EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 15: Environmental Performance, Policy and Implementation Topic Box 15.6 Priority Actions for Ireland on Waste and the Circular Economy as Identified by the European Commission (EC, 2019b) n Develop a more coherent circular economy policy framework. n Introduce new policy instruments, including economic instruments, to promote prevention and make reuse and recycling more economically attractive. n Shift reusable and recyclable waste away from incineration and landfilling. n Increase recycling rates by making the separate collection obligation more effective. Carry out a review of recent reforms to the waste collection market. n Provide more timely waste generation and management data. The rate of circular (secondary) use of material in Ireland has remained consistently low, at less than 2 per cent, which is well below the EU average (11% in 2017). 5 Ireland’s eco-innovation performance has continued to improve. Ireland ranked 11th in the EU Eco-innovation Index in 2017 (latest data available), very close to the EU average. The EIR recognised that Ireland is very strong in research and development, attracting many researchers and large amounts of early-stage green investment. The EPA and Enterprise Ireland have developed several support measures to help businesses adopt resource-efficient and circular economy practices. 5 Eurostat indicator ‘ Circular material use rate’ (online data code: SDG_12_41) available online at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table. do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=sdg_12_41&plugin=1 (accessed 19 October 2020). 4. The European and Global Policy Context With the ‘European Green Deal’ and the Global Context, the European Environmental Policy Sphere is Rapidly Changing Large-scale policy, demographic, economic and geopolitical developments are at play, including post- pandemic green recovery proposals, which will have significant consequences for the environment and associated responses. The European Green Deal, published in 2019, is a wide- ranging policy response to a range of key environmental challenges (EC, 2019a). This policy document is expected to shape environmental policy across the EU and in Ireland for the next decade. The Green Deal provides in one overarching action plan a high-level response to challenges ranging from climate to efficient use of resources, the circular economy, restoring biodiversity and cutting pollution. It includes linked policy responses that cover the Circular Economy Action Plan, a Farm to Fork Strategy and an EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The deal covers investment and finance aspects. In today’s globalised world, for example, developments elsewhere can influence the availability and price of natural resources and energy in Europe, and increasing environmental pollution in other parts of the world contributes to direct environmental and human harm in Europe, and vice versa. In recent years the policy focus in Europe, and in turn Ireland, has increasingly moved towards strategies with a long-term societal transition perspective, with 2050 goals being set for climate, biodiversity and the circular economy, etc. Adopting this long-term transition perspective requires consideration of how Europe’s environment and societies might be affected by large- scale, long-term global megatrends. The EEA has identified and assessed 11 global megatrends considered important for Europe’s environment in the long term (Figure 15.8), with the aim of providing an improved basis for strategic European environmental policymaking. 401