At the time of the public consultation, open until 23 March, on the future revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU, known as the EID Directive), the NGOs EEB, CAN Europe and HEAL launched a petition, on Monday 1 February, urging the Commission to include greenhouse gas emissions in this legislation and to limit air, water and soil pollution much more stringently to make the European Green Deal a reality.
The directive covers dust, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and heavy metals from large industrial plants, but excludes greenhouse gas emissions, which NGOs say makes it unsuitable for supporting EU action to combat climate change.
Furthermore, it neither leads to a zero pollution environment nor to a circular economy, nor does it guarantee adequate public participation rights and access to information.
“If the Commission is serious about their zero pollution, circular and carbon neutrality goals, they must redesign its scope, rethink how standards are set, and ensure greater transparency”, says Christian Schaible, Policy Manager for Industrial Production at the EEB.
HEAL wants health protection to be at the heart of the review.
The proposal is expected before the end of the year. See the petition: http://bit.ly/3oxGN88 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)