Roswall outlines roadmap for the EU's circular economy
European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and a Competitive Circular Economy Jessika Roswall spoke at the European Policy Centre on 14 October 2025 at a policy dialogue titled “Towards a Circular and Resilient Economy in Europe: Enabling Valorisation and Uptake of Recycled Materials”.
She was joined by Lyonel Rouve (SUEZ), Emmanuel Chaponniere (European Investment Bank), Eva Maria Bille (European Environmental Bureau), Maria Vera Duran (Recycling Europe), Morgane Veillet Lavallée (Circle Economy), and William Neale (European Commission).
Roswall emphasised that transitioning to a circular economy is central to the EU’s political and economic agenda. “Moving from a linear, wasteful economy to a circular, sustainable one is a political priority for the EU – and personally for me.”
She stressed that the circular economy must now be seen in a broader strategic context: “Today we also need to place the conversation in a much wider context – our security, our resilience, and our competitiveness.” Embedding circularity into these areas, she argued, will reduce dependencies, cut emissions and secure critical materials – potentially lowering EU greenhouse gas emissions by up to 25% by 2030.
Despite progress under the Green Deal, Europe remains 90% linear. The upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) aims to bridge the gap between policy and implementation by creating a unified market for secondary materials, increasing recycled content and simplifying regulation.
“Before the end of this year, we will adopt short-term initiatives to boost investment, apply trade measures where justified, and simplify regulation,” Roswall announced. “Together with the Clean Industrial Deal, these measures will make our vision for economic security, competitiveness, and decarbonisation a reality.”
Speakers highlighted that cheaper primary materials continue to undercut recycling markets, calling for fiscal incentives, harmonised standards and stronger demand for recycled content. The EIB Innovation Fund will support investment in high-quality recycling infrastructure.
Participants agreed that removing regulatory bottlenecks and fostering cooperation between policymakers, industry and civil society will be key to making Europe’s circular transition a competitive advantage.
The event was moderated by Stefan Šipka, Head of the Sustainable Prosperity for Europe Programme at the EPC.
Click here to watch the recording of the event.
Click here to read the full speech of Commissioner Jessika Roswall.
Rajnish Singh is a Media Outreach Executive at the EPC Communications team.
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