By Katsiaryna Serada – Research fellow & policy analyst at Tondo English Version In December 2019, the EU launched a European Green Deal, a new sustainable economic growth strategy and policy agenda aimed at decoupling economic growth from the use of the primary natural resources and building a globally competitive, digitalized, low-carbon, climate – neutral, resource-efficient economy. A new growth strategy underscores the importance of the twin transformation – green and digital – to increase the global competitiveness of the EU industry, benefit the consumers and protect the environment. Despite the sweeping adverse economic impacts of the quarantine measures to fight COVID-19 taken worldwide, the European Green Deal is likely to sustain the increasing political pressures of reprioritization. First, positive short-time effects of the reduction of the GHGs emissions due to the global economic slowdown are likely to be off-set by the rebound effect of the economic stimulus policy packages aimed at supporting the industries, therefore, the commitment to achieve climate policy targets and goals remains valid. Second, the European Green Deal is framed as an industrial and economic strategy aimed at “stimulating the development of lead markets for climate neutral and circular products, in the EU and beyond” and enhancing European Single Market. The implementation of the European Green Dean is supported with the new comprehensive EU policy package that includes new European Industrial Strategy, European Circular Economy Action Plan, Biodiversity Strategy, SME Strategy, Farm to Fork Strategy. The Commission’s European Green Deal Investment Plan (EGDIP), a renewed sustainable finance strategy, to be launched in the third quarter of 2020, is to further scale up sustainable finance to meet the investment needs of moving towards greener and more circular economy. However, the European Regional Development Fund, LIFE and Horizon Europe will complement private innovation funding and support bringing innovative...
Month: March 2020
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By Stefano Babbini – CEO at Mogu English Version Mogu creates sustainable and innovative materials, mainly applied in the interior design sector, starting from the idea that it is possible to grow microorganisms, through a fungal fermentation, to structure materials that would otherwise not be consistent. Therefore, starting from these two elements, the fungal strains and the fibers, a line of products has been developed by optimizing the materials according to some process variables, as well as selecting the post-treatments to arrive at high-performance finished products.Mogu’s business model has evolved over time, leading the company to create a functional identity for its target market, interior design and green building. The pillars of Mogu, as shown in the following figure, are their basic technology (fungal fermentation), an approach particularly attentive to design, combined with a strong innovative component related to the bioeconomy sector.The sector where Mogu operates, is that of green building, which is growing at very significant rates, while the products it is targeting are precisely those of interior design, with a focus in particular towards the flooring and the acoustic sectors.The modular Mogu Floor flooring is positioned in a luxury and premium market segment for flooring; the product is the composition of two main elements: the soul made through fungal bio composites, according to a soft and flexible formulation, combined with a Bio PU in which biomass is drowned: this acts as a cover of the final product, generating a product that it is 98% bio-based. The added residual biomasses confer the specific pigmentation of the material, which thus has two upcycling components: the fibers recovered from the textile industry waste that are part of the core, and the filler that also characterizes the aesthetics of the product . This project was also financed by the European Commission through...
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6 March 2020By Giacomo Losio – co-founder of Taller delle terre English Version Taller delle terre (TdT) is a non profit organization that aims to revolutionize the industry of ceramic setting up circular economy production processes. The problem TdT wants to face is connected with the idea of linear systems which are no longer sustainable for our finite planet seeing they are designed on the endless processes of extraction, production, distribution, consume and disposal (the Story of Stuff, 2007).In fact, looking at the interior design sector, both ceramic and stone production chains are responsible for such negative externalities in terms of natural resources exploitation, amount of waste sent to landfill, related environmental impacts and costs for disposal.According to Confindustria Ceramica, in Italy the ceramic market is worth 5,4 billion euro per year (2018) and about 4,572 operating quarries consumed more than 4,6 million cubic meters of soil (Legambiente, Rapporto Cave 2017).At the same time also the world stone industry is responsible for sending to landfill a big percentage of the extracted material, between 20 and 30, with an estimated operating cost about of approx. 30 euro per tonne (Knowledgshare, 2016).These two linear production chains have also considerable negative effects on the environment during all the production and consumption phases (transport, packaging and final disposal): high levels of energy and water consumption; waste production and CO2 emissions (Legambiente, Rapporto Cave 2016). As underlined by United Nation SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), territories need to implement sustainability within 2030: the waste of resources and money can be contained only through innovative solutions that can generate positive effects in terms of environmental, social and economic development.Considering that in 2018, the 9% from the Italian ceramic industry revenues has been invested in new sustainable productions and green technologies, TdT developed a solution that meets these needs. The...