MEPs from the Committee on the Environment (ENVI) approved, on Wednesday 24 May, the proposal to modernise and strengthen the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU, the so-called ‘IED’ directive) presented by the Commission in April 2022 in view of the EU’s ambition of zero toxic pollution of water, air and soil by 2050 (see EUROPE 12926/2).
By adopting (55 votes in favour, 26 against and 5 abstentions) the draft report by Radan Kanev (EPP, Bulgarian), they maintained the environmental requirements, but watered down the scope of the proposal concerning the inclusion of large-scale agricultural installations and reduced the bureaucratic burden for industry.
MEPs voted in favour of greater transparency of emissions while ensuring the protection of confidential industrial information by adopting (77 votes in favour, 3 against and 5 abstentions) the report on the emissions portal.
To foster innovation, they suggest the creation of a fast-track authorisation procedure for installations that are essential to achieving the EU’s strategic objectives by 2050 and are transformative in nature. They require flexibility for emerging technologies.
To make life easier for companies, MEPs include a minimum requirement for Environmental Management System (EMS) in permits where the ‘BAT’ (Best Available Techniques) reference documents do not require an EMS. Where a permit covers several installations, only one EMS should be required.
The report also calls for a longer transition period.
On the agricultural aspects of the proposal – the most controversial part – the compromise of the S&D and Renew Europe groups, less ambitious than the initial Commission proposal, was adopted. It plans to cover cattle farms with more than 300 livestock units (LSU) and lowers the current thresholds for pig farms to cover more farms. Only farms with less than 650 pigs, 14,000 laying hens or 28,000 broilers would be exempt.
Two alternative compromises – from the Greens/EFA and The Left groups, which went further than the Commission proposal, and from the ECR and ID groups, which excluded livestock farms from the proposal, as did the Committee on Agriculture vote – were rejected.
“This is the first time that the Environment Committee has downgraded a Commission proposal”, said Peter Liese (EPP, German), coordinator of his group in the ENVI Committee.
Asked why the EPP group accepts this legislation but calls for the withdrawal of the Nature Restoration Law (see EUROPE 13186/15), he said in a video conference with the press ahead of the vote that the compromise vote was “a very constructive proposal, which takes into account SMEs and farmers”, unlike the draft Nature Restoration Law.
Rather positive reactions. The environmental NGO Greenpeace welcomed the inclusion of livestock in the text, saying in a statement that “large agro-industrial facilities must be treated like the polluting factories they are”.
The employers’ organisation BusinessEurope, for its part, noted “improvements”, while stressing that “significant challenges remain” such as the risk of delay in granting operating permits or the reversal of the burden of proof, which should, in its opinion, remain with the courts, on a case-by-case basis. The organisation counts on the European Parliament to take this into account when it votes in plenary.
The vote is scheduled for the July plenary session. The EU Council adopted its position in mid-March (see EUROPE 13143/6).
See the rapporteur’s initial draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/71o
See the compromise amendments voted: https://aeur.eu/f/71m (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)