AUTHOR: Emma Watkins
The new Ecodesign Forum, the expert group that will assist the European Commission in implementing the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), held its first meeting in February. As well as Member State representatives, the consultative Forum’s initial membership comprises 81 trade/business associations, 16 NGOs and 3 research institutes/think tanks – including IEEP.
In this blog, we report on the main outcomes of that meeting, ahead of the next expert group meeting on 1 April. The European Commission conveners highlighted the critical role of ecodesign in tackling inefficient resource use, supply shortages and strategic dependencies, and helping to realign EU production and consumption patterns with planetary boundaries. This was echoed by Commissioner Roswall’s keynote address in which she highlighted the need to fix the broken system of supply and demand and address the current shameful waste of resources.
Top of the agenda at the Forum’s first meeting was a discussion on the priorities for the first ESPR and Energy Labelling Working Plan, which is likely to be valid for 5 years (2025-2030), with a potential review after 3 years (in 2028).
The Commission’s proposed list of product groups for the working plan (with estimated adoption dates for the associated delegated acts) is as follows:
- 3 final products: textiles/apparel (late 2026/early 2027), tyres (2027), furniture (2028)
- 2 intermediate products: steel (late 2026), aluminium (2027)
- 2 horizontal requirements: repairability (including scoring) (2026), recyclability and recycled content of electric and electronic equipment (2028)
- 16 energy-related products carried over from the previous Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan (2026-2030)
This represents a slimmed-down list from the one suggested by Article 18 of the ESPR. It includes ICT products/electronics only within the work on horizontal requirements, and omits footwear from textiles, mattresses from furniture, detergents, paints, lubricants and chemicals.
The Commission’s reasoning – that these products either have lower environmental impacts, less improvement potential, are already addressed by other planned legislation, or are highly complex (in the case of chemicals) – was the subject of some debate with stakeholders. The Commission is legally required to adopt the first working plan by 19 April, so it will be interesting to see if any of the excluded items make it back in. If not, there will no doubt be room for further discussion ahead of the review scheduled for 2028.
Key takeaways from the first meeting
IEEP has long been arguing that excessive extraction, production, manufacturing and consumption of material resources in the EU must be explicitly addressed (see our report The missing piece of the EU Green Deal – The case for an EU resources law), so it’s encouraging to hear this message being reflected right at the start of the Ecodesign Forum’s discussions.
Although the range of products to be included in the first working plan will be smaller than indicated in the ESPR, we hope this offers an opportunity to focus in depth, to fully test the new approach to ecodesign policymaking during this first implementation phase, and for the Forum to advocate for well-targeted, specific and bold measures to fulfil the ESPR’s objectives.
The work of the Ecodesign Forum will also be instrumental in supporting the recently published Clean Industrial Deal and the Circular Economy Act, due to be tabled in late 2026. The Commission clearly stated in the Clean Industrial Deal that there are many missing opportunities for EU industry due to the absence of a single market for waste and secondary materials, as well as inefficient use and re-use of valuable scarce material in the supply chain. Ecodesign requirements will help to promote cleaner and more sustainable products, including through their potential use as future public procurement criteria – they should therefore be considered in the upcoming review of the EU’s public procurement directives, to support the objectives of a greener, more innovative EU economy that contributes to addressing resilience concerns.
Ecodesign requirements must also be used to drive greater material circularity, including for the critical raw materials (CRMs) and strategic raw materials (SRMs) that are needed for the global and EU clean energy transition (see our report on how circularity and sustainable resource management can contribute to this transition). The future horizontal requirements on repairability, recyclability and recycled content of electric and electronic equipment should be designed to contribute to the intra-EU circularity of the valuable CRMs and SRMs contained in these products, ensuring a more efficient use of materials, a reduction in global dependencies, and support for the objective to achieve 24% material circularity overall by 2030 (compared with the current 11.8%).
It is positive that repairability is part of the horizontal requirements as it contributes to extended lifespan of products, reducing resource use over time. To reap the full benefits of increased circularity, future horizontal requirements should seek to integrate other circularity ‘R’ strategies that enable smarter product design and use – such as rethink, reduce, and re-use – as highlighted in our report on Circularity and the European Critical Raw Materials Act.
After the adoption of the first working plan in April, there will still be a long way to go to develop the implementing measures. IEEP looks forward to contributing to the extremely valuable work of the Ecodesign Forum over the coming months and years.
In the meantime, look out for our new policy paper on the ESPR, due to be published in March.
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
