SDG 12: responsible consumption and production

The sustainable development goal ‘responsible consumption and production’ (SDG 12) calls for a comprehensive set of actions from businesses, policy-makers and consumers to adapt to sustainable practices. It envisions sustainable production and consumption based on advanced technological capacity, resource efficiency and reduced global waste.

One of the Eurostat indicators used to measure progress in SDG 12 is the circular material use rate, which measures the share of material recovered and fed back into the economy in the overall material use. Between 2008 and 2023, the EU circular material use rate increased from 9.1% to 11.8%. However, since 2016, it has largely stagnated. The EU has set a target to double the materials used from collected waste compared with 2020 levels to 22.4% by 2030.

Among the EU countries, the Netherlands have the highest circular material use rate with 30.6%, followed at a distance by Italy, with 20.8% and Malta, with 19.8%. The rates were lowest in Romania (1.3%), Ireland (2.3%) and Finland (2.4%).