ENVIRONMENT

In an address to the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee in the first week of September, Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Industry, Maud Olofsson, spoke of the need to ‘send a clear message to the international climate negotiations in December in Copenhagen’.

The European Commission rejected 92 out of 97 requests in December for extending Member States deadlines to meet EU air quality standards as set out by Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.

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.

Following the adoption in Parliament’s Environment Committee of 63 compromise amendments on the proposal for a Directive on Industrial Emissions (recast) earlier this month, the Czech Presidency has published suggestions for modifications to the Commission’s proposal

A progress report on the energy efficiency package has been published by the Council. The report covers proposals on energy labelling, tyre labelling and the energy efficiency of buildings.

Global CO2 emissions from the energy sector could decline by up to 3% this year because of economic contraction, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Commission has decided not to proceed with a proposal that would have made sustainability criteria for biomass used to generate heat and power legally binding, to CEMBUREAU’s disappointment.

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.

Directive 2008/99/EC of 19 November 2008 on Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law has been published in the EU’s Official Journal (OJ).

Council Conclusions on the Commission’s White Paper: Towards a European Climate Change Adaptation Programme have been published.