Circular Economy Audit (CE-Audit)
Environmental protection is not only a socio-political but also an economic mega-topic. This applies both to suppliers of environmental protection technologies and to the many manufacturing companies in NRW that use these technologies. Anyone looking for funding for an innovative idea in the future needs to know that a third of the investments from the NextGenerationEU construction package and the EU's seven-year budget, totaling 1.8 trillion euros, will go to the Green Deal. Federal and state funds are also following this trend. To assess where one's own company stands, ZENIT has developed an online audit CE check.
The Green Deal with its ambitious objectives is one of the priorities of European policy. An essential aspect of its implementation is the promotion of research and innovation. At its center is Horizon Europe, the EU framework program for research and innovation, about which the NRW.Europa team at ZENIT regularly provides information in various event formats and individual consultations.
The new action plan of the EU Commission as part of the Green Deal brings new impulses such as Circular Value Creation. Its basic idea, or the Circular Economy, sounds as captivatingly good as it is simple: instead of disposing of products at the end of their use phase, it aims to preserve the value of the raw materials they contain as optimally as possible.
However, this raises a number of complex questions: What exactly are products made of? How are they installed, and how much effort does it take to recover them? For example, is the product glued or screwed together? What demand exists temporarily and where for recycled raw materials, from which their value is then derived?
Who can answer these questions better than the entrepreneur or the entire company itself? In order to facilitate a first start for interested companies, ZENIT has developed a Circular Economy-Audit als Online-Tool, with which one independently enters various company areas and questions and mirrors their processes with different aspects of the Circular Economy approach. The audit is industry-independent and can be used by almost all manufacturing companies.
Sustainability as an image theme
However, the advantages of the Circular Economy approach do not only include the saving of expensive resources, compliance with laws and the chance to attract subsidies. The "image" of a company is also becoming increasingly important. Particularly in view of the shortage of skilled workers, companies that make an effort to protect the environment have a clear advantage over others in the eyes of young people. However, customers are also becoming more demanding in terms of environmentally compatible production and product standards and climate protection. The same applies to the company in "negotiations" with banks, insurance companies, public authorities and neighbors in the vicinity of production.
Regardless of the perspective from which the topic of sustainability is approached: It dominates economic activity and can be actively shaped. We look forward to your use of the CE Check for self-assessment and will be happy to advise you.
Contact
ZENIT GmbH / Enterprise Europe Network
für Nordrhein-Westfalen NRW.Europa
Michael Nolden
Telefon: 0208 30004-67
E-Mail: no(at)zenit.de