Our thinking

Ecodesign, reduce, recycle

31 May, 2024

This week the European Commission announced new regulation for an Ecodesign Framework. Keen regulation fans may remember the Ecodesign Directive of 2009, which covered 31 energy-related product groups and apparently led to a 10% reduction in energy consumption by the in-scope products. Following its success, the Commission has decided to expand the scope to virtually all physical products. By setting product requirements around durability, reparability and environmental footprints, the Commission believes the Directive will create energy savings equivalent to around 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2030. To put that into context, that is almost equivalent to the EU’s total imports of Russian gas.  

The new product requirements, which all products to be sold in Europe, including exports, will have to meet, are at the heart of the legislation. In addition, products will need to hold a “product passport”, which will give consumers and retailers information on its environmental sustainability, including attributes such as durability, spare part availability and recycled content. This is an exciting development which will make it easier to compare products, while also giving people the knowledge they need to adopt a more circular style of consumption.  

We also think the regulation will act as a further spur for business adaptation. Fashion giants including H&M and Primark have joined the ReModel initiative run by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which focuses on helping businesses change their business model to decouple profits from sale of new clothes by offering services such as resale, repair and rental.  

I hope we’re not the only ones excited by the prospect of better understanding our products, so we can buy well and consume even better! 

By Anna Heis