On 24 February 2022, the Lodzkie Region organized its 5th LCA4Regions Stakeholder Event titled “A circular perspective on the region's economy 2022+”. The meeting was held online and gathered 23 participants including stakeholders and Lodzkie Region representatives. The aim of the meeting is to show real opportunities offered by circular economy and the use of LCA included an overview of the most promising initiatives and EU projects related to regions and entities. The event brought together stakeholders from several Interreg Europe projects with related themes (Replace, GPP4Growth, DeCarb). It was to create synergies between them and address it to all who are interested in practical benefits resulting from the implementation of LCA in enterprises.
During the meeting the possibilities of implementing the most promising projects connected with the Community funds allocated for the undertakings of the Green Deal era were presented. The discussion also used the knowledge and good practices gathered together in the LCA4Regions project in terms of identifying the most pro-environmental areas of activity of companies and their environment. The use of LCA in terms of image benefits and cost reductions was emphasized. Also important was the context of LCA and related methodologies in strengthening competitiveness and facilitating expansion into the markets of environmentally conscious B2B partners and demanding EU consumers. The event "Circular perspective in the economy of the region 2022+" was realized together with substantive partners i.e. experts and scientists from the Lodz University of Technology (TUL), Czestochowa University of Technology (CUT) and Horizontal Contact Point (HPK-Central Poland).
Prof. Andrzej Marcinkowski (TUL) made a presentation "Innovations in Supply Chain as well as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Carbon Footprint (CF) methodologies". It also included an introduction to the issue and a study case of a civil/environmental engineering company. Prof. Tomasz Nitkiewicz (CUT) performed issues related to quality changes and identification of key success factors in the pro-environmental activities of the company, such as circularity in the company, sustainable supply and value chains, implementation of circular innovation and LCA in the industrial ecosystem.
HPK team, that is Jolanta Pacura and Michał Kaczmarek presented possibilities of implementation of the Closed Circuit Economy (CFC), circular economy processes by participation in Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. They also discussed Horizon Europe (HE) areas in terms of these processes, possible forms of participation, basic financing rules, together with brief information about other EC initiatives and synergy programmes to Horizon Europe (HE).
The meeting ended with a lively question and answer session. The next stakeholder meeting is planned in April in connection with the announcement of the Lodzkie Region Action Plan.
