2025 End-of-Year Forecast: Circular Economy, Clean Industrial Deal, Producer Responsibility - Part 2

The Circular Economy Action Plan is part of the European Union’s (EU) approach to creating sustainable growth for Europe. Passed in March 2020, the plan will address the entire life cycle of European products, including their design and disposal.

The framework for the plan consists of a series of policies designed to support a sustainable, circular economy, including the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), a directive on the repair of goods, and a directive on providing consumers with more information about sustainability, durability, and repairability at the point of sale.

“Europe’s circular agenda has moved from vision to verification,” said Cassidy Spencer, regulatory research analyst at 3E. “The next two years won’t be about a single ‘go-live’ date but about building evidence chains that withstand market surveillance. That means product-level data models for materials and durability, supplier attestations linked to batches, and auditable chains of custody into recovery outlets.”

On August 1, 2025, the Europea Commission launched a call for evidence for the Circular Economy Act, which the commission claims will facilitate the free movement of products, secondary raw materials, and waste. The aim of the act is also to increase the supply of and demand for secondary raw materials and waste by doubling the circularity rate of materials and positioning the EU as a world leader in the circular economy by 2030.