The Commission's Green Agenda

Climate Change and related EU measures and policies omnipresent in European Commission strategic Priorities for 2010.

On 31 March, the European Commission publicised its strategic priorities for 2010, an impressive catalogue of 34 priorities to be implemented before the end of 2010, to which have to be added another 280 major proposals under consideration in 2010 and beyond.

President Barroso stresses that this programme, produced by the Barroso II Commission only 6 weeks after it started office, is to be regarded as “ambitious but realistic”.

In addition to the Communication on “An Industrial Policy for the Globalised Era”, which is announced for the 3rd quarter of 2010 and expected with impatience by all industries, WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE EUROPEAN CEMENT INDUSTRY?

Climate Change and EU related measures and policies are omnipresent in the priority initiatives earmarked for 2010 and beyond.

The Commission intends to issue a Communication on “Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation and Mitigation in EU policies and climate proofing of financial instruments” whereby more emphasis will be given to climate objectives. In the same order of ideas, the Commission will issue another Communication on “the analysis of practical policies required to implement a 30% EU emission reduction and assess the situation of Energy Intensive Industries”. It is feared that the current status of energy intensive industries may be questioned particularly as the Commission is still considering to step up the EU’s reduction commitment in the ETSⁱ from 20% to 30%.

The GHG Monitoring and Reporting Decision which, we thought, is working reasonably well, will be revised and the environmental guidelines on the EU ETS for after 2013 will be changed, especially with regard to State Aids and Carbon Leakage. A revision of the Energy Taxation Directive is also announced – not unexpectedly.

All those points show a clear determination to pursue a unilateral, European approach to climate change in the footsteps of the unsuccessful policy started on 1 January 2005. The acceleration is best understood as a component of the drive to transform the European economy into a low carbon economy, with a road map to 2050 and scenarios to 2030. A Communication and a revised Energy Efficiency Action Plan are in the pipeline. Another roadmap will also be produced to pave the way towards a Resource Efficient and Low Carbon Europe in 2020.

A Communication on a new post-2010 EU biodiversity policy and strategy is also planned for the 4th quarter of 2010 to which the European cement industry will be in a position to bring a positive contribution givens its record.

During the course of Barroso I, the European Commission took a decisive turn when it was decided to give more weight to environmental considerations, especially climate change. The Barroso II agenda confirms this trend: this is definitely a green agenda if ever there was one and the pressure on industry will be further increased. In a response to ACEIⁱ (Alliance for a Competitive European Industry)’s letter urging great caution on moving to a minus 30% reduction target, the Barroso Cabinet has made the Commission’s intention very clear: “the EU should strive to become the most climate friendly region of the world”. CEMBUREAU’s agenda for the next few years will remain very full in this respect. The overhaul of the standardisation process, announced for 2010 as another priority in Europe, will also require time and resources, but that is another story.

The full document is available from here:

http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/programmes/index_en.htm