European Union News - Environmnet

The conference 'New skills for a European Bioeconomy' which brought together bioeconomy and education and training stakeholders, was recently held in Brussels to discuss the role of skills development in driving and facilitating transition towards the bioeconomy and seizing the employment opportunities that this transition entails.

The European Court of Auditors assessed whether Cohesion Policy investments in energy efficiency were cost-effective. ECA drew the conclusion that the projects selected by Member State authorities for financing did not have rational objectives in terms of cost-effectiveness, i.e. cost per unit of energy saved.

The European Commission published a survey results which show that a majority (56%) of Europeans believe that air quality has deteriorated in the last 10 years. With regard to the EU air quality standards and national emission ceilings, more than half of the respondents were of the view that these instruments should be strengthened.

On the 31 December 2012, the new European legislation called the Euro VI norm entered into force, enabling the lowering of nitrogen oxides and dust emitted from new types of trucks and buses. The legislation also introduces world-wide harmonised test procedures and standards which should help boost European automotive industry exports. In addition, EU automotive legislation will be simpler and will become effective more quickly.

The entry into force on December 31st 2012 of the rules establishing when glass cullet is no longer considered as waste, comes as a clarification about some of the main aspects for its recycling. Along with this regulation, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has developed a set of specifications that will enable the glass cullet to be directly used to make new products.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the state aid rules applicable in the agricultural and forestry sector. The deadline for submissions in this public consultation is 20 March 2013.

The European Commission will allocate €1.73 million over the next three years to INTERPOL in support of its efforts to combat wildlife crime and protect the world’s natural resources from the illegal international trade in wild flora and fauna. Also, the European Commission decided to provide €2 million to prolong the MIKE programme, a mechanism that monitors and addresses elephant poaching across the African continent.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) took stock of the 2012, ‘European Year of Water’, and also presented important findings in many other areas, including air, climate, biodiversity and chemicals. According to EEA, Europe needs to redouble efforts to keep sufficient quantity and quality of fresh water to maintain our ecosystems that sustain our society and economy.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report which shows that households and industry in the EU were largely responsible for the emissions increase in 2010, together leading to an additional 90 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared to 2009. Households and industry in the EU each cause approximately a quarter of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the future development of unconventional fossil fuels such as shale gas in Europe. All interested individuals, organisations and public authorities are welcome to share their views before 20 March 2013 on the possible opportunities and challenges that may arise from the development of such projects and on the best ways to address the challenges identified so far.