The National Environment Congress (CONAMA in Spanish) is the largest meeting point for professionals in the environmental sector in Spain, which aims to present the main current issues in environmental mat-ters, disseminate information and provoke debate.
The 2022 edition was held last November, in which more than 5,000 congressmen participated and more than one hundred activities were held, marked by the need to face an effective energy transition.
Some of these activities included plenary sessions, technical sessions, workshops, and other special ones, like assemblies or book presentations. In the main courtyard of the Instituto Ferial de Madrid, posters were displayed, and institutions were able to statically present their projects. It was the case with the CircPro project. This poster presented general information on this initiative that aims to generalize circular procurement within public purchasing and contracting: The composition of the consortium, large figures, and sources of financing, and, above all, the achievements. Contact information was provided on the poster itself, and project personnel was next to it, informing whoever required it.
One of our reference stakeholders, the Association of Construction and Demolition Waste Managers, AGRECA, authors of the catalog of recycled aggregates, coordinated a table in which the status of digitiza-tion in waste traceability was discussed.
Within the themes of the congress, the most related to the project has been, without a doubt, the two converging trends:
- The taxonomy of economic activities and sectors based on their sustainability, which will radically help buyers to select products with less environmental impact and services that are more respectful of the environment.
- The increase in reporting needs for companies: new topics on compliance, governance, and, related to the circular economy, sustainability, are being added to the usual and consolidated information needs in financial matters.
The need to consolidate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria in this information was highlighted, and the different reporting standards that are appearing on the market were analyzed.
The CircPro project, and circular public purchasing in general, were expected to arouse interest in the public sector, but one result in which expectations have been exceeded has been in the interest shown by private companies, suppliers to the public sector, who have been involved in the project by participat-ing in various training activities. In fact, the presentation of the project has been included in a panel at the next annual meeting of the Health Technology sector.
Although the increase in environmental and circular requirements in public procurement is part of the administration, it has no choice but to spread to the rest of the economy, ─even if it is due to contagion! ─ and there will be more and more companies that are improving their performance environment and, at the same time, learning to certify and report it.
These two trends perfectly represent the spirit behind Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production: Public administrations and consumers choose more environmentally friendly products, and companies adapt to this trend and identify it with their clients.
Continuing with CircPro's participation in CONAMA 2022, the Compilation of Technical Scientific Publica-tions and Project Dissemination accepted within the Framework of the National Environmental Congress includes communication about the project. This publication, and the rest of those presented at the Con-gress, can be consulted at the following link:
16º Congreso Nacional del Medio Ambiente (Conama 2022)
Filtering by the name of the project, you can access both the communication corresponding to this pro-ject and an image of the poster that was exhibited during the Congress at the Institución Ferial de Madrid.
