Previously known as “To our roots and beyond”, the second edition of our project REINVEST 2050 was launched with an event (see the video here) in the European Parliament on 12 February in Strasbourg. The exhibition was hosted by Members of the European Parliament Elsi Katainen (ALDE, Finland) and Ludek Niedermayer (EPP, Czech Republic).
It showcased 21 success stories about investments in innovation and ground-breaking technology best practices across the forest fibre industry carried out by 16 different companies based in 12 EU Member States.
The exhibition enabled over 12 MEPs and 20 industry representatives to measure how the pulp and paper industry is making, in practice, the energy and bioeconomy transition happen across Europe today.
MEP Elsi Katainen emphasized that “both politicians and industry are committed to reduce their CO2 emissions to meet the Paris Agreement objectives“.
She mentioned related legislations such as LULUCF, the revised Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Directives, which were discussed and decided during the current European Parliament mandate.
In their speeches, MEPs Paul Brannen and Dario Tamburrano focused on the circular bioeconomy:
“I think there’s an opportunity with what you would call the wider bioeconomy to really make some deep inroads into tackling climate change through a shift from making stuff from fossil fuels, into making stuff from wood as a feedstock. Paper is at the heart of that”
“Paper is one of the materials which is a great ally in order to build a circular economy”
Finally, MEP Anne Sander shed an industrial policy look on the event:
“Europe is in a leading position but we have to work in a clever way in order to set emission reduction goals that are reachable. It would be dramatic to set emission reduction standards and goals that would be so hard to achieve that they become an incentive for industry to move outside Europe”
The overall concept of REINVEST2050 is to stimulate competition between companies on low carbon solutions in order to create a domino effect and encourage the deployment of innovative solutions.
Is there an innitiative contributing to low-carbon emission societies in your country? Stay tuned and submit your project for the next edition of REINVEST2050.
Please visit our dedicated website for more information about the project and the event here.
All pictures from the event are featured here.