Tag: European Commission

European Commission Launches Green Products Initiative

 
The European Commission is proposing EU-wide methods to measure the environmental performance of products and organisations, and encouraging Member States and the private sector to take them up.

Currently, companies wanting to highlight the environmental performance of their products face numerous obstacles including the need to choose between several methods promoted by governments and private initiatives. As a result, these companies may be forced to pay multiple costs for providing environmental information and consumers are faced with confusion resulting from excessive labelling that makes products difficult to compare.

For example, a company wishing to market its product as a green product in France, UK and Switzerland would need to apply different schemes in order to compete based on environmental performance in the different national markets. In France, it would need to carry out an environmental assessment in line with the French method (BP X30-323); in the UK, it would need to apply the PAS 2050 or the WRI GHG Protocol; and in Switzerland, it would need to apply the Swiss approach which is currently under development.

According to the latest Eurobarometer on Green Products, 48 % of European consumers are confused by the stream of environmental information they receive, which affects their readiness to make green purchases.  A number of industrial groups have called for a pan-European approach built on EU-wide science-based assessments and Life Cycle Analysis.  This is because of concerns that multiple initiatives at Member State level would run contrary to Single Market principles, confusing consumers and increasing costs for industry.

To address these problems, the European Commission has launched the Single Market for Green Products initiative, which proposes the following actions:

  • establishing two methods to measure environmental performance throughout the lifecycle – the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and the Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF);
  • recommending the use of these methods to Member States, companies, private organisations and the financial community through a Commission Recommendation;
  • announcing a three-year testing period to develop product- and sector-specific rules through a multi-stakeholder process;
  • providing principles for communicating environmental performance such as transparency, reliability, completeness, comparability and clarity; and
  • supporting international efforts towards more coordination in methodological development and data availability.

The three-year testing period will be launched soon. An open call for volunteers will be published by the Commission on the Product Environmental Footprint and the Organisation Environmental Footprint sites, inviting companies, industrial and stakeholder organisations in the EU and beyond to participate in the development of product-group specific and sector-specific rules. On these sites, some preliminary information is already available about the objectives and expected timing of the test. For more information, please see this link.



 



	


	





	

		
		
European Parliament Approves New Rules for Monitoring GHG emissions, including Forestry and Agriculture
	


	
	
	

		
 

On March 12, 2013, the European Parliament approved two new laws to improve EU rules on monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including those from forestry and agriculture.  It is expected that the Council will adopt these laws, after which they will be published in the Official Journal and enter into force.


Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, said: “These new rules will help Europe develop robust evidence-based climate policies and keep better track of progress towards meeting our emission targets. They improve transparency, coordination and the quality of data reported, and forest and agriculture emissions will now be accounted for in a harmonised way. We hope that these new rules will also set an example in the context of the international climate negotiations and serve as a benchmark for transparency of climate action by other countries.”


Monitoring Mechanism


The Monitoring Mechanism Regulation enhances the current reporting rules on Member States’ GHG emissions in order to meet requirements arising from current and future international climate agreements, as well as the 2009 climate and energy package. In particular, the revised Monitoring Mechanism aims to help the EU and Member States keep track of progress towards meeting their emission targets for the period 2013-2020 and to facilitate further development of the EU climate policy mix. The EU and Member States already cooperate to monitor and report GHG emissions, producing annual GHG inventories which are used to assess progress towards meeting Kyoto Protocol emission targets. In addition, information is compiled on GHG projections and on policies and measures to reduce emissions.


The revised rules aim to improve the quality of data reported and introduce some new elements, such as:


    

  • reporting of emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF);
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  • reporting of Member States’ adaptation to climate change;
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  • reporting of Member States’ and the EU’s low-carbon development strategies;
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  • reporting on financial and technical support provided to developing countries, and commitments arising from the 2009 Copenhagen Accord and 2010 Cancún Agreements;
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  • reporting on Member States’ use of revenues from the auctioning of allowances in the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS). Member States have committed to spend at least half of the revenue from such auctions on measures to fight climate change in the EU and third countries.
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LULUCF


The second law approved by the European Parliament establishes common rules for accounting for GHG emissions and removals of carbon from the atmosphere resulting from activities related to land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).  This represents a first step towards incorporating the forestry and agriculture sectors – the last major sectors without common EU-wide rules on GHG emissions – into EU climate policy. Forests and agricultural lands cover more than three-quarters of the EU territory and naturally hold large stocks of carbon, preventing its escape into the atmosphere. If their capacity to “trap” carbon were improved by just 10 percentage points (for example through improved forest or grassland management), this would remove the equivalent of annual emissions of 10 million cars from the atmosphere.


This decision requires Member States to report on their actions to increase removals of carbon and decrease emissions of greenhouse gases from forests and soils. While the law does not currently include national emission reduction targets for these sectors, such targets may be introduced at a later stage once the accounting rules have proven robust.


More information is available from the European Commission

 



	


	





	

		
		
EC Launches Sustainable Urban Mobility Campaign to Fight Congestion and Pollution
	


	
	
	

		


The European Commission (EC) has launched its Sustainable Urban Mobility campaign, which represents a three-year initiative designed to support sustainable urban mobility campaigners in 31 countries.  The central objective of the Sustainable Urban Mobility campaign is to promote the advantages of combining different modes of transportation, so its slogan invites people to “Do the Right Mix”.  Activities began with the opening of a registration system to support outstanding actions that foster positive change in attitudes and behaviour.  This campaign is linked to the European Mobility Week, which runs from September 16 to 22 every year and culminates in the “In Town Without My Car!” day.


A fund of EUR 500,000 is available to support actions demonstrating significant networking and multiplication effects at the local, regional and/or national, or even EU level. Individuals, non-commercial entities (schools, NGOs, public administrations, etc.) and commercial entities are eligible to apply for up to EUR 7,000 in financial support from the EC by participating in the campaign.  Applicants may register their actions promoting sustainable urban mobility at http://www.dotherightmix.eu.


In addition, the campaign includes initiatives such as an award for European cities based on their sustainable urban mobility plans, coordinated awareness-raising activities and events in 31 participating countries: EU Member States, EEA Member States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Croatia.  The campaign is managed by the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport and funded through the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme – the EU’s support programme for non-technological actions in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

 



	


	





	

		
		
European Commission Launches Consultation to address GHG emissions from ships
	


	
	
	

		
 

The European Commission has launched an online public consultation on possible measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships. All interested stakeholders can send their contributions until 12 April 2012.


The European Union (EU) has committed itself to reducing total GHG emissions by 2020 by at least 20% across all sectors. The 2008 legislation provides that the European Commission should make a proposal to include international maritime emissions in the EU reduction commitment if no international agreement was approved before the end of 2011 which included such emissions.


Despite significant efforts in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), there has been only limited progress to date on the necessary technical, operational and market-based measures for new and existing ships. The European Commission will continue to support further efforts of these organizations for the development of global measures. The European Parliament and the Member States have therefore repeatedly called on the European Commission to take action if there is no international agreement.


International maritime transport emissions account for approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions and they are expected to more than double by 2050 if no additional action is taken. The introduction of measures to cut emissions will also reduce fuel consumption, thus bringing down transportation costs. Such action will also stimulate demand for low carbon maritime equipment and services.