WHAT WE DO

European Union’s -Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI) aims to work together with India on the implementation of the United Nations global Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) agenda for fostering the efficient and sustainable use of natural resources.

Towards this aim this initiative works on achieving these 3 outputs

January 15 2017

EU-REI starts

June 30 2017

8th EU-India Environment Forum on Resource Efficiency and the Circular Economy: Benefits Beyond Environment

November 30 2017

NITI Aayog and EU Delegation to India release the Strategy on Resource Efficiency (RE)

March 1 2018

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) creates Resource Efficiency Cell (RE Cell)

September 4 2018

EU’s Circular Economy Mission to India led by European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella

September 7 2018

January 2 2019

Release of Status Paper on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy, and four Sectoral Strategies on Resource Efficiency

June 3 2019

Lead the Green Change Campaign for celebrating the World Environment Day

June 17 2019

E-waste Collection Drive organised with 11 EU Member States

February 3 2020

Release of Strategy for Fostering Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy in Goa

July 14 2020

EU – India adopt Joint Declaration on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy

November 25 2020

Release of Training Toolkit on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy

November 30 2020

EU-REI participates as one of the 100 solutions to bounce back from COVID 19 the Paris Peace Forum

January 12 2021

Beginning of EU-REI Phase – II

February 10 2021

Launch of EU-REI Phase-II at TERI’s World Sustainable Development Summit

March 11 2021

February 2022 – EU-REI contributed to the 3 NITI Aayog’s Circular Economy Committees for development of sectoral strategies and action plan

May 20 2022

Training of Trainers on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy with ACMA

October 18 2022

E-waste collection Drive with EU Delegation and 6 EU Member States

Policies

Assessing India’s current and future use of resources. Based on the assessment studies, strategies and action plans for resource efficiency will be prepared and initiated for implementation.

Solutions

Facilitating partnerships and networking between European and Indian businesses and stakeholders on resource efficiency in sectors of interest.

Cooperation

Raising awareness on the need for resource efficient approaches among key government and non-government organizations, businesses, students, media and the general public through promotion of standards and business best-practices on resource efficiency.

Focus Areas

The Phase I of the EU-REI project started in January 2017 and was successfully completed in December 2020. In its first phase, the initiative focused on abiotic resources (metals and minerals) in key sectors to incorporate resource efficiency and circularity in the four main areas of (I) Renewable Energy (Photovoltaics); (II) Waste including plastic waste, packaging, e-waste with incorporation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), (III) Building/ construction, and (IV) Mobility (electric and hybrid vehicles).

In Phase-II starting January 2021 until December 2023, the EU-REI continues to build on the results of Phase I, while at the same time it furthers the objectives of the India-EU Joint Declaration on Resource Efficiency (RE) and Circular Economy (CE) and supports the Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Cell at the MoEFCC in mainstreaming and strengthening the RE&CE approach in India. In Phase II, the EU-REI focuses on both biotic and abiotic resources including additional sectors such as textiles, and is also undertaking pilot implementation of measures.

Mobility (Electric and Hybrid vehicles)

The Government of India has introduced the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 which is expected to transform the automotive and transportation industry. By 2020, nearly 6-7 million electric vehicles (EVs) will ply on Indian roads.

Till March 2016, 4 lakh EVs were sold across the country, an increase of 37% from 2014-15 (Sarkar & Nigam, 2017).

Rare earths are critical materials for batteries and electric car motors, and most of these have to be imported by India.

Linear shifting from combustion engines to EVs alone will not address the environmental impacts that arise from extraction, production, material processing, usage of vehicles as well as dismantling and disposal. There is a need to look at the entire life-cycle of the product.

These figures suggest the importance of examining the resource consumption patterns and availability of primary and secondary raw materials. The resource recovery, environmental impacts of EV’s, and end-of-life management would be the focus areas of the project interventions.

Building and Construction

The sector’s material demand (soil, sand, stone, limestone) is largest in the country after agriculture, and accounts for 23.6% of the country‘s CO2 emissions (Planning Commission, 2014).

70% of building stock that will be in use in 2030 is yet to be constructed, and urbanisation remains a major driver of resource consumption in construction (NRDC-ASCI-Shakti, 2012)

Two particular schemes of the Government of India, the Smart Cities scheme and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) offer great opportunities for resource efficiency and secondary resource utilization.

Initiative will focus on the use of alternative input materials including secondary raw materials derived from construction and demolition waste.

Renewable Energy (Photovoltaics)

India targets 100 GW of solar power by 2022, including 40 GW of grid-connected solar rooftop systems to address climate change commitments.

Photovoltaic (PV) waste could average 50,000-320,000 tonnes by 2030, possibly culminating in 4.4 -7.5 million tonnes by 2050 (IRENA and IEA-PVPS, 2016).

Demand for metals and rare earths such as Indium is on the rise on account of their use in solar PV systems, but their supply is scarce.

The project will develop an understanding on the material consumption to meet the demand of PV generation and environmentally sound management of end-of-life solar panels and batteries.

Waste (Plastics & Packaging and E-waste with a focus on Extended Producer Responsibility)

15.3 tonnes of plastic waste per annum (CPCB, 2014-2015); 1.8 million metric tonnes of electronic waste per annum (Assocham-cKinetics, 2016) is generated in India. The CPCB (2013) estimates that 70% of plastic packaging products are converted into waste in a very short time span.

The Plastics and E-waste Rules 2016 notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), highlight Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as a principle for waste management.

The initiative will support the implementation of EPR as an enabling framework to encourage producers and manufacturers to consider product design and material substitution for efficient resource recovery.

Mobility (Electric and Hybrid vehicles)

■ The Government of India has introduced the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 which is expected to transform the automotive and transportation industry. By 2020, nearly 6-7 million electric vehicles (EVs) will ply on Indian roads.

■ Till March 2016, 4 lakh EVs were sold across the country, an increase of 37% from 2014-15 (Sarkar & Nigam, 2017).

■ Rare earths are critical materials for batteries and electric car motors, and most of these have to be imported by India.

■ Linear shifting from combustion engines to EVs alone will not address the environmental impacts that arise from extraction, production, material processing, usage of vehicles as well as dismantling and disposal. There is a need to look at the entire life-cycle of the product.

■ These figures suggest the importance of examining the resource consumption patterns and availability of primary and secondary raw materials. The resource recovery, environmental impacts of EV’s, and end-of-life management would be the focus areas of the project interventions.

■ The sector’s material demand (soil, sand, stone, limestone) is largest in the country after agriculture, and accounts for 23.6% of the country‘s CO2 emissions (Planning Commission, 2014).

■ 70% of building stock that will be in use in 2030 is yet to be constructed, and urbanisation remains a major driver of resource consumption in construction (NRDC-ASCI-Shakti, 2012)

■ Two particular schemes of the Government of India, the Smart Cities scheme and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) offer great opportunities for resource efficiency and secondary resource utilization.

■ Initiative will focus on the use of alternative input materials including secondary raw materials derived from construction and demolition waste.

Building and Construction

Renewable Energy (Photovoltaics)

■ India targets 100 GW of solar power by 2022, including 40 GW of grid-connected solar rooftop systems to address climate change commitments.

■ Photovoltaic (PV) waste could average 50,000-320,000 tonnes by 2030, possibly culminating in 4.4 -7.5 million tonnes by 2050 (IRENA and IEA-PVPS, 2016).

■ Demand for metals and rare earths such as Indium is on the rise on account of their use in solar PV systems, but their supply is scarce.

■ The project will develop an understanding on the material consumption to meet the demand of PV generation and environmentally sound management of end-of-life solar panels and batteries.

■ 15.3 tonnes of plastic waste per annum (CPCB, 2014-2015); 1.8 million metric tonnes of electronic waste per annum (Assocham-cKinetics, 2016) is generated in India. The CPCB (2013) estimates that 70% of plastic packaging products are converted into waste in a very short time span.

■ The Plastics and E-waste Rules 2016 notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), highlight Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as a principle for waste management.

■ The initiative will support the implementation of EPR as an enabling framework to encourage producers and manufacturers to consider product design and material substitution for efficient resource recovery.