This policy brief covers the following key messages:

• A circular economy can contribute significantly to reduce carbon emissions and achieve the climate targets in the hard-to-abate sectors
• Buildings are a key value chain related to a high demand for energy-intensive materials and characterised by high circularity potentials
• Within the EU-funded project newTRENDs, a modelling approach and data basis were developed and applied, that quantify the contribution of circular buildings to the industry decarbonisation
• Besides the cycling of materials, actions addressing building design and use can reduce steel and cement demand for buildings by up to 38% respectively 26% in 2050
• The current EU policy mix is not sufficient to exploit these material demand emissions reduction potentials
• newTRENDs recommends to focus on 5 key points to improve the policy mix, highlighting the central role of green public procurement in the early stage of a circular economy:
  • A life cycle perspective: The policy mix should address all stages of a building’s lifecycle well-balanced and without contradictions.
  • Broaden the scope: An understanding of the circular economy beyond the cycling of materials is necessary to fully exploit its potentials.
  • Push and pull: The instruments should support both – a market push and a market pull, to equip the EU market for a circular economy.
  • From voluntary to obligatory: Instruments such as green public procurement can be used to roll out obligatory requirements to all consumers.
  • Stay focused: Product-specific requirements are necessary to meet the special requirements for buildings (affordability, liveability and sustainability).