Eurobrief February 2009

EDITORIAL The economic crisis: do not add the extra burden that might break industry's back February 2009 - This was, in a nutshell, the message delivered by the Alliance for a Competitive European Industry (ACEI) to President Barroso on 25 February 2009. The participants, representing key sectors of the manufacturing industry, including CEMBUREAU, brought their active support to a number of initiatives at EU level to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis, such as continuing to invest in and modernise Europe’s infrastructure for the future (Communication from the Commission to the European Council: a European Economic Recovery Plan - COM(2008) 800 final).

OTHER NEWS Commission plans VAT cuts for green goods The European Commission plans to release a proposal that would enable Member States to reduce the amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) applied to greener products as a cost-effective means of promoting the production and use of energy-saving materials and energy-efficient appliances and equipment.

EU EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME Benchmark timetable published The main steps in the benchmark process have now been published.

OTHER NEWS Commission to revisit energy efficiency Too little progress is being made if the EU is to meet its objective of a 20% energy efficiency improvement by 2020, says the European Commission.

EU EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME CO2 emission allowances hit record low Declining industrial demand reduced the price of CO2 emission allowances to record lows of 8.05€ on 12 February 2009, raising fears that the global economic crisis could undermine the EU’s carbon market.

OTHER NEWS Kock-on effect of global financial crisis Projects to help curb greenhouse gas emissions in the developing world may be abandoned because of the global financial crisis.

ENVIRONMENT IPPC recast on council agenda MEPs are expected to endorse the Compromise Amendments of the Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) for the Directive on Industrial Emissions (recast) in Plenary on 9-12 March 2009.

ENVIRONMENT NOx & SO2 trading CEMBUREAU has called upon President Barroso and other Commissioners vis-à-vis urgent action to avoid an EU-wide NOx and SO2 trading scheme for IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) installations.

ENVIRONMENT IEF to approve cement & lime BREF in April The Information Exchange Forum, chaired by the European Commission under the EU’s IPPC Industrial Pollution Directive, is due to adopt the Cement & Lime BREF (Best Available Technique Reference Document) in April.

ENVIRONMENT Energy labelling proposal debated in Committee The European Parliament’s Industry, Technology and Research (ITRE) Committee debated Rapporteur Anni Podimata (Party of European Socialists, Greece)’s Draft Report on energy labelling earlier this month.

ENVIRONMENT Eco-design Directive revision This month the European Parliament’s environment committee backed European commission proposals to extend EU eco-design rules for energy-using products (EuP) to energy-related goods (ErP).

ENVIRONMENT Ecolabel revision Plans to step up use of the EU “flower” Ecolabel, widen eco-design rules to include products not consuming energy and simplify the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) scheme were also backed by MEPs in the Environment Committee.

BUILDINGS & BUILDING MATERIALS Energy efficiency of buildings: recast A mini-hearing in the European Parliament’s committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) was held earlier this month on the recasting of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

BUILDINGS & BUILDING MATERIALS Parliament provides climate policy outlook The European Parliament adopted a non-legislative resolution this month recommending detailed measures that should be undertaken to combat climate change.

BUILDINGS & BUILDING MATERIALS Compromise amendments to construction products proposal Earlier this month the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee adopted a number of compromise and oral amendments...

WASTE JRC publishes final end-of-waste criteria report The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has prepared a package of two reports defining the concept of End of Waste (EoW) and the waste types suitable for this classification.

CEMBUREAU Focus on alternative fuels in the cement industry The co-processing of alternative fuels in the European cement industry has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to that of 10 million cars - approximately the number of cars on the road in Spain – and save more than 5 million tonnes of non renewable fossil fuels.

CEMBUREAU Concrete answers to achieving energy savings The European Concrete Platform (ECP) was also involved during the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week, highlighting numerous sustainable advantages of concrete as a building material.

OTHER NEWS Sixth CEN standarDays The European Committee for Standardization, is organising its sixth StandarDays on 19 and 20 May 2009.