Brussels, 18/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The course to be taken by the EU towards resource efficiency is now clearer with the political recommendations set out on Monday 17 June by the European Resource Efficiency Platform, as it had undertaken to do. In addition to the manifesto that this high-level body had adopted in December 2012 to call on business, labour and civil society to support resource efficiency and the transition to a circular economy, these short-term recommendations, if followed up, are, as the members of the platform point out, of a kind to: - create growth and employment; - provide incentives to overcome barriers to improving resource efficiency; - put a proper value on resources; - provide clear information and measure progress (with reports from businesses and organisations on environmental performance and the environmental footprint of their products and services); - and promote new business models. The platform goes on to point out that, according to a recent estimate, the EU could realistically reduce the total material requirements of its economy by 17% to 24%, boosting GDP and creating between 1.4 and 2.8 million jobs.
To achieve this, the EU must, as swiftly as possible, set itself ambitious targets for improving the overall resource productivity of the EU economy, with a view to achieving the EU 2020 objective of overall decoupling of resource use and its environmental effects from economic growth. Indicators to measure progress towards these targets should, in addition to carbon, include three key resources: materials, water and land in the ratio GNP/resource consumption. This is the first recommendation made by the platform - and is far from insignificant - said Janez Potocnik, European Environment Commissioner, speaking on Monday before a small group of journalists in Brussels.
The commissioner explained: “These are fundamental issues for the future development of Europe, not only from the economic point of view but also from the point of view of competitiveness, for four reasons: 1) our economic development model based on the intensive use of resources cannot cover the whole planet, and the planet would not be able to endure it; 2) since the beginning of the century energy prices have gone up 300% and the alarm has now been sounded; 3) given the cost of resources and the cost of labour, the productivity factor can no longer be ignored; and 4) no continent in the world is more dependent on imports of resources than the EU, which will soon be 80% dependent. The question facing us is how to keep industry in Europe. Our recommendations are the foundations of a new industrial policy”. In his view, the indicators - the factor GNP/consumption of raw materials but also the factor GNP/consumption of national and imported resources that the platform focuses on - and the objectives proposed - may be useful for surveillance in the context of the next European Semester to give fresh impetus to the exercise. If both these indicators could be integrated in the political decision, that would be a great step forward, the commissioner said.
The platform also recommends: eliminating subsidies that are detrimental to the environment; promoting high quality recycling; improving resource efficiency in relations between businesses, mainly through the establishment of principles for setting out sustainable resource standards in the context of voluntary systems (industry/retailers); using a product passport as the product's environmental declaration; and establishing a coherent tax and regulatory framework across the EU which sends good signals to producers and to consumers for the supply and demand of products that have a lesser impact on the environment throughout their life cycle.
At the end of March 2014, another meeting of the Resource Efficiency Platform will tackle issues that have not yet been dealt with, such as consumer behaviour, education, and the link to be established with global challenges for a still broader vision of the essential changes that must be made, said Potocnik. John Bruton, the former Irish prime minister and new executive secretary of the European Environment Agency (EEA) since 1 June, hit the nail home harder, saying that there is no contradiction between using resources better and creating jobs. The one encourages the other. In order to recycle products, he said, one must know what recycling means, and the notion of the product passport indicating its content is an innovation of this document. Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finland) took the view that these recommendations “serve as a first modest step leading us towards the deep, all-embracing change that is urgently needed to respond to the challenges posed by resource scarcity, environmental degradation and climate change. The almost insurmountable challenge facing us requires commensurate action: a true change to how we produce and consume; our ways of living, transporting and thinking. What today's recommendations seek to do is to point us to the right direction”. Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany) states that “resources account for over 40% of the production costs. Thus, it is in the interest of business and the environment to manage our resources in the most efficient way”.
The Resource Efficiency Platform brings together five European commissioners, four MEPs, four EU environment ministers, seven CEOs, NGOs, and representatives of international and consumer organisations and academia. (AN/transl.jl)