EU Commissioner: No more short term thinking

Politicians and businesses must stop short term thinking and recognise that environment and the economy are two sides of the same coin in order to build a circular economy, according to EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potonik.

Mr Potonik, who will leave his post at the end of his current term this September, confirmed during an event at University College London yesterday (June 16) that details of the Commissions package of proposals for waste, recycling and the circular economy would be released on July 1 2014.

Seeking to promote the circular economy agenda ahead of the Commissions policy package a draft of which was leaked earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story) Mr Potonik said that Europe was increasingly import dependent but that the conclusion is very simple.

80% of what we produce is used once and then discarded, he said. We simply need to start behaving differently and environmental policy will need to change. In the past we were making environmental policy in a way which did not benefit the public.

The UCL public lecture took place under the heading New Environmentalism and the Circular Economy, and Mr Potonik spoke at length of the importance of marrying the economy and environment together.

He also stressed the importance of encouraging politicians, businesses and the public to stop short term thinking on the environment by recognising that it is in the interest of economies to close the loop on business practices.

The Commissioner said: Environmental protection is not an obstacle to economic growth, it is the opposite. Environment and the economy are two sides of the same coin and we should stop flipping that coin.

Handshake

Asked whether it was a problem convincing firms to align their business with the circular economy, the Commissioner said he hoped more would come to him to discuss closed loop policies.

He said: It takes two hands to make a handshake. I am liked in the business sector I am approachable from businesses, as I am from the civil society.

Taxation

But, Mr Potonik said that the forthcoming policy package was only part of the picture, and he voiced his support for shifting taxation in Member States away from labour across to consumption and environmental taxes a policy identified in the EUs most recent European Semester on economic and fiscal policy.

Furthermore, he also stressed the importance of getting rid of environmentally harmful subsidies for businesses, as well as using public procurement to boost the circular economy, adding that Europe really can decide to move very fast when it does its environmental policies properly.

The Commissioner said: If my economic colleagues talked as much about environmental policy as I talk about economic policy, we will go far.

Waste and resources minister Dan Rogerson MP had been due to introduce Mr Potonik at the event, but was forced to attend a parliamentary debate on the Consumer Rights Bill instead. He was replaced by Defras head of sustainable business, Jonathan Tillson.