Sustainable product policy initiative – EEB discussion paper

In its Circular Economy action plan of March 2020, the European Commission includes a core objective to make sustainable products the norm.

There are multiple definitions of sustainability, and it is not the objective of this paper to enter this debate, but it should be related to key guiding principles such as respecting planetary boundaries, reducing our consumption of resources to stay within a safe operating space, contributing to the achievement of the SDGs and thus also incorporating social aspects, beyond environmental and economic dimensions. If sustainability is to become the norm for products through the Sustainable product policy, this new policy must be guided by a new compass and new metrics1, notably the consideration of life cycle environmental and societal impacts in evaluation and the pricing of products.