On Thursday 30 September, the European Commission launched a public consultation on a future initiative to complement existing EU legislation on managing the environmental impacts of photovoltaic products.
According to the consultation roadmap, the initiative will thus focus on “the feasibility of regulatory approaches” for the environmental impact of photovoltaic products (modules, inverters and systems) based on two existing EU acts, namely the Ecodesign Directive (2009/125) and the Energy Labelling Regulation (2017/1369).
The objective is to “contribute to energy efficiency, generation of renewable energy sources, CO2 emission abatement and security of energy supply as well as realising a high level of environmental and consumer protection”.
To this end, the Commission wishes to examine how to promote module and inverter designs that are more energy efficient in the long term and can be repaired and recycled as easily as possible.
According to the institution, low-quality products should also be removed from the market and consumers should be able to obtain comparable information on products available on the EU market.
Expected in the fourth quarter of 2022, the initiative could therefore take the form of a combination of ecodesign and energy labelling requirements, through an implementing act and/or a delegated act depending on the option finally chosen.
The public consultation will close on 28 October 2021.
To participate and access the roadmap: https://bit.ly/39QcwfZ (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)