
Mailneligan@iwkoeln.de
@a_neligan
Head of the Research Unit Environment, Energy, Infrastructure
Tel+49 221 4981-791
Mailthilo.schaefer@iwkoeln.de
