In July, during her election for a second term as President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen presented her Political Guidelines to the newly elected Members of the European Parliament.

The Guidelines will shape the strategic direction of European legislators for the next five years. This comes at a crucial time as we approach the 2030 milestone for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular concerning the ambition on sustainable consumption and production (SDG 8.4), resilient industrial processes (SDG 9.4), and productive employment and decent work for all (SDG 8.5) and the European Union’s Green Deal ambition for 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality by driving green growth and innovation.

Supporting EU competitiveness by accelerating the transition to a circular economy

The circular economy transition features prominently in the Guidelines as a key enabler of European Union’s competitiveness. The Commission is committing to deliver a “Clean Industrial Deal” and a new “Circular Economy Act”, recognizing the importance of leveraging the European industry to accelerate the transition to circular models.

The 2019-2024 Commission term was fraught with global crises that exposed structural vulnerabilities of value chains across European industries. To ensure long-term resilience and competitiveness, Europe must strengthen strategic sectors while achieving sustainability and decarbonization goals.

In this context, the plastics industry – as a driver of innovation and a provider of strategic applications across different sectors – plays a pivotal role in achieving the Green Deal’s objectives and advancing the circular economy while boosting the competitiveness in Europe. Our industry is prioritizing investments in technological innovation that allow for material circularity and decarbonization across sectors such as housing, consumer products or automotive, to name a few. However, this transition requires collaborative efforts between industry, the EU Commission and the Member States in order to adopt more specific pathways for strategic value chains setting the right conditions to support continued investment and innovation in circular solutions.  

Styrenics’ industry reflection on the direction / future

As the styrenics industry, we welcome the continued emphasis on climate and circular economy in this new term and share the commitment to accelerating the transition towards a circular and net-zero plastics industry in Europe.  

Our sector has made significant strides in enhancing the recycling of polystyrene (PS), expanded polystyrene (EPS), and extruded polystyrene (XPS), with substantial investments and pioneering projects across the EU (read more about styrenics circularity here).

However, to further contribute to the EU’s green competitiveness, we need a predictable legislative framework that supports innovation and provides certainty to European industry. For example, EU policymakers are yet to present a key deliverable under the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) to determine the rules on measuring recycled content by means of mass balance, with fast-approaching implementation timeline for recycling targets under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). The lack of legal clarity is a major obstacle for scaling of chemical recycling technologies in the EU, jeopardizing the attainment of EU’s circularity ambition.

While previous legislation focused heavily on the adoption of new sustainability requirements, the next step is to focus on the implementation and enforcement of agreed environmental legislation with the objective of ensuring a consistent and harmonized regulatory framework that accelerates innovation and investments. With the ever-rising strains on the European industry, the EU needs to ensure fair competition and avoid any disproportionate regulatory burden.

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