Brussels, 14/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will present the “roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe” on Tuesday 20 September. That, at least, is the hope of European Environment Commissioner Janez Potoènik, with the draft text currently part-way through the inter-services consultation process in the Commission. The roadmap, which it is hoped will bring sustainable growth, will pave the way for the communication A Resource-Efficient Europe, presented in January of this year as the seventh and last flagship initiative of the EUROPE 2020 strategy (see EUROPE 10302), to become a reality.
Given that natural resources are not inexhaustible, that the population of the planet is likely to reach 9 billion by 2005 and that “no matter the economic activity, the issue of efficient use has to be asked, the philosophy that underpins the roadmap is logical and simple: business as usual is not an option”, Potoènik told a small group of journalists on Wednesday 14 September. “How can we make better use of resources, change methods of production and consumption to ensure the sustainability of our activities within the limits imposed? This roadmap provides the answer. It cannot be the single solution, given the complexity of the problem and because all Commission proposals are subject to prior impact assessment”, he added. The whole difficulty of the task consists of finding the balance between the need to be concrete and getting results in due course. Consequently, precise goals and indicators must not be expected at this stage, but rather “the start of a process that will allow us to replicate what has been done on climate and energy” in terms of policies, measures and quantified targets, the commissioner said. The roadmap will, then, cover the whole range of natural resources, with the exception of energy (ecosystems, biodiversity, minerals, water and marine resources) and will focus on three key sectors - food, buildings and mobility - which together are responsible for the consumption of 80% of resources.
The text will set out the challenges and opportunities for Europe, proposing a long-term vision (until 2050), an intermediate stage (by 2020) and initiatives to be put in place immediately, and the results to be achieved. It will also deal with how to transform the economy by improving consumption models, getting rid of subsidies that are harmful to the environment, transferring taxation of work to taxation of resources, and taking account of all the services that are related to ecosystems. “We are talking here about our future competitiveness, interactive links between companies and the environment on issues of competitiveness, jointly tackling environmental and industrial concerns and putting the emphasis on jobs and the kind of jobs we want for sustainable growth”, the commissioner said. The roadmap will also address the matter of governance. The Commission is of the view that resource efficiency should be monitored as part of the annual growth report. Rather than set up an agency to carry out this task, however, the Commission is looking rather at creating “a platform bringing together the commissioners concerned, member states, civil society and industry”, Potoènik indicated. (A.N./transl.rt)