Brussels, 25/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - For the sake of the environment and its future economic growth, the EU has no choice but to use its resources more efficiently and recycle more, state the members of the Parliament's committee on the environment. It was by a vast majority (48 votes in favour, three against and five abstentions) that it adopted the own-initiative report by Gerban-Jan Gerbrandy (ALDE, Netherlands) recommending stringent measures to lay the foundations for a Europe which uses its resources effectively.
“Improving resource efficiency is a golden opportunity and we simply cannot afford to take 20 years for the transformation towards a sustainable economy. Competitive global markets and the spectacular rise in emerging economies do not give us this much time”, observed Gerbrandy, who will lead the delegation of the Parliament to the global sustainable development summit RIO +20 (20-22 June).
Amongst other things, the committee on the environment is calling for proposals from the Commission by the end of 2014 for the phasing-out of landfill of waste, the revision of recycling objectives laid down for between now and 2020 and the framework directive on waste to ban the incineration of waste which could be recycled or composted. It urges the member states to shift toward environmental taxation and calls on the Commission and the 27 to draft programmes to remove subsidies harmful to the environment by 2020.
The MEPs also support indicators to measure the use of water, land, materials and carbon. The plenary session will take position on the roadmap towards a more effective use of its resources next month (21-24 May). (AN/transl.fl)