Council conclusions on the “Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan” - exchange of views - Montesquieu Instituut

 

COUNCIL OFBrussels, 15 October 2008

THE EUROPEAN UNIONPUBLIC

13725/1/08 REV 1

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COMPET 374 ENV 629 IND 121 MAP 44 MI 345 RELEX 707 RECH 294 ECO 127 SAN 206 ENER 303 ECOFIN 377 CONSOM 134

DOCUMENT PARTIALLY

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OUTCOME OF PROCEEDINGS

From:

Competitiveness Council of 25-26 September 2008

No. prev. doc.: 12861/2/08 REV 2 COMPET 316 ENV 542 IND 91 MAP 34 MI 295 RELEX 638

RECH 270 ECO 102 SAN 180 ENER 253 ECOFIN 331 CONSOM 112

Subject: Council conclusions on the "Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan"

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  exchange of views

ANNEX

Draft Council conclusions on the "Sustainable Consumption and Production

and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan"

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

RECALLING

(1) The renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy adopted in 2006, identifying

sustainable consumption and production as one of the key challenges for sustainable

development and announcing the adoption of an action plan 1;

(2) Decision 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 July 2002

establishing the 6th Environment Action Programme of the European Community, which

sets out the main guidelines on environmental policy in the European Union up to 2012 2;

(3) The Conclusions of the Council of Environment Ministers meeting on 23 October 2006

concerning the Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of natural resources and calling

for the Commission and Member States to establish objectives for the specific impacts of

each resource and for eco-efficiency, so as to complement the said strategy by 2010 3;

(5) The Conclusions of the Competitiveness Council of 22 and 23 November 2007 which

referred to the Commission Communication entitled "Mid-term review of industrial policy

a contribution to the EU's growth and jobs strategy" of July 2007 5 in which a new

initiative on sustainable industrial policy was envisaged in order to lead the transition

towards a safe and sustainable low-carbon and resource-efficient economy;

(6) The Conclusions of the European Council of 13 and 14 December 2007 reiterating that

"sustainable production and consumption are among the drivers for achieving objectives

under both the Sustainable Development Strategy and the Lisbon strategy" 6;

(7) The Conclusions of the European Council of 13 and 14 March 2008 restating the European

Union's commitment to tackling climate change through its targets for reducing total

greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the share of renewable energies and improving

energy efficiency, by drawing up a viable long-term sustainable industrial policy and by

developing sustainable and globally competitive lead markets, whilst taking into account

the impact of energy and climate change measures on the competitiveness of European

companies 7;

(8) The integrated Competitiveness Council Conclusions of 29 May 2008 entitled "A Fresh

Impetus for Competitiveness and Innovation of the European Economy" 8;

(9) The contribution of EU Member States and the European Commission to the Marrakech

WHEREAS

(1) Changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns is fundamental in moving

towards more sustainable development; consumers, producers, retailers and other

economic operators being actors in this process, it is necessary to empower them by

providing them with appropriate information and educational opportunities, and to help

them understand the environmental impact of consumption and become familiar with

ecodesign, ecoproduction and ecoconsumption solutions, which will enable them to make

better informed choices;

(2) More sustainable consumption and production patterns are essential for the protection of

the climate, eco-systems and human health, as well as for the preservation of natural

resources; in order to develop such patterns, the European Union must provide itself with

efficient and coherent instruments, as well as complement and improve the implementation

of existing ones;

(3) More, clearer and indisputable information on products and their environmental

performance is necessary to influence consumer demand and make it more sustainable;

(4) The introduction of a dynamic integrated approach combining minimum binding

requirements and more advanced voluntary benchmarks on the ecodesign of products and

related labelling, together with voluntary tools for eco-labelling and environmental

(6) Given the importance of the share of public procurement in European Gross Domestic

Product, the development of sustainable public procurement, along with giving greater

consideration to the procurement of innovative goods, works and services, can be an

effective tool to encourage improvement in the environmental, energy and social

performance of products and services and to facilitate the promotion of sustainable works,

goods and services within the market, whilst avoiding additional burdens on public

finances, taking the full life cycle of products into account;

(7) A predictable framework for clear, adequate and accessible standards, based on the active

cooperation of industry, including SMEs, would promote their adoption by industry,

including in traditional sectors, but would require regular monitoring and updating as

necessary;

(8) While in the context of this Action Plan due consideration and, where appropriate,

preference should be given to voluntary agreements, self-regulation of industry and

market-oriented instruments, regulatory instruments should be used when necessary;

(9) Environmental products, services and low-carbon technologies represent a rapidly growing

global market in which the European Union enjoys a strong position that has considerable

potential to be further developed, thus promoting growth and employment in both large

companies and SMEs;

(11) Cooperation between the public sector, knowledge institutions, industry, social partners

and other stakeholders, as well as synergies between the Action Plan and relevant ongoing

innovation activities such as the Seventh Framework Programme for research,

technological development and demonstration activities 9, the Competitiveness and

Innovation Programme (CIP) 10 and the Lead Market Initiative 11 are essential for

providing sustainable solutions;

THE COUNCIL

(1) NOTES WITH SATISFACTION the Commission's Communication on the Sustainable

Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan 12 and the

opportunity this offers for coordinating the different instruments linked to sustainable

consumption and production whilst reinforcing them, thus allowing them to contribute to

shaping more sustainable consumption and production patterns in the EU and to boosting

the competitiveness of European industry, realising the full potential of the renewed EU

Sustainable Development Strategy and the Lisbon Strategy;

(2) CONSIDERS that this Action Plan, in synergy with other EU instruments such as the

Environment Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) 13 and Directive 96/61/EC concerning

integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) 14, has the potential to contribute to

speeding up the creation of a safe and sustainable low-carbon and resource-efficient

economy that is capable of competing successfully in global markets;

I. A dynamic and coherent policy framework for more sustainable products and consumption

(3) NOTES that the Action Plan is an additional contribution to existing industrial and

environmental policies, and in particular those concerning the "energy and climate change"

package, by concentrating on a dynamic policy and introducing a new "virtuous circle"

approach, improving the overall environmental performance of products throughout their

life cycle, promoting and stimulating demand for better products and production

technologies, and enabling consumers to make better informed choices in purchasing

affordable products with lower operating and disposal costs;

(i) Exploiting synergies in enhanced product design and labelling

(4) EMPHASISES the need to establish appropriate indicative objectives for sustainable

consumption and efficient use of natural resources, which should aim at an absolute

decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation ; therefore INVITES the

Commission to organise benchmarking between Member States so as to move towards

(5) SUPPORTS the Commission's intention to ultimately establish a variety of tools and

information and communication instruments relating to levels of performance in order to

fulfil different sustainable consumption needs; SUPPORTS the creation of stronger

synergies and better coordination between the scopes, data, timetables and work

programmes of the Community Ecolabel Award Scheme 15, the Ecodesign Directive 16, the

Energy Labelling Directive 17, activities promoting green public procurement and the

EMAS Regulation 18;

(6) INVITES the Commission to improve the management and transparency of environmental

data on products along the entire production chain and to assess the degree to which the

decision-making on criteria in the labelling schemes and eco-design requirements could be

further coordinated;

(7) NOTES WITH INTEREST the proposed extension of the scope of the Ecodesign

Directive 19 to cover a broader range of products related to energy and eventually,

following the review of the Action Plan, other parameters, in order to take the use of

energy and resources for products into account and ensure the free movement of these

products in the internal market, in particular by establishing minimum binding

requirements integrated into a dynamic system with more advanced voluntary

benchmarks; STRESSES that ambitious, time-relevant and predictable benchmarks and

minimum requirements are crucial for a dynamic improvement of the environmental

performance of products, while taking into account adaptation efforts made by SMEs;

ADVOCATES strengthening this dynamic system by turning such benchmarks into

requirements after a fixed transition period, as appropriate; EMPHASISES that the aim of

the Eco-Design Directive, targeting a broader range of products on the basis of their energy

and other environmental impacts, is to provide the European Union with a strong

Community instrument for more sustainable consumption and production;

RECOMMENDS that the new provisions announced in the Action Plan concerning

labelling linked to the eco-design of products, in the Energy-labelling Directive 20, are

examined before 2012;

(8) SUPPORTS the objective of improving the voluntary European Eco-label Scheme by

simplifying development procedures so as to increase its market penetration, allowing for

more product groups to be covered and criteria to be developed faster, while further

strengthening the focus on the main environmental impacts during the life-cycle of products;

EMPHASISES the need to retain a high level of credibility by maintaining ex-ante checks by

third parties; RECALLS that the European Eco-label Scheme provides voluntary references of

excellence, and EMPHASISES that the Eco-label criteria must be taken into consideration

when establishing criteria for the development of green public procurement; UNDERLINES

the need to increase consumer, retailer and producer awareness through appropriate

communication and information initiatives;

(9) SUPPORTS the extension of the scope of the Energy Labelling Framework Directive

relating to the indication of energy consumption on domestic appliances to include other

products, enabling the harmonisation of its scope with that of the Eco-Design Directive;

WELCOMES the proposal to examine, in the revision of this Framework Directive, the

addition of other relevant environmental information parameters such as emissions and

resource-use over the course of a product's life cycle; EMPHASISES, however, that

energy labelling must remain simple, concise and efficient;

(10) INVITES the European Commission to study the introduction of the carbon footprint of

products in the existing EU environmental labelling instruments such as the Eco-label and

energy labelling; also INVITES the Commission, taking into account Member States'

(ii) Encouraging the uptake of energy- and environmentally performing products through a

consistent framework for public procurement and incentives

(11) TAKES NOTE of the Commission's intention to encourage Member States wishing to do

so to take up incentives for the purchase of products meeting minimum environmental

performance levels, by introducing a consistent framework for economic incentives such

as bonus/malus systems, based on environmental criteria, whilst not excluding the adoption

of similar incentives at Community level; NOTES the Commission's intention to continue

its work and look at the feasibility of new or reinforced fiscal measures at Community

level concerning energy-efficient and sustainable products and services;

(12) COMMENDS the "Public Procurement for a Better Environment" Communication 21,

which reinforces and clarifies policies for developing green public procurement (GPP) at

Community level;

(13) UNDERLINES that the current fragmentation of incentives in the internal market should

be reduced by setting common, non-binding GPP modalities (such as selection criteria,

technical specifications, award criteria, or contract performance clauses) that could serve

as a reference for public procurement;

(14) SUPPORTS the objective proposed in that Communication as well as the formal

process for developing, together with Member States, common measures to promote green

public procurement;

(15) TAKES NOTE of the Commission's intention to introduce gradually , by means of a

revision of the Energy Labelling Directive and in line with the Public Procurement

Directives 22, reasonable objectives such as the performance levels proposed in the Action

Plan below which public procurement and national incentives would not be allowed;

(15a) STRESSES that these common measures must be supported by an in-depth impact

assessment covering all proposed sectors;

(16) REITERATES that guidance tools for public purchasers, including common procedures for

developing green public contracts, must be available in all EU languages as soon as

possible.

(iii) Initiatives for raising awareness through and among stakeholders

(17) RECALLS the need to promote more sustainable consumption patterns by developing

educational as well as all other appropriate means and instruments to raise awareness

amongst consumers and influence their lifestyle and behaviour; INVITES the Commission

and Member States to support action undertaken in these fields and to study the feasibility

of developing concrete tools in this respect; INVITES the Member States to fully

implement the Directive on unfair commercial practices with regard to environmental

claims 23; INVITES the Commission to include environmental claims in any future

guidelines on the Directive on unfair commercial practices;

(17a) INVITES the Commission to carry out more extensive work in the field of sustainable

consumption including by promoting innovative practices involving end-consumers;

(18) WELCOMES the announcement of initiatives to work with retailers and to associate

consumers and producers, and in particular the creation of a Retail Forum; INVITES the

Commission to promote exchanges of good practices between Member States and to

identify synergies between Community initiatives and similar national initiatives;

EMPHASISES that a voluntary European Code of Conduct for retailers would be a useful

instrument; this should aim at reducing the environmental footprint of the retail sector, in

particular large-scale retail, and its supply chains, at checking the authenticity of

environmental claims and promoting more sustainable products, through, in particular,

(19) INVITES the Commission to further develop an approach for evaluating the overall

environmental performance of products throughout their life cycle, the supply chains and

the impacts at a global level, building on the work undertaken in the framework of the

Communication on an Integrated Product Policy (IPP) and for the implementation of the

Eco-Design Directive;

(20) INVITES the Commission to carry out, in the context of its "sustainable consumption and

production" activities, further studies on sustainability indicators for products for possible

use in labelling schemes, taking ongoing work into account;

(iv) Evaluating and updating the policy framework

(21) INVITES the Commission to carry out studies, taking into account the work already done

elsewhere, on the circular economy (cradle to cradle), the "3Rs" (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle)

on the service-based economy and on their applications within the European Union's

objective for a recycling society, within the framework in particular of the thematic

strategies for the prevention and recycling of waste and on the sustainable use of natural

resources, of the Lisbon Strategy and of the renewed EU Sustainable Development

Strategy;

(22) INVITES the Commission and Member States, taking into account the work already done

elsewhere, to further study the "rebound effect" whereby the global increase in

(24) INVITES the Commission to monitor progress and communicate the results to the Council

and the European Parliament; given the urgency of developing more sustainable patterns of

consumption and production in the European Union, INVITES the Commission to produce

an assessment of the implementation of the action plan by 2012 at the latest, in particular

with a view to the further widening of the scope of the Eco-Design Framework Directive

and related labelling to other product types , so as to prepare the further actions necessary

for improving the environmental performance of other products;

II. Leaner production for more efficient environmental performance and greater

competitiveness of European industry and services

(25) SUPPORTS eco-innovation as one of the central elements of the present Action Plan and

EMPHASISES that eco-innovation should continue to be a priority in the EU's research

and development strategy, including in the context of the Lead Market Initiative; LOOKS

FORWARD to the Commission's proposal for an environmental technology verification

scheme before the end of 2008; ENCOURAGES the Commission to examine regulatory

frameworks, as well as regulatory barriers and market failures that may prevent the

uptake of environmental technologies and further innovation.

(26) EMPHASISES that the Action Plan will contribute to regularly improve the efficient use

of energy and resources, as well as the environmental performance of products throughout

their life cycle; RECALLS that a more efficient use of resources has positive effects on the

(27) RECALLS the need to take account of the role and specificities of SME's in all sectors,

particularly those which are involved in manufacture and the installation, maintenance and

repair of products as well as in the services sector (consultation, marketing and promotion)

so as to increase their sustainability; INVITES the Commission and Member States to

support actions for helping SME's to turn environmental challenges into opportunities, in

the context of the Small Business Act for Europe 24 as well as the Environmental

Compliance Assistance Programme (ECAP) 25;

(28) RECALLS the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a voluntary tool

for increasing the social and environmental performance of companies and INVITES the

Commission to reinforce and develop its activities in this area, based on information on

current best practices;

(29) WELCOMES the Commission's intention to launch industrial policy initiatives for

environmental industries ; INVITES Member States to set a clear, credible, long-term

policy framework that creates favourable market conditions for encouraging investment

and allowing innovation to flourish within environmental and low-carbon industries,

building on the ETAP and a related national roadmap; supply-side innovation measures

can usefully be supplemented by demand-side policies such as economic incentives along

the lines of the energy-efficiency labelling procedure, tax measures, greener public

procurement and the use of progressively updated and dynamic EU and international

standards;

(30) SUPPORTS the Commission's intention to improve the Community's eco-management and

audit scheme, while recognising the value of international management systems such as

ISO 14001; in this context, WELCOMES the proposal to revise the EMAS by raising its

attractiveness for participating organisations, notably SMEs, simplifying its procedures,

introducing performance indicators, strengthening synergies with other policies on

sustainable consumption and production, including green public procurement, whilst

reinforcing its scope through the introduction of sector guidance linked to the

environmental aspects of production processes and material and energy

efficiency; EMPHASISES that the scheme is a voluntary tool to improve the

environmental performance of the organisations joining EMAS; UNDERLINES the need

to avoid additional administrative burdens;

III. Turning environmental goals into opportunities for external competitiveness

(31) REITERATES that this global, integrated and ambitious approach shall also strengthen the

competitiveness of European industry by offering new business opportunities, whilst better

taking into account the external dimension of European competitiveness and ensuring

conditions of open and fair international competition;

(32) RECOGNISES that there is a need to promote international trade in environmental goods,

including environmental technologies, and services, to promote the emergence of standards

for these products and services at international level based on European standards as

appropriate, to encourage stakeholders of EU standardisation to actively participate in

international standardisation; RECOGNISES also the need to promote sectoral approaches

so as to disseminate good practices and develop more sustainable technologies, in line with

and in support of the Marrakech Process on the elaboration of a 10-Year Framework of

Programs on sustainable consumption and production and UN specialised agencies and

programmes, such as the United Nations Environment Programme 26, and to ensure that

European companies can play an exemplary role and benefit to this end from a specific

framework to improve their competitiveness in the introduction of technologies and the

supply of environmental goods and services;

(33) CALLS UPON the Commission and the Member States to promote the inclusion of

focussed and effective sectoral approaches within the framework of international

negotiations as an element of and complement to a comprehensive international climate

change agreement for the period after 2012; RECOGNISES that in the global context of

competitive markets, the risk of industry investment shifting to countries where there are

no carbon constraints or costs imposed that are linked to the protection of the climate

(carbon leakage) is a concern for European industry, in particular for certain sectors, such

as energy intensive industries particularly exposed to international competition that needs

to be analysed and addressed urgently in the new ETS Directive; INVITES the

(33 a) BEARS IN MIND the importance of maintaining the overall balance across the climate

and energy package as a whole and bases its work on the principles of transparency,

economic efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and fairness and solidarity in the distribution

of efforts between Member States; TAKES INTO ACCOUNT Member States' different

starting points, circumstances and potentials as well as achievements accomplished, and

respects the need for sustainable economic growth across the Community with all sectors

contributing;

(34) RECALLS that, whilst maintaining its leading role in strategic areas such as the fight

against climate change, Europe must, in developing its internal regulations, take into

account their impact on the competitiveness of European companies internationally, in

particular of energy intensive industries, with a view of their rapid inclusion into the ETS

Directive27.

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