EU green deal adopted on December 11, 2019 aims to make their textile and footwear and other industrial production carbon neutral by 2050, one of the primary goals undertaken to address SDGs, objectives of which are to somehow connected with all 17 SDGs. This Green Deal and its Circular Economy Action Plan- the Ecodeisgn for sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR) will ensure more energy efficient, durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and increasingly use of recycled materials. EU believes that these policies will help them to move from huge costly take, make, break and throw away models while the introduction of eco design can bring billions of euros in consumer savings. Bangladesh if wants to be in the EU market will have to increase its recyclability, reusability in a compliant manner and thus policies needs to be aligned with these requirements.
In Q2 of 2025 EU will adopt and publish the first ESPR working plan which entered into force on July 18, 2024. It is a part of package measure to achieve the 2020 circular economy action plan, fostering transition to circular, sustainable and competitive economy. ESPR will strengthen the single market and create economic opportunities for innovation and job creation, notably in re-manufacturing, maintenance, recycling and repairing. Ultimate target is to reduce dependence on virgin material and extract less materials from the nature.
ESPR also contains new measures such as Digital Product Passport (DPP), rules for destruction of unsold consumers products, green public procurement etc. In the first half of 2025, after the adoption of the first ESPR working plan rolling out which products will be prioritized over the coming years will be finalized, development of product rules will then be started based on inclusive planning. The EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) gathered opinions in three thematic areas, end-use products, intermediate products and horizontal measures by this time.
From the preliminary JRC findings, it is seen that among the end-use products, highest percentage of agreement were in the textile and footwear( 58% stakeholders agreed). In the intermediate product with the highest percentages of agreement were plastics and polymers (52% stakeholders), The horizontal measures with the highest percentages of agreement were on durability (67%), recyclability (65%). About 414 stakeholders responded, mostly of which are EU companies, Bangladesh also participated in the first JRC.
Green Growth is nowa reality, it allows for economic growth to protect the environment and improving quality of life, helps change and environmental constraints by transitioning to a more ecologically sound economy. Green growth can lead to cleaner air and water, healthier living conditions, and more vibrant communities. However, transformation of EU policy has brought several challenges for Bangladesh as most of the recyclingso far are being accomplished in the informal manner in the country.
For Bangladesh, EU is an important market as about 50-55% of the exports of Bangladesh mostly textile and clothing are destined to EU. Value of the world merchandise trade rose 12% to USD 25.3 trillion in 2022. The value of world commercial services trade increased 15% in 2022 to USD 6.8 trillion, while digitally delivered services were worth USD 3.82 trillion in the same year (Google). Material extraction will be increasing and if these resources cannot be returned to nature, loss of material extraction will be inevitable. Increase in digital trade has further increased global production.
Circularity Gap Report 2023 prepared by the Circle Economy(CE) has shown that global circularity has been dropped to 7.2% in 2023 comparing to 8.2% in 2020 and 9.1% in 2018. The reason behind the decline is the general rate of global material extraction and imposing a serious burden on the environment.
Bangladesh has a number of LEED certified RMG factories, benefits created from these certification must be much higher, investors have put enough investment for getting these certification. There could be a survey on how this huge investment can bring more success in greening the sector and create more employment. It is true that innovation and creativity can help to make buildings more efficient, meaning using less energy, water, and other resources. In exchange buyers also need to have a pricing policy. Recycling plastic waste, lead acid battery, agriculture, construction, digging canals, rivers, water reservoirs, transportation etc. are some of the potential sectors that can contribute for greening the economy, however for these proper planning for formal transformation is a must. After LDC graduation getting support from international community would be difficult, so we need to rise to the occasion and work more to exploit the intending support from EU as much as possible.
The writer is Chief Executive Officer,
Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD)
