European Green Deal
On Wednesday 11 December, 2019, the European Commission published a Communication document on the European Green Deal (EGD) and a roadmap outlining a list of policy initiatives aimed at making the European Union the first ‘carbon neutral’ economy by 2050. The key goals are to:
- Cut pollution to protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts.
- Develop a growth strategy to help companies become world leaders in clean products and technologies.
Eurits welcomes the European Green Deal and supports the Commission’s aim to ensure cleaner secondary materials and trust in recycled materials. There is a need to give credit to the recycling process and the European Union cannot afford any scandals if it wants to pave the way for the rest of the world.
Eurits supports the European Commission’s acknowledgment of the following issues:
The Commission has recognised that: ‘Exposure to hazardous chemicals or to a combination of chemicals continues to be one of the key factors behind human health problems such as cancer, reproductive diseases, or respiratory sensitisation, as well as environmental degradation (e.g. decline of insect and bird populations). This imposes significant costs for health care, decontamination work, lost workdays, damage to buildings, crop losses for farmers.’
- Where waste cannot be avoided, its economic value must be recovered and its impact on the environment and on climate change avoided or minimised.
- Creating a toxic-free environment requires more action to prevent pollution from being generated as well as measures to clean and remedy it.
Market for secondary raw material / trust
To the question ‘How can businesses benefit from the Green Deal?’ the Commission has stated that ‘the move to a more circular economy and increasing the market in secondary raw materials should improve industry's reliance on critical raw materials.’
Implementation and enforcement of Environmental legislation
New measures on their own will not be enough to achieve the European Green Deal’s objectives. In addition to launching new initiatives, the Commission will work with the Member States to step up the EU’s efforts to ensure that current legislation and policies relevant to the Green Deal are enforced and effectively implemented.
Concerning waste legislation initiatives expected in 2020/2021, Eurits will give particular attention to:
Proposed legislative waste reforms 2020
- To simplify waste management for citizens and ensure cleaner secondary materials for businesses: The Commission will propose an EU model for separate waste collection.
- Waste Shipment Regulation: The Commission is of the view that the EU should stop exporting its waste outside of the EU and will therefore revisit the rules on waste shipments and illegal exports.
Proposed legislative waste reforms 2021
- Revision of measures to address pollution from large industrial installations.
- Industrial Emissions Directive: It will look at the sectoral scope of the legislation and at how to make it fully consistent with climate, energy and circular economy policies. The Commission will also work with Member States to improve the prevention of industrial accidents.
EURITS will support and contribute to the initiative for stakeholders to identify and remedy incoherent legislation that reduces the effectiveness in delivering the European Green Deal.
- The Commission and the Member States must ensure that policies and legislation are enforced and deliver effectively.
- The Environmental Implementation Review will play a critical role in mapping the situation in each Member State.
- The Commission will present a new environmental action programme to complement the European Green Deal that will include a new monitoring mechanism to ensure that Europe remains on track to meet its environmental objectives.
- The Commission will launch a dashboard to monitor progress against all of the European Green Deal objectives.