The Basque Circular Summit 2025 has bolstered its position as the largest circular economy event in southern Europe. The Summit, held at Euskalduna Bilbao from 2 to 4 April, has rallied 700 Basque companies from the sector and has attracted over 1,300 people.

The Summit, organised by the Basque Government's environmental management agency, has featured over 150 expert speakers on different areas related to circularity, along with a large exhibition zone where a hundred or so Basque companies have showcased their circular solutions, and a stand area where a score of entities have cast the spotlight on their initiatives and projects.

The Basque Circular Summit 2025 has established itself as the leading European conference on the circular economy, gathering together 700 companies and over 1,300 delegates

Alexander Boto Bastegieta, Ihobe's general manager, pointed out that 'strengthening the circular economic model will enable Basque companies to face the changes in the international arena'; that is even more so the case given the tariff war declared by Donald Trump's administration. According to the Basque Government's initial estimate, the Basque companies affected could have to bear an extra cost of over €400 million on the €2,000 million a year that the Basque Country exports to the United States.

In order to prepare Basque industry for this and other challenges, the Basque Circular Summit 2025 has focused on the need for companies to anticipate, taking the new European planning and legislation into account. Inspired by the recommendations of the Draghi Report, the European Commission launched its 'EU Competitiveness Compass', a strategy to bolster industrial competitiveness, in early 2024; in addition, this year has seen the publication of the Clean Industrial Deal, which integrates circularity with decarbonisation to reduce the environmental footprint of the industrial sector and to improve its efficiency, innovation and strategic autonomy.

'The circular economy is no longer a trend; it is a pressing trend to guarantee the competitiveness of Basque companies and a sustainable future', assessed Boto; he went on to stress that 'conferences such as the Basque Circular Summit are vital to progress along that path, sharing knowledge, innovation and strategies'. The Ihobe general manager also stressed the importance of 'aligning the Basque business fabric with European directives', as 'the transition towards circularity cannot be put off and Europe cannot alone curb the unsustainable use of resources'. 'The Basque Country has the will and is more than ready to contribute to that necessary change', he concluded.

The Summit, held at Euskalduna Bilbao from 2 to 4 April, has confirmed that the circular economy is not a trend, but rather a pressing need to guarantee the competitiveness of Basque companies and a sustainable future

A meeting point to further progress

Around 150 speakers have actively taken part in the three days of the Summit, one of whom was Mónica Chao. An expert in energy sustainability, business transformation and ESG leadership in Spain, Chao stressed that Europe needs an industrial transformation to drive competitiveness through sustainability and the Basque Country has been working for year in that direction. 'Committing to decarbonisation, innovation and the circular economy is - with the new Clean Industrial Deal - a strategic opportunity to bolster our industrial autonomy and create quality jobs in a resilient and predictable legal environment', she stressed.

In turn, Janez Potocnik, Co-Chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel and former European commissioner, pointed out: ‘governments need to mainstream the circular economy, providing it with economic instruments to drive green taxation, green public procurement, but, above all, by educating and training'.

The Basque Circular Summit 2025 has also clearly shown that advancing towards a circular economy and society is not divorced from the financial world. Sustainable finance implies that the environmental, social and good governance (ESG) factors are taken into account in investment decision making.

The Summit also analysed how to strengthen the role of consumer to achieve a change in consumption patterns, by analysing in detail the new instruments implemented by Europe, such as Directive 2024/825 on empowering consumers, or the future directive regarding green claims. 'As consumers, we have a joint responsibility, as we are another agent of all of the ones on the market, a link in the circularity chain with ability to empower ourselves and to help in the rolling out of the circular economy once and for all', stressed Brenda Chávez, a solution and data investigative journalist and expert in sustainability, when speaking at the Summit.

This Basque Circular Summit has also cast the spotlight on technology, which is essential to accelerate the climate and circular transition in industry. And the Basque Country – reaching further that what the European Union has already defined – has a very ambitious tool: the Basque List of Clean Technologies, a tax instrument driven by Ihobe, EVE and SPRI that allows 30% of the investment cost of the equipment to be deducted from the amount of corporation tax due.

The Ihobe general manager also stressed the importance of 'aligning the Basque business fabric with European directives', as 'the transition towards circularity cannot be put off'

The European Commission, through the INCITE platform, supports the deployment of innovative technologies and assists European industry in its decarbonization and the goal of achieving zero pollution. Ioannis Retsoulis, scientific lead for sustainable industry projects at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, emphasized that "the Clean Technologies List promoted by the Basque Country is perfectly aligned with this objective”.

Over the three days, other sessions have also been held on packaging, the textile sector, critical raw materials, construction materials, the role of municipalities in the circular economy the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD), right to repair, the European waste framework, SME sustainability assessment, greenwashing, European taxonomy, environmental assessment tools, circular business models, artificial intelligence and ecoinnovation in materials efficiency.

Further information: www.basquecircularsummit.eus