It is frustrating to see our old electronics being trashed, including at local recycling centres, especially when we know they could have been used by...
08/02/2017 Today, 31 European and international NGOs publish a letter to Member States proposing actions on a number of chemicals substances to be discussed at a...
There is an increasing trend towards replacing conventional fossil-based plastics with bioplastics. Governments and industry are using the green-sounding credentials of bioplastics to promote them...
Work areas and priorities
- Standardisation & Policy
- Climate change & Clean energy
- Ecodesign & Energy Labelling
- Circular Economy
- Environmental Health
Standards can promote economic growth, competitiveness and innovation. They are increasingly used to support EU laws and policies, including in areas of public interest where they impact the protection of consumers, working conditions, citizens’ welfare and the protection of the environment.
Our work contributes to ensure a transparent European Standardisation System, with a balanced representation of interests and effective participation of societal stakeholders. With more and more European standards being drafted at an international level, including in response to European Commission’s mandates, ECOS advocates for the same principles to be ensured in the international standardisation process.
The effects of climate change continue to become increasingly visible. The political determination to prevent a detrimental global temperature increase has reached new peaks. ECOS continues to carry out activities that help combat climate change and promote clean energy.
ECOS works to ensure that standards contribute to achieve the Paris Climate deal, the Montreal Protocol, and the EU 2030 Energy and Climate goals, by making clean tech solutions easily accessible to consumers and the market, be they electric vehicles, smart grids, smart appliances, or refrigerants. We also advocate for ambitious environmental requirements in standards addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, and for strong sustainability requirements for biomass.
The EU Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Directives have the potential to be the most effective tools for achieving major energy, resource and CO2 reductions in the EU.
ECOS works to ensure product-specific Ecodesign legislation is ambitious and properly implemented. We aim to make the Ecodesign Directive better tackle resource efficiency aspects, including through the development of clear material efficiency standards and product-specific requirements. This will in turn increase product lifetime and recyclability, and avoid the use of hazardous substances.
ECOS is the only NGO working on all aspects of the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling policy frameworks, and ensuring their proper implementation and enforcement.
The successful implementation of the EU’s Action plan for a Circular Economy is at the heart of ECOS’ efforts to preserve, protect and enhance the natural capital of the EU.
ECOS contributes to the development, maintenance and revision of guidance documents and standards in support of the Circular Economy to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns. This means engaging in standardisation activities to ensure high levels of resource recovery, recyclability, reusability, effective waste prevention and sustainable waste management solutions. Standardised test methods for environmental characterisation will form the basis for assessing, and consequently, achieving truly clean material flows in the European Circular Economy context.
The negative effects of human activity, including pollution, climate change, natural resource depletion and biodiversity loss, cause environmental degradation and impact human health.
To help safeguard environmental health in Europe and beyond, we focus our efforts on the areas of chemicals management, nanotechnologies, and air quality.
ECOS works on standards for problematic substances and nanotechnologies, to ensure that standards effectively support the EU chemicals policy framework, the Circular Economy and corresponding future legislative developments. Through these activities, we aim to work towards an ultimately toxic-free environment.