On Thursday 30 March, the European Parliament voted in favour of stepping up the fight against ozone-depleting substances (ODS) by tackling the last remaining authorised uses, such as insulating foams in the building sector.
In adopting the report by Jessica Polfjärd (EPP, Swedish) (559 votes in favour, 10 against and 20 abstentions), it called for further reductions in ODS emissions, echoing the position of its Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) (see EUROPE 13132/10).
The revision of Regulation (EC) 2037/2000 was proposed in April 2022 at the same time as the revision of the F-gases regulation (see EUROPE 12926/3), which was also voted on Thursday.
Ms Polfjärd welcomed the support of the political groups. “The prevention of emissions from ozone-depleting substances is key to preventing adverse health and environmental effects resulting from a damaged ozone layer and to contribute to greenhouse gas savings in line with the Union’s climate target”, she stressed in Wednesday evening’s debate.
Among other things, the Parliament calls for a rolling review mechanism (by 1 January 2025 and then every 2.5 years) for the Commission to assess the availability of alternatives to ODS used as raw materials and to propose measures to further cap or phase out such uses where such alternatives exist.
To improve monitoring, it wants the rules on leakage and registration in the licensing system to be extended to all ODS covered by EU legislation (including those not covered by the Montreal Protocol, listed in Annex II of the future revised regulation).
The matter has been referred back to the ENVI Committee to start interinstitutional negotiations once the EU Council has decided on its position.
See the text: https://aeur.eu/f/5ke (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)