Commission presents action plan and new legislation for sustainable consumption and production

Brussels, 16/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - To combat climate change, reduce pollution of the environment, save energy and save natural resources, both within the EU and at planetary level, the European Commission is planning to get industry and consumers involved in encouraging the production and consumption in the EU of products that are highly environmentally friendly and energy efficient throughout their lifecycle, stimulating the innovation required to ensure the uptake of such products onto the market and enabling consumers to make informed choices thanks to suitable product labelling.

To this end, the European Commission unveiled a very wide-reaching action plan on 16 July 2008, together with four legislative proposals under the aegis of EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

The new legislation is a draft directive to widen the scope of the Ecodesign Directive, a draft review of the EMAS Regulation (the EU's voluntary eco-management and audit system), a draft review of the EU's Ecolabel scheme and a communication on green public procurement. These will be followed shortly by a draft review of the Energy Labelling Directive (92/75/EC) and a draft regulation to verify environmental technology.

Gunter Verheugen told reporters that the package of measures had two aims - helping change EU industry as a whole to make it more environmentally friendly and more energy efficient and cutting the cost of energy for consumers. The cheapest fuel is that which isn't used, he said.

On the suggested re-examination of the Ecodesign Directive, which comes under his power, Verheugen said that energy guzzling products or energy-related products should respect minimum standards and quality criteria and would not be marketed if they did not. He told reporters he would prefer industry to set up its own standards but if industry failed to react, the European Commission would do so instead, using benchmarking to ensure the best technology is used as the yardstick. Windows, shower heads, insulation material and taps (faucets) are already being assessed by the Commission as potential subjects of the revised directive's requirements.

Verheugen said the potential energy savings were huge, explaining that in existing buildings, 30% of the energy used for heating water and the building could be saved and better insulation of windows would make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2030. The Commissioner explained that in these calculations, it was assumed that progress would be made on modern technology. He said the Commission had tried to improve the framework for making progress in this connection. Verheugen also has high hopes in the European Commission's plans to back global industry agreements inn order to establish a fair competitive framework. Verheugen said he was certain that only sustainable products would be competitive in the future.

Stavros Dimas described the measures were a step forward in making sustainable development tangible and achieve the EU's energy savings targets for 2020. He said that the challenge was to uncouple growth from the environmental pressure that climate change bears witness to, like loss of biodiversity, overfishing, the generation of waste, aid pollution and water pollution. He said the Commission wanted to create a dynamic framework to improve the energy performance of products and enable consumers to make an informed choice among the least environmentally damaging products.

The voluntary (or binding) measures set out in the action plan are as follows:

• extending the Ecodesign Directive to all energy-guzzling products and products with an indirect impact on energy consumption; voluntary benchmarks of environmental performance achieved by highly performing products;
• Improving labelling for energy and environmental product performance; the Commission is proposing that the compulsory labelling for energy guzzling products or those that have an impact on energy consumption are labelled to indicate to the consumer the insulation capacity of a window, for example. The EU Ecolabel's field of application will be expanded to products and services, including food and drink;
• Green public procurement incentives for products that reach a certain level of energy or environmental performance and national and environmental levels;
• Promotion of green public procurement practices (16%of current GNP) through voluntary measures;
• Collaboration with retailers and consumers: the Commission is proposing that a distribution forum is established, open to other actors (producers, consumers and NGOs) in view of promoting the purchase of more sustainable products to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and the chain of distribution and to provide better information for consumers.
• The encouragement of more resource economic production through the definition of objectives and development of tools for observing, calibrating and promoting the efficient use of resources and eco-innovation; revision of EMAS to encourage SMEs to use it on a least cost basis, as well as open it up to organisations outside the Union; analysis of elements blocking expansion of environmental industries to break down barriers and locate ways of promoting their use in other industrial sectors; personalised advice to SMEs to improve their environmental performance;
• Support measures for sustainable consumption and production at a global level through sectoral agreements in international climate change negotiations and through the exchange of good practices and international trade in environmentally-friendly goods and services.

This package of measures will be sent to the Parliament and Council. According to the indications collected by the Commission, the French presidency is very much hoping that an agreement will be possible in a first reading in May 2009 before the end of legislature. (A.N./trans/rh)