The circular economy and climate change mitigation are matters that closely involve the cement and concrete sectors, resulting from the implementation of new national and European directives.  And these topics were specifically the point of discussion when manufacturers from the Federbeton sector met with representatives from Institutions, the Fondazione per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile (Foundation for Sustainable Development), ICESP, ISPRA and ANCI, together with support from the ETH of Zurich, on June 6 at the Senate Library in Rome. 
Having been committed to material and energy recovery in their production cycles for many years, manufacturers are ready to meet this challenge, which is crucial for the future of man on the planet, thanks to their ability to give new life to waste materials by transforming them into raw materials and as an alternative to fossil fuels. Nonetheless, they face a number of external obstacles along this path to sustainability, such as legislative differences, mistrust on the part of the territory, lack of symbiosis within the industry.  
The goal of the conference organized by Federbeton, sponsored in conjunction with the Circular Economy Network and moderated by Maurizio Melis, was to frame the current situation and present the medium-term outlook, as well as the sector’s commitment to an increasingly sustainable future. 
Melis then further explored some of the ideas that emerged from the conference in two episodes of Smart City, on 11 and 12 June (podcasts available in Italian only),and the business newspapers Il Sole 24 Ore has interviewed Antonio Buzzi, COO Cement italy, on the topics discussed during the conference (interview available in Italian only)