Annexes to COM(2002)122 - Environmental technology for sustainable development - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2002)122 - Environmental technology for sustainable development. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2002)122  |
| date | March 13, 2002 |
There are also EU initiatives in the pipeline relating to energy conservation in buildings, and the energy efficiency of appliances. Energy conservation techniques have significant potential for reducing energy demand from the residential and tertiary sectors (representing 41% of total energy demand [23]). Some estimates suggest that a combination of appropriate building techniques (including thermal insulation, glazing technology, etc.) and new energy management systems could achieve savings in emissions of greenhouse gases from building of up to 20-25% over the next 10 years [24]. In the field of appliances, the challenge is to overcome consumers' preference for lower price at acquisition rather than for lower cost of actual use.
[23] ECCP, 2001
[24] ECCP, 2001
Transport
Transportation of all types accounts for more than one quarter of the world's commercial energy use (32% in the EU and still rising [25]), with greenhouse gas emissions rising as a result. The transport sector is practically 100 per cent dependent on oil and consumes about half of the world's oil production [26]. Energy use per passenger has shown little or no improvement over the last decades. The increasing use of more powerful vehicles and lower occupancy rate has outweighed increases in vehicle energy efficiency. As a result, growing transport volumes have led to a 21% increase in energy consumption between 1990 and 1999 [27]. In addition, the 'external' social and environmental costs of transport are estimated as being around 8% of GDP, and more efficient environmental technology would reduce these costs [28].
[25] EEA, 2001a
[26] IEA, 2001
[27] Eurostat, 2001
[28] INFRAS, 2000. There is a considerable degree of uncertainty in estimates of this type.
The recent Commission White Paper on the future Common Transport Policy [29] proposes to break the traditional link between economic growth and environmental impact from the transport sector. Important initiatives in this context are improved efficiency in the broadest sense, modal shift towards environmentally friendly modes (rail, inland waterways, short sea shipping), internalising environmental costs in transport prices, promoting alternative fuels and public transport. A number of these measures depend fundamentally on development of environmental technologies, such as hydrogen/fuel cell vehicles.
[29] European Commission's White Paper, "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide", COM (2001) 370
On a broader scale, the use of information technology for the management of transport, or Intelligent Transport System (ITS), can significantly contribute to reduced traffic congestion and related environmental impacts. ITS for road traffic management are already operational in various places in Europe, but there is scope for their wider use. The Galileo project will be crucial in realising the full potential of ITS.
Resource use in industrial production
Although the environmental pressures caused by industry are generally decreasing [30], industrial production is a non-negligible source of pollution and industrial emissions have traditionally been subject to regulatory controls. In 1999, manufacturing industry still accounted for some 28% of total energy consumption and 20% of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions in the EU [31] [32]. According to these European Environment Agency estimates, industrial eco-efficiency in the EU has improved during the last decade, but this result masks diverging trends between individual Member States. Industrial pollutants are particularly characteristic of heavy industries, such as iron and steel, petroleum refining, pulp and paper, and organic chemicals.
[30] EEA, 2001c (notably Figure 1.4 on page 11)
[31] EEA, 2001c
[32] EEA, 2001b
There is a big potential to reduce the environmental impacts caused in the production of bulk materials by developing and using technologies that are new, emerging or already commercial. Examples of significant potential technologies at an early stage of development include alternative cement-like materials, non-consumable anodes and wetted cathode technology in aluminium production, and smelting reduction in iron making. The use of raw renewable (i.e. plant-derived) materials (RRM) as industrial feedstock is already rather well established in some specific sectors of the chemical industry. A wider distribution of RRM-based products as well as the possibility to produce RRM-based bulk chemicals would substantially help to reduce industrial pollution.
A range of new biotechnological techniques is also becoming available and offers the prospect of reductions in raw material and energy consumption, as well as less pollution and recyclable and biodegradable waste, for the same level of production. Biotechnology is considered to be a powerful enabling technology for developing cleaner industrial products and processes, such as biocatalysis. Benefits have been shown for traditional industries like textiles, leather and paper. Bioremediation also has the potential to clean-up polluted air, soil and water: bacteria have been used for a number of years to clean up oil spills and purify wastewater.
Waste management
The European Environment Agency estimates that over 250 million tons of municipal waste and more than 850 million tons of industrial waste are produced by the EU15 each year. The annual rate of growth, estimated at around 3% [33], has outpaced GDP growth over the last decade. On the other hand, increased perception of unsustainable trends, reflected in higher charges on waste production and stricter rules on waste collection and disposal, has made waste management a very dynamic field.
[33] EEA, 2001b
Technologies in this field cover a broad spectrum of treatment methods, e.g. better collecting devices and vehicles for a more effective recycling of materials like paper, metals and glass; better mechanical separating devices, new large scale technologies for treating organic waste. All together, these new technologies provide a good basis to substantially reduce landfilling and to utilise the generated waste in an optimal way.
Another interesting perspective is that new potential for energy recovery is emerging from various waste fractions (like different kinds of sludge, waste tyres, etc.). This could lead to considerable energy production, though it must be in combination with effective flue gas cleaning systems, to avoid generating noxious air pollutants. The best available technology allows the majority of the energy content in waste to be utilised.
Fisheries
One of the main threats to marine biodiversity is fishing, in particular due to its impact on non-target species and the physical damage to the sea bottom by certain equipment. Considerable progress has been made in the development of sorting grids, deterrents and low-impact bottom trawling. However, there is considerable scope for further progress in developing equipment that limits these side effects, and given the worldwide nature of the problems, the eventual technical solutions may have a considerable market. Similarly, the expanding aquaculture would benefit from the development of environmental technology in fields such as foodstuffs, containment, reduction of waste and plague control.
Information and Communication Technology
The effective orientation and acceleration of information and communication technology could be a key development. It could allow greater efficiencies in resource use to be realised by process improvement, product improvement, product to service conversion or structural change.
Process re-engineering for e-business can reduce material use and transport; unused stocks and warehousing can be reduced; better transport and logistics can cut the number of journeys, and empty trucks; more effective use can be made of office and factory space etc [34]. The "information content" of products in terms of their market value has risen faster than their material content has fallen. The further addition of value, through better design, additional features and usability, and the use of more appropriate materials can de-couple growth from resource use.
[34] Case Studies of the information society and sustainable development: May 2000 DG-Information Society - C1.
With advanced communications, other products could become services. A newspaper becomes an on-line news service; an instruction manual becomes an interactive technical advice service; access to health care advice and information on-line can improve the quality of care and avoid unnecessary travel. On-line banking provides a more convenient service for many people, without the materials and resources of the retail branches, and the need to travel there.
Overall, the emergence of information infrastructures will change the ground rules of an industrialised society allowing us to make structural changes in the organisation of our transport infrastructures and the way we work and live. Over 10 million people already "telework" in Europe, and about 25% of the workforce used a computer for work-purposes at home in 2001 [35]. New workplace designs make better use of space, in more energy efficient buildings, in locations nearer to where people live. Over 50% of European businesses now make use of eWork services provided over communication networks. These changes can help to decouple economic growth from transport growth, and bring new work opportunities into local communities.
[35] EuroBarometer, Nov 2001: "Quality for Change" A report of the European Commission services - DG-Employment March 2002
6. Realising the full potential of environmental technologies
The context for targeted policy action
Whilst the potential of environmental technologies is significant, much of this potential remains unrealised because of various obstacles which hinder their development and market penetration. Many of the barriers to the introduction and diffusion of new environmental technologies are common to other new technologies. In the development phase, lack of finance for development, risk aversion and uncertainty, insufficient information about the efficiency of the technology, and lack of the necessary expertise are among the factors that limit the development of new technology (see Figure 3).
These problems are made worse if the regulatory environment is unpredictable. Obviously, economic risks and innovation costs also play a role in this context, particularly for small and medium size enterprises, and once developed, market segmentation and lack of competition can delay the process of diffusion of new technologies. In this respect, the lessons from general technology policy are entirely applicable to the area of environmental technologies. [36].
[36] The European Commission's Communication Innovation in a knowledge-driven economy, COM (2000) 567 of 20 September 2000, reviews recent progress in the Union to stimulate innovation by enterprises, explores what the current priorities should be in order to promote innovation, and defines broad policy lines for pursuing these priorities.
Figure 3: Factors seriously delaying innovating projects [37]
[37] European Commission, 2000 'Statistics on Innovation in Europe, 2000
>REFERENCE TO A GRAPHIC>
However, the case for policies to foster innovation in the field of environmental technologies goes beyond the general case for technology policy. The environment in the form of clean air and water, a stable climate and abundant natural resources and bio-diversity is a common good. Missing, incomplete, or inefficient markets for these common environmental goods mean that the expected rate of return from investments in environmental technologies is lower than it would be if prices reflected the full value of environmental goods or services. This leads to systematic under-investment in innovative environmental technology by both firms and households. This means both that cost effective solutions for environmental problems are not taken up, and that there is less incentive to research and develop such technologies.
In response, Community policies are already promoting environmental technologies in a variety of ways. This includes attempts to "get prices right" by promoting the use of economic instruments. The proposed EU greenhouse gas emissions trading system is a good example. This will create a permanent stimulus to find new ways of cutting emissions in the installations covered, as operators will be able to sell the resulting emission allowances. However, despite current policies, it is clear that more needs to be done to address the specific barriers that new environmental technologies are facing to their development and take up.
Policies need to be sensitive to the problems that specific environmental technologies face, as these problems also vary across the learning curve. Even when new solutions have been developed, there may be other issues around market penetration which slow adoption and use. In particular, firms and households will not voluntarily adopt environmental technologies that are relatively expensive. This is why a focus of policy has to be on reducing the cost of environmental technologies, so that they can be voluntarily adopted by business as a replacement for older, more polluting technologies.
Indeed, cost factors show one aspect of the interrelationship between environmental and innovation policies. In addition, innovation policy needs to pay attention to time-related considerations, notably natural investment cycles. Incorporating environmental advances is least costly when equipment needs to be replaced in the course of the normal investment cycle. For example, the life cycle of a heavy process industry's investment is 20 to 30 years with the moment of investment being an important determining factor for the technology's environmental performance. Choosing the right time to introduce a technology ensures that any impact on growth is made as favourable as possible.
Environmental policy
EU environmental policy can have considerable influence on innovation, and it is important that it makes the most of this influence. For example, by setting policy priorities the Community is providing clear directions on where new technologies are most urgently needed.
Increasing predictability and coherence of the legislative framework facilitates long-term and consistent planning and avoids incremental change that drives up costs for researchers and investors alike. In this context, the 6th Environmental Action Programme "Environment 2010: Our Future, Our Choice" [38] identifies four environmental priority areas for the next 10 years: tackling climate change, protecting nature and bio-diversity, improving environmental health and our quality of life and managing natural resources and waste. Specific goals and targets have already been set most notably for action on climate change, including the Kyoto objectives. Specific targets also exist in a variety of environmental legislation.
[38] Information about the European Commission's environmental policies can be found at http://www.europa.eu.int
The 6th Environment Action Programme also recognises the need for environmental policy to better use the ability of business to develop innovative solutions that will be adopted in the market and to create proper incentives in the market itself. It acknowledges the important role of consumers in influencing the market for environmental technologies. One of the major tools for harnessing business's expertise will be an Integrated Product Policy, which is concerned with cost-effectively reducing products' impacts throughout their life cycle through a range of instruments. This will involve creating the conditions needed for the efficient development and use of environmental technology.
The Directive on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) is an important driver for the development and dissemination of environmental technology. Operators of certain industrial installations must apply for a permit based on best available techniques (BAT). The Commission organises a comprehensive information exchange resulting in "BAT reference documents" (BREFs) that define the best available techniques at the time. Permit conditions will be updated to reflect changes in BAT. IPPC therefore reflects a dynamic concept allowing for continuous uptake of new environmental technologies.
Voluntary measures can encourage business and households to identify opportunities. One such tool is the Community's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) which encourages companies to continuously assess and improve their environmental management and processes. The EU eco-label provides information to consumers so that they can identify, and reward, environmentally friendly products.
New environmentally friendly ways of working are of little use if they are not then widely adopted. The EU Employment guidelines encourage Member States to exploit the employment potential of this sector to the full [39]. The LIFE Programme provides support for innovative and demonstration actions by industry and local authorities. This helps firms to demonstrate the business sense of new environmental technologies.
[39] Employment guideline no. 10
Energy and transport policies
The energy and transport sectors are characterised by high volume, highly developed and comparatively cheap technology (cars, thermal power plants etc.). New technologies often face an uphill struggle because they will have to go through a technical development process and will initially be produced in much smaller quantities. Wind energy is a relevant case. 10 years ago wind energy was uncompetitive but thanks to financial and other incentives the technology has improved and production volumes increased to the point where costs have come down to levels comparable to fossil fuel based electricity (with optimal wind conditions).
Existing technology also has an advantage by simply being established. Natural gas driven cars can be produced at roughly the same price as gasoline driven. And natural gas costs roughly the same as gasoline. Nevertheless very few would buy a natural gas car because of lack of refuelling points and refuelling points are not being established as long as there is no demand.
Our policies are creating more favourable conditions for the development and market penetration of innovative energy and energy-efficiency technologies in which the EU already enjoys a strong market position. At the same time this contributes to the security of the EU's energy supply and to the attainment of our climate change and other environmental objectives. Similarly, the White Paper on the future Transport Policy [40] proposes a number of measures to improve the environmental performance of transport, partly to shift to less environmentally harmful modes of transport.
[40] European Commission, COM(2001) 370
Fiscal incentives may enhance energy saving. Wider use of economic instruments and price incentives in both the energy and transport fields, with proper internalisation of external costs, would be an important spur to the take up of cost effective environmental technologies. This idea is already included in the EU employment guidelines, as taxing pollution would allow other taxes, such as those on labour, to be reduced. Employment guideline no. 12 states that each Member State will examine the practicability of and options for using alternative sources of tax revenue, such as taxing energy and pollutant emissions, taking into account the experience with environmental tax reforms in several Member States.
Research policy
Objectives and present actions
Industrial production is a key area of human activity, and has been taken into consideration within the 4th and 5th Research Framework Programmes (FP4: BRITE EURAM and FP5: GROWTH). The budget of the GROWTH programme is EUR 2.7 billion. Approximately two thirds of the programme's projects have a clear objective related to sustainable development. In turn, approximately one third of these are mainly aiming at improving the environment by reducing industrial impacts (clean production, eco-efficient processes and design, production with zero waste, life cycle optimisation and material recycling, new light materials).
Research on new industrial technologies or methodologies, and risk prevention aim not only at improving the environment but also at improving cost effectiveness and therefore competitiveness. Through European research programmes, industry and associated research organisations can share the cost of research actions, while using a system-oriented approach, in which chemistry, physics, engineering, life sciences and social sciences are essential and interdependent.
The "Energy and Environment" research programme is also a key research area for the development of advanced environmental technologies for the energy and transport sectors; it also contributes to the development of technologies for the monitoring of environmental policies and sustainable management of natural resources like water and marine ecosystems.
Future EU research actions (2002-2006)
The European Research Area allows research capacities dispersed across the Member States to be complementary and mutually supporting. Its principal instrument is the 6th Framework Programme for research, which supports research into new products and services as well as looking for other ways of better applying know-how (for example, how better to manage or monitor environmental activities).
One of the thematic priorities of the programme will be "Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems", under which funding of more than EUR 2 billion should be provided over the next 5 years. Amongst other things, this theme will fund research on environmental technologies and, in particular, on sustainable energy, sustainable surface transport and natural resources management.
Another programme priority will target sustainability of industrial systems. This priority "Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, knowledge-based multi-functional materials and new production processes and devices") has a budget of EUR 1.3 billion. It will include a focus on new industrial approaches that reduce the consumption of primary resources (e.g. development of new devices and systems for clean, safe and less carbon-intensive production, sustainable waste management and hazard reduction, and bioprocesses).
In the area of information society technologies, research under the heading "work and business challenges" will include a focus on "increasing resource-use efficiency" across the whole range of business activities. The work on "social challenges in a knowledge economy" will continue to explore and develop more resource efficient methods of health-care, e-mobility and environmental management. Additional funding will support environmental research in such fields as SMEs, biotechnology, agriculture, chemicals and health.
The key to getting the most out of research spending is the proper exploitation of the results of research and using the public research programmes to help make new products and services commercially viable. The Commission will therefore regularly review environmental research needs and priorities to enhance the delivery of robust and applied research.
Trade policy
In November 2001, a new round for trade liberalisation was launched at the 4th WTO ministerial session in Doha. The EU, like many WTO Members, strongly believes that the multilateral trading system has a key role to play in the achievement of global sustainable development. The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) [41] will provide an opportunity to maximise the contribution that trade liberalisation can make in achieving sustainable development and globalisation with a human face.
[41] Found at http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_e.pdf
In particular, the DDA provides that, 'in order to enhance the mutual supportiveness of trade and environment, negotiations will start on the reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services'. The definition/classification of environmental goods will need to be refined in upcoming negotiations, while that for environmental services is well positioned for negotiations in the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
The DDA also provides for the examination of the relationship between trade and transfer of technology, to increase flows of technology to developing countries. An essential component needed to increase these flows will be the enhanced enforcement of intellectual property rights in recipient countries.
In short, trade policy has an important role to play in a sector that has the potential to support sustainable development worldwide, and in which the EU has an important market presence.
7. Conclusions
As this report shows, environmental technologies offer a natural bridge between our economic, social and environmental goals. New and innovative environmental technologies have the potential to raise environmental standards while lowering costs, which would boost economic growth and allow the economy to grow faster without going beyond our environmental carrying capacity. This is central to sustainable development.
Whilst the Lisbon Strategy and existing Community measures will help promote environmental technologies, they are not enough in themselves. To realise the full potential, we need to analyse the market barriers to the use of environmental technologies and tackle them through a mix of targeted policy measures. This is why the Commission intends to develop an action plan for promoting environmental technologies along these lines, as announced in the Synthesis Report to the European Council in Barcelona [42].
[42] European Commission, COM (2002) 14
The Action Plan will build on a rigorous analysis of the issues as well as a broad consultation of stakeholders from industry, the research community, NGOs and governments, both within the EU15 and the Candidate Countries. The objective will be to support the innovation, development and use of environmental technologies that can contribute to growth within the current and future enlarged EU, as well as in developing countries. The Action Plan will involve:
- a survey of promising technologies that could address the main environmental problems
- the identification, with stakeholders, of the market and institutional barriers that are holding back development and use of specific technologies
- the identification of a targeted package of measures to address these barriers, and building on existing instruments
Whilst the work will be ongoing, the first milestones will be the holding of a Stakeholder Forum and then a report on the Action Plan to the 2003 Spring European Council.
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