Cassa Depositi e Prestiti together with the European Investment Bank and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (Poland), Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Group which includes Bpifrance (France), Instituto de Crédito Oficial (Spain) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (Germany) have launched an initiative aimed at promoting the development and implementation of projects concerning the circular economy in the European Union as part of the activities promoted by the EU Commission to foster a new awareness of the issues in question.
Through this agreement in the next 5 years – from 2019 to 2023 – they will be 10 billion euros of investments have been mobilized for the implementation of three main objectives:
- the reduction of waste production,
- improving resource efficiency,
- support for innovation by promoting circularity in the economy.
Each institute involved in the partnership will make its scientific-financial expertise available, contributing to the implementation of the projects and the approaches necessary for their implementation.
At a practical level, "the joint initiative will make it possible to activate loans, equity investments or guarantees in relation to eligible projects, and to develop innovative financing instruments in favor of public and private infrastructures, municipalities, private companies of different sizes or projects in the research and innovation sector
In detail, the plan provides for Promote investments in EU Member States that will enable a faster transition to a circular economy, taking care of all phases of the value chain and life cycle of products and services:
- circular design and production – application of strategies based on waste reduction and recycling in order to exclude the production of waste itself from the beginning, before commercialization;
- circular use and extension of the life of objects – possibility of reusing, repairing, renewing or regenerating products during use or to change their intended use;
- circular value recovery – in reference to materials and other resources recoverable from waste, waste heat and/or reuse of waste water following treatment;
- circular support – facilitation of circular strategies at all stages of the lifecycle, for example through the deployment of key information and communication technologies (ICT), digitization and services supporting business models and value chains such as indeed, circular.
"CDP's 2019-21 Business Plan - explains the CEO of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Fabrizio Palermo – for the first time aims to integrate sustainability into the company's strategic choices. CDP is committed to promoting a paradigm shift in Italy towards a more sustainable and inclusive development model with a particular focus on local communities. This European partnership demonstrates, once again, the centrality of the role of national promotion institutions in favor of growth and sustainable development at European level.”
