In her written answers to MEPs’ questions, Jessika Roswall, the candidate nominated for the post of European Commissioner for the Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, presented an action plan focusing on the implementation of measures, their simplification and their compatibility with the competitiveness of the European economy.
The former Swedish Minister for European Affairs also pledged to respond to the specific needs of Member States and regions, and made it clear that she “will not hesitate to take enforcement action in case of structural non-compliance [with legislation]”.
European strategy for water resilience. Announced a year ago by former Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius (see EUROPE 13274/18), the initiative will be one of Ms Roswall’s priorities. The aim is to “safeguard water quality and quantity in the EU and beyond, enhance the competitive innovative edge of our water industry, and address the root causes of water challenges, including pollution, scarcity, and the impacts of climate change”.
Jessika Roswall intends to encourage significant investments in water infrastructure and relevant clean industry technologies. Increasing scarcity of water resources, periods of drought, catastrophic flooding events, and the degradation of aquatic ecosystems... the Commissioner will adapt solutions to regional differences.
In her responses, the Swede defends a comprehensive “source to sea” approach, which she believes is necessary to integrate freshwater management throughout the water cycle. To help establish “a robust foundation for a thriving Blue Economy”, she intends to work with Costas Kadis, the Commissioner-designate for Fisheries and Oceans.
Actions for a circular economy. Jessika Roswall will be responsible for initiating the ‘Circular Economy Act’, which aims to put “the environmental footprint of the Union on a sustained downward path while strengthening the EU’s competitiveness”.
Drawing on the ‘Letta’ and ‘Draghi’ reports, the Commissioner-designate for the Environment has identified the relatively low demand for secondary raw materials and circular services as one of the main challenges. She will work to make the single market for the circular economy a reality. In her view, this will require “greater harmonisation” of the rules for producers of secondary raw materials, taking into account the specific characteristics of the markets for different products (plastics, textiles, metals, etc.)
She believes the Circular Economy Act will be a key milestone in achieving the Critical Raw Materials Act benchmark of 25% recycled strategic raw materials by 2030.
REACH regulation. A proposal to revise the REACH regulation is expected by 2025. The proposal is intended to simplify and modernise the regulatory framework to increase sustainable competitiveness.
In line with the policy guidelines of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, a package of measures relating to the chemical industry is also expected, as part of the Clean Industrial Deal.
These measures should support the industry in its transition to safer alternatives. Moreover, while there are plans to ban the use of forever pollutants (PFAS) in consumer products (cosmetics, outdoor clothing, etc.), Jessika Roswall is adamant that she will support “the continued use of PFAS in industrial applications” for as long as “ adequate alternatives in terms of performance and safety are not available”.
Revision of the European bioeconomy strategy. Ursula von der Leyen has tasked Ms Roswall with updating the European Commission’s strategy for developing a sustainable and circular bioeconomy, which was presented in 2018 (see EUROPE 12115/8). One of the priorities of the bioeconomy is to avoid the use of fossil fuels by favouring resources derived from biomass (wood, plants, algae, agricultural residues, etc.) This is why the Commissioner-designate for the Environment is making it “an important element” of the Clean Industrial Deal, as well as of the EU’s sustainable competitiveness agenda.
“Our approach needs to recognise that biomass is renewable, but not infinite”, says Jessika Roswall, adding that “pressure on land and biomass” will have to be managed, as envisaged in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We also need to take into account that “in many cases, bio-based products are currently not cost-competitive compared to fossil alternatives”. As a result, priority sectors and products will have to be identified, and biomass products will have to remain in the economy as long as possible before being used to produce energy.
Financing. Ms Roswall intends to propose new investment solutions by cooperating with the European Investment Bank, but also by rolling out nature certificates and credits for industry and farmers designed to financially reward those who engage in sustainable practices (see EUROPE 13482/14).
See Jessika Roswall’s written answers: https://aeur.eu/f/e1m (Original version in French by Florent Servia)