Page 13 - Nemko - Annual performance - 2020
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Towards a more life cycle-based Since then, additional focus has been directed
approach to governmental regulation towards the entire lifecycle of products and
materials, prolonging the life for products and
In Europe, the change to sustainability has materials in use and recycling at the end of
been taken from a focus on reduction in carbon products’ life. In addition to environmental
emissions over to circular economy. This is concerns, this focus also reflects business
combined with the EU countries’ ambitious concerns regarding future regional or global
target: A 55% reduction of greenhouse gases lack of raw materials, both in mines and in
by 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2050. the supply chain. We see today enormous
resources are spent mining new materials for
The initial focus of one of the key environmental making electrical, short-lived appliances.
regulations in Europe was the Eco-design
Directive, which was bringing down CO2 Regional and national initiatives are being
levels in the atmosphere by reducing electricity taken. For instance, the EU’s Eco-design
consumption. The link between consumption Directive is intended to extend the lifetime of
of electricity and CO2 was of course Europe’s existing products and to increase recyclability
dependence on fossil-fueled power plants with for products at end of life. Individual nations
an average efficiency as low as 40%. are also taking unilateral action in the same
direction. Another example is the EU transition
to LED lamps, giving a double return by both
reducing energy consumption by 90% and
significantly expanding the lifetime from 1000
hours to more than 25000 hours. There is
obvious room for improvement. According
to the UN, 53.6 million metric tons (Mt) of
electro industry waste (e-waste) was generated
worldwide in 2019, having increased with a
staggering 21% in just five years. On recycling,
the countries in the European Union are by far
the best-in-class recycling 42.5% of their 16 Mt
generated. Asia comes second with a recycling
rate of 12%.
Need for trust
The environmental and sustainable playing field
is an arena flooded by self-declared brightness
and performance. Nemko’s role as a trusted
third party will be more important than ever.
New Nemko service lines are being created
to enable our customers documented and
compliant contribution to sustainable growth.
In this manner, Nemko will remain an attractive
and trusted employer.
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