The imposition of a circular model of the economy is solely in the hands of business. This was stated by the honorary chairman of the jury of "ESG AWARDS 2024" George Kremlinis during the ceremony of the first edition of the contest of ESGnews.bg.
The Kremlin and the former Minister of Environment and Water of Bulgaria and member of the jury Ivelina Vasileva held a discussion dedicated to the circular economy and ESG. Before getting into the subject, however, both expressed their admiration for the competition "ESG AWARDS".
“I am very happy to be a part of the first edition of "ESG AWARDS". I want to especially thank my friend Boyan Tomov and the team of ESGnews.bg, who does an excellent job. The promotion of ESG is important not only for Bulgaria, but for our region, and for Europe as a whole," Kremlin said.
"Thanks to the organizers from ESGnews.bg for the conduct of this competition. I wish many editions of "ESG AWARDS" and in the future, there will be many more participants, including international ones. It was an honor for me to be part of the jury. Congratulations to all the winners, as well as to all the companies that participated in the competition," added Ivelina Vasileva.
The importance of the circular economy for society
Ivelina Vasileva did not fail to remind about the good relations that the Kremlin has with Bulgaria.
"It is an extraordinary honor and joy for me to be next to George Kremlinis, a very good friend of Bulgaria, a proven expert and professional, an expert with enormous experience in the field of environmental protection and climate change. Thanks to him, Bulgaria has achieved a lot in its efforts to develop legislation in the field of the environment, to develop and implement it, and also to implement important strategic projects," she said.
The two then focused on the topic of the circular economy.
"The demand for raw materials and energy resources is growing, and many of them are limited, making the EU dependent on other countries. On the other hand, the extraction and use of raw materials increases energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, a more reasonable use of raw materials is also part of the fight against climate change. EU industry has already started the transition to net zero, but it still accounts for around 20% of the generation of greenhouse emissions. It remains too dependent on the amount of new material processed. And of these materials, only 12% were obtained by recycling. The Bulgarian economy, for its part, has the highest resource intensity within the EU and in one of the first places in waste generation per capita, we have a lot of catching up to do," Vasileva said.
She turned to the Kremlin with a question about how the circular economy can help society and how aware is it on the business side?
"The circular economy is a new economic model that should completely replace the old linear variant, which is currently still leading. However, with it, the planet's resources will practically be exhausted. This is precisely why we need the faster implementation of a circular economy in every aspect - to preserve the Earth's resources. Because if we continue with the harmful habits of producing goods that very soon after become waste and therefore we do not need them, then only by 2040 or 2050 we will need two or three planets. This, of course, is completely impossible. There is no way we can move to another planet. This is precisely why we need to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint and create a new economy that is in line with the Green Deal and the EU taxonomy," said the honorary chairman of the jury of "ESG AWARDS 2024".
Who has a key role to play in implementing ESG and the circular model?
ESG thinking needs to become a value system for companies. But who should enforce it – that was the next important topic in the discussion.
“The circular economy is part of the ESG theme. Many people today are talking about ESG and this active recognition of these policies by businesses. However, this is not just a business model or a way to implement sustainable policies. ESG is actually part of the companies' values. That is why it is important to know how tools are developed at the European level to support ESG mechanisms," Vasileva pointed out.
The Kremlin was more specific – according to him, private business holds the fate of the circular economy in its hands.
"The state cannot become a businessman. The state can only participate in public-private partnerships, for example by providing land for the development of a project. So we can conclude that the economy is driven by the private sector everywhere in the world. And not only through large multinational corporations that are managed on a global level, but also through other smaller companies. Therefore, the transition to a circular model depends solely on the private sector. The production of goods of a new generation, sparing the world's resources, is entirely in the hands of business. It is crucial that the circular model prevails, and this will happen with such products - with longer life cycles that can be maintained and repaired rather than constantly replaced.
The products of the future are those that will be converted back into materials, or into secondary products that can be used again. This maxim can be followed by large companies in their supply chains - a product used by a multinational corporation at the end of its life cycle is provided to another company down the chain. Let's also pay attention to the problem of the lack of resources, especially in the EU. We all talk about renewable energy, about energy storage. But these things have a basic need for one thing – critical raw materials that we in Europe do not have. The vast majority of these raw materials are found in Russia, or to put it more generally – in the BRICS countries. So, with European regulations alone, the circular model will not be achieved, much more serious cooperation is needed at the global level," he stated.
The example of Greece
Finally, George Kremlis was asked to outline good examples from Greece of applying ESG and circular practices.
“ESG is a process. A company cannot transform its business model into ESG overnight. Continuous steps need to be taken. In Greece, many companies and households are already taking these steps. Many businesses are already moving towards renewable energy consumption. Households too – with solar panels on their roofs. To some extent, they are also forced to be durable and resistant to climate change, which is felt too strongly in the country. However, now another problem is on the agenda – how to store the generated energy. Another good example from Greece is the ambition to eliminate the carbon footprint of the use of lignite. It is planned that their use will end by 2028. This was supposed to happen earlier, but the plans changed because of the war in Ukraine," said Jord Kremlis.
George Kremlis is a member of the Board of the European Public Law Organization and chairs its Climate and Circular Economy Institute. He is also a member of the Environmental and Social Advisory Board of the EBRD and is currently Chair of the Bureau of the Espoo Convention. Chair of MOPs in 2019, elected Chair of MOPs in December 2020 and re-elected Chair for the period 2021-2023 and for the new period until 2027. George Kremlis is an Honorary Director of the European Commission (EC) and is acted in this capacity as an active senior responsible for the circular economy of the islands. He is the Chairman of AmCham's Circular Economy Committee and an advisor to the Environment Committee of the Greek Parliament. Until recently, he was a special advisor to the Greek Prime Minister on energy, climate, environment and circular economy issues.
Ivelina Vasileva has more than 15 years of experience in the public sphere. In the period 2014-2017 Ivelina Vasileva is the Minister of Environment and Water in the second government of GERB. In this capacity, she is responsible for developing and implementing national environmental protection legislation, climate change policies, monitoring and control, as well as national and donor programs for financing environmental projects. Ivelina Vasileva was elected as a representative of the Burgas multi-mandate constituency in the 42nd, 43rd, 44th and 45th National Assembly. During the mandate from 2017 to 2021. she is Chair of the Standing Committee on Environment and Water and Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on European Affairs and Control of European Funds. He is currently a Board Member of the Mission for the Protection of Oceans, Seas and Inland Waters at the European Commission.