Eurobrief November 2011

Cement Partnership on Mercury officially launched

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is preparing a global legally binding instrument on mercury

Calculating the Environmental footprint of products

The European Commission launched in November 2011 a public consultation on its second draft of the methodology for the calculation of the environmental footprint of products and the environmental footprint of companies.

BUSINESSEUROPE raises concerns about BAT conclusions

Based on the note sent by the European Commission to the Member States, CEMBUREAU has concluded that Emission Limit Values (ELVs) and derogations will not be derived from Best Available Technique (BAT) conclusions from the Cement BAT Reference Document (BREF) until it has been revised under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (see Eurobrief October 2011).

Council codifies Environmental Impact Assessment Directives and adds CCS

This Directive is a codification of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985, and thus whilst it supersedes the various acts incorporated in it (Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997, Directive 2003/35/EC of 26 May 2003 and Directive 2009/31/EC of 23 April 2009), it fully preserves their content.

Significant expansion of Natura 2000 network

According to the European Commission, the network of Natura 2000 sites (EU network of protected areas) has been expanded with the addition of 166 sites covering a total of 18 800 square kilometres.