Forthcoming proposals designed to overhaul European Union waste legislation will be a “package on the circular economy,” the European Commission has said. The package, scheduled for publication later in 2014, will review several EU directives, and could introduce new waste targets, with the aim of driving greater resource efficiency in line with the 2011 Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe and the Eco-innovation Action Plan.

Belgium's Ecover is already widely known as a sustainability pioneer. The company's products – laundry powder, washing-up liquid and soaps – are produced from less environmentally harmful ingredients, and are carried in greener packaging. The company also has a reputation as an innovator, and has recently claimed two eco-innovation “firsts”.

A French company is potentially making the roll-out of electric mobility in European cities easier by offering a suite of “SunPods”, or vehicle recharging points powered by solar energy. In doing so, the company, Nice-based ADVANSOLAR, is building on recent developments that have been seen especially in the United States, where the installation of carports or parking canopies featuring solar panels has grown rapidly: installed capacity of solar panels on carports in the US exceeded 100 megawatts each year from 2011 to 2013, equivalent to enough power for about 20,000 homes.