The webinar is organised by the ECESP Leadership Group on Circular procurement. The debate will centre on the policies to drive circular procurement, thereby accelerating the transition to a circular economy within the EU.

From policy levels varying from the European Commission downto cities, speakers will share their experiences with circular and green procurement policies. They will set the stage for an interactive dialogue.

You can register for the webinar here. 

About the EU Circular Talks

The EU Circular Talks is a new exchange concept of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform. It aims to encourage stakeholders to interact and discuss the circular economy topics in the platform.

Stakeholders initiate the topics themselves. These can take multiple forms of online events; workshops, seminars, debates or Q&As. These are followed by discussions directly via the platform's communication channels. The #EUCircularTalks uses all the communication channels to inform the community and foster the debate on the circular economy. The results of each EU Circular Talk is summarised and published on the ECESP platform.

On 2 December 2021 (9:30-11:15 CET) the European Commission is hosting a webinar to introduce public procurement professionals to Level(s) - the new EU common language for the sustainability performance of buildings.

The webinar will provide EU policy perspectives, experiences from practitioners and will offer opportunities for questions from the audience. The webinar is intended for local, regional and national public authorities responsible for the procurement of buildings.

• Why attend?
  Learn about common approaches of how public authorities have managed to integrate a life-cycle approach into the procurement practices.
• Hear about solutions that have risen from the LIFE Level(s) project.
• Understand how Level(s) can enhance dialogue between design, technical and financial actors in new build and renovation projects.
• Get your questions answered!

Who should attend?
Local, regional, and national public authorities responsible for the procurement of buildings

Please submit your registration before Monday 29 November at 16:00 CET. Register your place and see detailed agenda here.

On 2 December 2021 (9:00-11:30 CET), UNEP and its implementing partners of the United Nations Development Account-funded project “Enhancing sustainable public procurement for the regional transition to inclusive green economy in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia” (UNDA SPP project) are hosting the Second Pan-European Regional Workshop on Sustainable Public Procurement. 

The workshop, which will be conducted in English and Russian, aims to review progress in the area of sustainable public procurement (SPP) and ecolabelling in Central Asia and Eastern European countries, particularly Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. During the workshop, countries will present and exchange their experience in development of SPP and ecolabelling policies, capacity of public sector and enterprises to respond to SPP tenders and awareness. Examples of good practices and success stories from pan-European region will be presented and discussed.

To participate in the workshop, please register here.

The European Commission, DG Grow, is organising another lunchtime talk to elaborate how #WebuysocialEU - this time on Human Rights Due Diligence.

You will be able to discover: 

• what is due diligence
• the instruments developed in Sweden to address human rights in public procurement
• speaker’s recommendations on how taking into account human rights in procurement

Register here.

Since 2020 the European Innovation and Technology (EIT) Circular Economy Community has been engaging with civil society, EU and international stakeholders as well as the EIT network by supporting actions to strengthen and optimise the transition towards a more circular and innovative future.

Join their webinar to find out more about their work on the ground and to hear the stories of involved actors working with them to increase the uptake of circular innovative solutions. Participants will get the opportunity to interact with the panel of experts and find out more about opportunities coming from the EIT Circular Economy Community programme.

Full agenda and registration here.

Agenda

UNEP and the One Planet Network invite you to join us in conversation. Panelists will share public procurement strategies that are driving stronger sustainability outcomes in infrastructure planning and development.

-Beibei Gu, UNEP Opening Remarks

-Dominic MacCormack, UNEP, moderator

-Introduction: Sanjay Kumar, Sustainable Infrastructure interest group of the One Planet Network SPP Programme

-Panelist #1, Shadi Hussein, Global Procurement Services, United Nations Development Programme: UNDP Sustainable Procurement Integration Approaches

-Panelist #2, Ravishankar Chandrasekhran, Vice President and SBU Head, Tata Projects: Infrastructure Procurement in India

-Panelist #3, Jeroen Van Alphen, Project Leader SPP, Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management: Incorporating sustainability into Infrastructure projects – The Netherlands national perspective

-Panelist #4, Ana Maria Ruiz, Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division, OECD

You can register here.

AdviceCloud and Positive Planet have teamed up for a webinar to help suppliers understand sustainability in more depth, and how it links to public sector procurement.

The webinar aims to be a knowledge sharing session where experts from both companies will be making sure suppliers to grips with what they need to be doing in 2022. This includes:

• What sustainability means when it comes to public services
• The regulations in place that need to be taken notice of
• Why suppliers need to do more when it comes to sustainability (hint: the answer involves winning contracts)
• How procurement is progressing
• A Q&A section to ask experts your questions

Please note that the webinar is focusing on UK public procurement regulations. More information here. To register, click here

Due to the complicated pandemic situation across most of the European countries, the GPP-STREAM partnership decided to organize its high-level political dissemination event online instead of physically. The final conference will be organized on 16th and 17th of February, 2022.

During the first day of the event, GPP-STREAM partners will present their achievements in regards to the implementation of their regional GPP action plans – lessons learnt and difficulties met. There will be also a session dedicated to the integration of green public procurement (GPP) into policy instruments: case studies and good practices from other EU regions not directly involved in GPP-STREAM project.

During the second day, high level speakers from public EU institutions will be presenting good practices and case studies on environmental policy development and how GPP can be integrated into various policies which public administrations (PAs) need to develop and implement.

Agenda of the event is present here, and Links for registration to the event are presented below.

Participation in the conference is free – all interested parties and stakeholders are warmly invited to register and take an active part in this GPP-STREAM event.

Link for registration of the first day of the Conference - 16 February 2022.

Link for registration of the first day of the Conference - 17 February 2022.

DG GROW's lunchtime talks continue with a session on 'Gender Equality', where you can learn about the European Gender Equality Institute's toolkit for gender-responsive public procurement and how to introduce gender equality considerations in public procurement.

You can register here.

On 1 and 2 March 2022, the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference 2022 will bring together Europe's largest network of stakeholders in the Circular Economy. The focus this year is on the path to a new normal: "Sustainable products for sustainable consumption."

The French EU Council Presidency plays a key role in advancing the Circular Economy. The Presidency is joining the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Commission to host this flagship stakeholder conference, bringing together leaders from business, public authorities, NGOs, knowledge communities, and other civil society organisations to advance our transition to a Circular Economy.

Day 1 wiill feature keynote speeches by Frans Timmermans (Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, European Commission), Barbara Pompili (Minister for Ecological Transition, France), Christa Schweng (President of the European Economic and Social Committee, EESC), Didier Reynders (European Commissioner for Justice) and Virginijus Sinkevičius (European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries). In addition, there will be a number of (plenary and breakout) sessions on focusing on various aspects of sustainable production and consumption.

The second day, hosted by the EESC, will focus on the practical implementation of the current and ongoing circular economy policy framework by employers, trade unions and other civil society organisations. Eight participatory workshops on circular topics ranging from circular cities to food waste to circular procurement and network governance will showcase successes and identify new challenges for the circular transition. In addition to the sector-focused workshops, there will be opportunities to discuss, network and explore examples of how the circular transition happens in practice.

For more information, and to register click here.