Social Economy, Sustainability and the Consumer-Citizen Protection

On the 9th of December 2021, the EU Commission presented an Action Plan to boost the social economy and create jobs. According to the EU Commission “Social economy organisations are entities which put social and environmental purposes first, reinvesting most of their profit back into the organisation” e.g. mutual-benefit societies, cooperatives or charity associations. From a sustainability perspective, one of the important characteristics of the Social Economy is that it relates to Circular Economy and facilitates local production and consumption patterns, creates new business opportunities such as repair and reuse of consumer goods and sharing as well as short supply chains and reduces externalities such as CO2 emissions at the transportation stage. The Social Economy is therefore important for the green transition.