Green Deal: EBC met Diederik Samsom during monthly construction lunch

In the framework of the monthly Construction lunches initiated by Construction Products Europe in 2019, EBC organised the first edition in 2020 and invited high-level construction actors from the European Commission and the industry to discuss the European Green Deal.

In setting the scene, EBC Vice-President Philip van Nieuwenhuizen stressed the importance to collectively work on reaching the EU’s ambitions to ensure that no one is left behind. He highlighted the importance to focus on small-scale renovation projects, to provide an appropriate framework for recycled materials and reused products, to promote accessible recycling and recovery facilities to enable market conditions, and to upskill and reskill construction workers with regard to digitalisation, circular economy and energy efficiency.

Following EBC’s invitation to commonly transform challenges into opportunities, high level speaker Diederik Samsom, Head of Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, outlined the ambitions, the holistic approach and the just and fair transition aspects of the European Green Deal. Fulvia Raffaelli, Head of the Unit Circular Economy and Construction, added that the construction sector is an enabler to reach a sustainable built environment and thus of very high importance in the Green Deal discussions. Then, the attendees discussed topics such as the renovation wave, the open stakeholder platform addressing barriers to renovation and the Construction Products Regulation.