EuRIC: Clean Industrial Deal falls short

EuRIC, or the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation, says the plan presented by the European Commission regarding the continent’s energy transition, the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), falls short of delivering the measures needed to achieve its goal and fails to link decarbonization with circularity or recognize the key role EU recyclers play in cutting carbon emissions and generating resources.

Together with the Metals Action Plan and the Circular Economy Act, the CID has the potential to shape a futureproof industrial, climate and energy strategy, Brussels-based EuRIC says, but its success depends on leveraging competitive decarbonization measures that address rising

The CID sets a 24 percent circular material use target by 2030 but lacks the concrete mechanisms to deliver it, according to the association. Struggling recycling sectors, which include plastics, textiles, and tires, need support, EuRIC says, but the CID focuses heavily on critical raw materials (CRM), which represent only a fraction of Europe's circular material flows, while failing to protect industries already grappling with low demand and rising costs.

"The Clean Industrial Deal must drive action, not just ambition,” EuRIC Secretary General Julia Ettinger says. “The EU now has all the tools it needs—from the Critical Raw Materials Act to the NZ/A and the Clean Industrial Deal itself. The challenge now is to use them effectively. Recyclers urgently need support as they battle skyrocketing energy prices, weak demand and excessive red tape. There can be no decarbonization and competitiveness without circularity, and no sustainable future without a strong recycling industry."

EuRIC suggests numerous changes to the CID:

1. Ensure access to competitive, decarbonized energy, essential for growth of Europe's competitive industrial base.
2. Link decarbonization with circularity and competitiveness by including mechanical recycling in the key net-zero technologies. Mechanical recycling significantly reduces carbon emissions, decreases reliance on virgin raw materials and ensures a resilient and circular European economy.
3. Maintain open and fair trade for recycled materials to ensure the competitiveness and the proper functioning of the EU recycling sector. For shipments within the European Union, facilitating the movement of nonhazardous e-scrap is needed.
4. Create circular lead markets to boost demand for goods that contain recycled materials.
5. lncentivize industries to shift to circular and low-carbon business models.
6. Secure funding for EU industries, such as plastics recycling.
7. Introduce standard mandatory green public procurement criteria at the EU level, including for materials containing recycled content, or all publicly financed projects.
8. Leverage the upcoming Circular Economy Act to drive investments in recycling infrastructure and support using recycled materials.
9. Cut red tape by simplifying permitting and reducing administrative burdens.

EuRIC says the association and its members are ready to collaborate with EU policymakers and push for the changes it views as necessary to make the CID work.