On 11 February 2026, IEEP UK together with the EU Delegation to the United Kingdom and the British Academy hosted ‘Delivering growth across Europe through a circular economy’, a partnership event and reception which featured the EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, and the UK Government’s Minister for Nature, Mary Creagh CBE MP, who holds the circular economy brief. 

The event opened with welcomes from British Academy Fellows Patrick Haggard and Harriet Bulkeley OBE, before speeches from Commissioner Roswall, and Minister Creagh, who addressed a room packed with leading experts in circular economy across business, academia, and civil society, including members of the UK Government’s Circular Economy Taskforce. Representatives from a number of embassies were also present. 

Commissioner Roswall’s speech covered the EU’s progress on circular economy to date, with a focus on ecodesign and particularly the 2024 Ecodesign Regulation, which is introducing more stringent criteria for product durability, repairability and recyclability across a range of product types, including textiles. The Commissioner also looked forward to the EU’s Circular Economy Act, scheduled for adoption in 2026. This is set to include new measures to boost demand for recycled materials and improve their quality, in a bid to build tackle bottlenecks on both the supply and demand side of the supply chain. The Commissioner also highlighted that the EU is keeping tabs on the UK’s progress with its Circular Economy Growth Plan and noted the importance of knowledge sharing between the UK and EU in this area.

Minister Creagh’s speech focused on the upcoming Circular Economy Growth Plan – which she said will be published ‘soon’ – as well as the need for the UK to learn from the EU’s experiences, and the shared ambition on many areas of the circular economy.

These speeches were followed by a panel, chaired by IEEP UK’s Executive Director Ben Reynolds, for which Commissioner Roswall and Minister Creagh were joined by Professor Paul Ekins, Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, and Rachel Solomon Williams, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group. 

In his introductory speech, Ben welcomed the renewed dialogue and cooperation between the UK and EU on environmental matters and noted that circular economy policy does not operate in a silo but must be realised through various policy areas including water, chemicals and food and farming. In their contributions, Professor Ekins reflected on his experience and learnings as Deputy Chair of the UK Government’s Circular Economy Taskforce, and Rachel spoke on the importance of UK-EU alignment on multiple areas of circular economy policy, including ecodesign, for businesses operating across borders.

To read the Commissioner’s speech in full, please follow this link.

Our joint report with Aldersgate Group – Review of the UK and EU Circular Economy Legislation Landscapes and Implications for Businesses – is available here.

The photos of the event below are courtesy of Lars Stephan.