Ecopreneur.eu Letter: Green companies urge EU to implement Green Deal with strong price incentives
Green companies including about 2900 SMEs and 100 large businesses call upon the EU to launch a Green Deal with a Circular Economy Action Plan generating strong traction to low-carbon circular products and services. Click here for the letter and here to co-sign or support
Blog: 3 Best practices from The Netherlands for a European Circular Economy
EU Sustainable Finance Plan risks harming green SMEs
Paper: What is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals?
Blog: How a circular fashion economy can tackle climate change
Press Release: Strong Circular Economy policies needed to meet the climate goals
Press Release: Ecopreneur.eu supports climate strikes – an urgent call to action!
Press Release: EU member states gain traction towards waste-free economy – Final report with new infographics
Ecopreneur appoints new executive director
The Ecopreneur Board has appointed Arthur ten Wolde as executive director of Ecopreneur. Manfred Mühlberger, Chairman of Ecopreneur: "Arthur ten Wolde has already been working as our circular economy expert since the start in 2016. He will now work with the Board to expand and consolidate Ecopreneur as the political…
Ecopreneur proposals circular fashion very well received
The policy proposals from Ecopreneur for circular fashion were very well received during the highly successful “European Forum on Eco-innovation” from the European Commission, which took place in Vienna on 7-8 May. The event focused on delivering circularity in the textiles sector. During the conference, the recommendations for accelerating and…
Press Release: EU member states gain traction towards waste-free economy
An overview for all EU member states reveals 28 different paths towards the “circular economy” with inspiring best practices. Countries leading the way typically have the highest waste production as well. The member states’ path into the “circular economy” reflects their unique character, the presence of leadership and inspiring examples…
Ecopreneur participates in European Consumer Day 2019
On 27 March 2019, Ecopreneur participated in the lively “European Consumer Day" organised by the European Social and Economic Committee (EESC) in Brussels. Circular Economy expert Arthur ten Wolde presented the conclusions from a recent study "Circular Fashion Advocacy" and took part in a workshop on consumer behaviour. During a…
Newsletter March 2019
Welcome to our March newsletter! Dear reader, Please find below the March 2019 Newsletter from Ecopreneur.eu, the European Federation of Sustainable Business. We hope you enjoy reading it and let’s keep in touch! Kind regards, The Ecopreneur Team Please click here to see the newsletter. In This…
Press Release: Bold policies needed to mainstream sustainable fashion
Waste and pollution from the production of textiles and clothing have become critical global issues. With only one percent of fibres being recycled, the current ‘linear’ model is outdated and unsustainable. There is an urgent need for a strategy to transform industry into a circular model. A new report…
Ecopreneur.eu member of Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance
We are happy to announce that Ecopreneur.eu has been selected as an expert to participate in workshops of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and the development of a sustainable taxonomy. The European Commission recently appointed Technical Expert Groups to develop a "taxonomy of economic activities that contribute to…
Ecopreneur.eu and the Circular Economy: What is happening in Brussels?
Interview by UnternehmensGrün with Arthur ten Wolde, Circular Economy Expert of Ecopreneur.eu. Also published in Forum Nachhaltig Wirtschaften magazine (pp. 60-61). Could you tell us something about Ecopreneur.eu? UnternehmensGrün is a founding member of Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation.Ecopreneur.eu is the political voice in Brussels of sustainable businesses all across Europe,…
Ecopreneur.eu new member of the Consultation Forum for Ecodesign & Energy Labelling
Ecopreneur.eu is proud to participate as SMEs representative in the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Consultation Forum (EELCF) from the European Commission. Our first meeting took place on the 1st of February in Brussels. The first meeting with Ecopreneur.eu was a rather exceptional one, having been called together in response to…
Ecopreneur.eu: Price as the ultimate label
Product policy is crucial for realising the circular economy. Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, has filed its response with position paper to the public consultation “Towards an EU Product Policy Framework contributing to the Circular Economy”. Ecopreneur.eu welcomes this consultation and urges the next European Commission to prioritise the circular…
Newsletter January 2019
In this issue you find the January 2019 Newsletter from Ecopreneur.eu, the European Federation of Sustainable Business. We hope you enjoy reading it and let’s keep in touch! Kind regards, The Ecopreneur Team. In this issue: What’s new in Brussels? Update on the Ban of single-use plastics …
Invitation: The Circularity Check webinar on January 22, 2019
Ecopreneur.eu, MVO Nederland and WeSustain are happy to invite you to another Circularity Check webinar. It will take place on January 22, 2019 at 10:00 CET. There is no registration. For the login information see below. The first Circularity Check webinar was successfully held back in December. During the 45-minute…
Ecopreneur.eu: Move to quality majority voting on certain tax matters including the VAT
Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, has filed its feedback on the public consultation concerning the European Commission’s Communication on a Roadmap for Taxation - more efficient EU law-making procedures. Taxation policy is crucial for realising the circular economy. The economic framework should foster delivering circular products and services. To…
Ecopreneur.eu welcomes new directive for single-use plastics
Ecopreneur.eu welcomes the final decision of the European Council and Parliament concerning restrictions on a range of disposable plastic products. On Wednesday morning a legislative text was finally accepted after a long-term decision-making process. The first proposal on waste reduction for single-use plastics was put forward by the European Commission…
Repair before recycling confirmed by European governments
Ecopreneur.eu welcomes a decision made by European governments to compel manufacturers to make refrigerators more easily repairable. Refrigerators have significant volumes of sales and trade in the EU. At the same time, they have a significant adverse environmental impact and present significant potential for improvement through design, without entailing excessive…
Ecopreneur.eu: Waste incineration should not be funded by EU
December 12, 2018 - EU funding for regional development and cohesion should not be used to subsidise the incineration of unsorted municipal waste. Ecopreneur.eu fully supports this position. According to Zero Waste Europe, such funding was widely used to finance incinerators and waste-to-energy plants, thereby reducing the incentive to collect…
Circularity Check webinars and workshop
The first Circularity Check webinar was successfully held on Tuesday, 4 December. It was organised by WeSustain, Ecopreneur.eu and MVO Nederland. A workshop and follow-up webinar are planned. The Circularity Check is a free online scan tool with a questionnaire of about 60 questions for SMEs and companies. It determines…
Webinar and workshop Circularity Check: how circular is your product or service?
Brussels, 28 November 2018 - Ecopreneur.eu, MVO Nederland and WeSustain will organise a webinar and a workshop about the Circularity Check in December 2018 and January 2019. The interest in the circular economy is growing. But how to define, what exactly is circular? At the moment very few scans for measuring circularity…
Opinion: Single Use Plastics Directive does not threaten internal market
Ecopreneur, the European Sustainable Business Federation, supports the Single Use Plastics directive and does not consider it a threat to the internal market. This in contrast to the European packaging industry association EUROPEN. Now that the European Council is entering final negotiations with the Parliament on tough new restrictions on…
Rethinking Ownership: Steward-ownership in Germany
On October 30th - 31st 2018, the Purpose Foundation and Purpose gGmbH were co-organizers of the Steward-Ownership Conference 2018 in Berlin, Germany, along with the companies GLS Bank and bio verlag. These companies are members of UnternehmensGrün, the German founding member of Ecopreneur.eu. Steward-ownership refers to forms of responsible management…
Newsletter November 2018
Dear reader, Please find below the November 2018 Newsletter from Ecopreneur, the European Federation of Sustainable Business. We hope you enjoy reading it and let’s keep in touch! Kind regards, The Ecopreneur Team. In This Issue What’s new in Brussels? Check out your Circularity …
Ecopreneur urges EU to prevent substances of very high concern from entering the EU market
In response to a public consultation on the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation, Ecopreneur has urged to EU to prevent substances of very high concern (SVHC) from being used in products on the EU market. The sooner companies stop using them, the sooner we can create a circular economy, which consists…
Press Release: Ecopreneur launches online Circularity Check
Brussels, October 25th, 2018: How circular are the products and services your company puts on the market? Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, has launched a user-friendly and free Circularity Check in the form of an online questionnaire, in cooperation with MVO Nederland and WeSustain. Read more...
3reuse: eco-responsible entrepreneurship and circular economy
Where: Moldoveneşti, România Hosting Organisation: Institute for Research in Circular Economy and Environment “Ernest Lupan” (IRCEM) When: 1 – 12 November 2018 Accommodation and meals: fully covered by Erasmus+ programme Travel costs: Covered by the Erasmus+ Programme up to a limit of € 275 (as for Erasmus+ Guidelines and Distance Calculator)
SMART & GREEN ON STAGE- October 18th, 2018, at the EUREF Campus Berlin – Ecopreneur.eu partner
Smart&Green on stage is an international business event that brings together innovative startups and strategic investors for a full day of high-level networking. This forward thinking event will take place on October 18th, at the EUREF Campus – the nexus of Berlin’s startup scene to create a matchmaking environment for investors, startups, economic…
Ecopreneur supports NGO letter to curb single-use plastics
Brussels, 6 September 2018 Today, Ecopreneur co-signed a letter from a broad NGO coalition including Zero Waste Europe, the EEB and WWF supporting the recent proposal of the c for legislation to curb single-use plastics. The NGO letter forms a response to a recent one from the European Packaging industry,…
Ecopreneur holds Circular Fashion Policy Lab
On the 24th of May, C&A Foundation, together with Ecopreneur.EU and the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP) hosted a Circular Fashion Policy Lab at the Europan Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels. The purpose of the event was to bring together representatives from across the fashion industry to…
Grüne Wirtschaft demands full support for a Circular Economy
28-06-2018, Vienna, Austria During the last session of the “Economic Parliament” of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Grüne Wirtschaft advocated for a Circular Economy as one of the upcoming key projects in Europe. The transition needs commitment from all sides, especially from entrepreneurs and enterprises. Therefore Grüne Wirtschaft presented a…
Ecopreneur.eu welcomes EC proposal on waste reduction for single-use plastics
Brussels, 30. May 2018, Ecopreneur is positive about the European Commission’s decisiveness to reduce the amount of plastic waste caused by single-use plastics. The proposal to ban certain single-use plastic products where alternatives are readily available and affordable fits with our advocacy to use regulation to ban the most polluting…
Press release: First announcement Circularity Check
Brussels, Jan. 30th, 2018: How circular are the products and services your company puts on the market? Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, is preparing the launch of a user-friendly and free Circularity Check in the form of an online questionnaire, in cooperation with CSR Netherlands / De Groene Zaak…
European Circular Economy Platform – Ecopreneur.eu appointed as part of Coordination Group
Alyssa Jade McDonald-Bärtl, social entrepreneur and board member of Ecopreneur.eu was appointed as member of Coordination Group of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (CESP). The European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform will focus on three pillars: Policy dialogue (Pillar I), a coordination group bringing together circular economy-related stakeholders (networks, platform,…
1st Newsletter of Ecopreneur
In This Issue News & Recent Developments Publications About Ecopreneur.eu Highlight Ecopreneur.eu was appointed to participate in the European Circular Economy Platform #CEStakeholderEU Keep Up With Us Facebook Twitter Welcome to our first newsletter! Dear readers, Ecopreneur.eu's influence…
Report: Effects of design measures
How do Europe's ecodesign measures affect the circular economy in low-income countries? This question was discussed in a recently published paper written by Green Alliance, a partner of UnternehmensGrün in the ACES-Project, on behalf of Tearfund. In many low-income countries, according to the authors, the circular economy generates millions of…
New Economy and Social Innovation Forum
Workshop “Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation & Entrepreneurial Skills" Malaga, Spain (19.-22.04.2017): For four days in April the New Economy & Social Innovation Forum (NESI Forum), took place in Malaga, Spain. It was a gathering of sustainability representatives from all over the world to share and exchange knowledge, best-practice and…
Ecopreneurs for the Climate
Ecopreneurs for the Climate (ECO4CLIM) is a nonprofit organization seeking to boost the creation and scale up the impact of cooperative, sustainable, and sound businesses that tackle climate change. It began operations in 2015 with the first Global Week of Green Business and the Climate Movement (ECO4CLIM15), where more than…
Ecopreneur.eu: New board elected
Paris/Brussels, Monday, June 27, 2016, During the 2016 General Assembly of Ecopreneur.eu in Paris, Europe’s six leading national green business associations were represented on the 24th and 25th of June to align their national lobby and business agendas finding many regulatory and functional business core issues in common. Ecopreneur.eu, the…
Press Release: Circular Economy Pioneers ask for strengthening the Circular Economy package
Rotterdam, 5.1.2016: As part of the conference „Unwrapping the Package – towards a Circular Economy in Europe”, which takes place today and tomorrow in Rotterdam, Ecopreneur.eu presents the Circular Economy from the practical perspective of its member companies. While stakeholders from business, civil society and public authorities across the EU…