A Green COVID-19 Recovery of the EU Basic Materials Sector: Identifying Potentials, Barriers and Policy Solutions

Abstract

This paper explores which climate-friendly projects could be part of the COVID-19 recovery while jump-starting the transition of the European basic materials industry. Findings from a literature review on technology options in advanced development stages for climate-friendly production and enhanced sorting and recycling of steel, cement, aluminium and plastics are combined with insights from interviews with 31 European industry stakeholders about the practical and economic feasibility of these technology options. Results indicate that with an estimated investment of 28.9 billion Euro, about 20% of EU's basic materials could be produced through low-emission processes or additional recycling by 2025 with technologies that are commercially available or at pilot scale today. However, our stakeholder consultation also shows that in order to make these short-term investments viable in the long term, six main barriers need to be addressed, namely i) the lack of effective and predictable carbon pricing, ii) the limited availability of affordable green electricity, iii) the lack of a regulatory framework for circularity, iv) low technology readiness and funding, v) the lack of infrastructure for hydrogen, CO2 and power, and vi) the lack of demand for climate-friendly and recycled materials. Based on these insights, the paper proposes elements of a policy package that can create a long-term framework favourable for investments in these technologies and should ideally accompany the recovery package to give credibility to investors that the business case will last beyond the recovery timeframe.

Restorative measures to diminish the covid-19 pandemic effects through circular economy enablers for sustainable and resilient supply chain

“…However, the performed analysis aims to obtain the enablers’ ranking and all the enablers have obtained different values. Besides the topmost and the least, remaining enablers are ranked as E9 > E10 > E13 > E11 > E12 > E3 > E5 > E2 > E4 > E6 > E8 (Figure 3 and Table 9), which establishes that; the inception of green innovations (E9) is a major projected demand to emerge from the concern of negative environmental issues which aligns with the framework projected by Chiappinelli et al (2021) and stands upfront to industrial symbiosis/synergy (E10).…”

Public Procurement as an Innovation Policy: Where Do We Stand?

“…For example, looking at the threat of climate change, the necessary green transition requires widespread adoption of radical green innovations. These technologies often already exist but still need a business case for market-scale investment (see, e.g., Chiappinelli et al 2021). While additional environmental policies may be needed to create a sufficient market, PPI can play an important role in the early adoption and diffusion of such technologies.…”

Optimal Discounts in Green Public Procurement

“…18 For example, different green technologies have different potentials to reduce emissions relative to a given conventional technology benchmark (Bataille et al, 2018;Chiappinelli et al, 2021).…”