European Union News - Environmnet

The European Commission welcomes a voluntary agreement to ensure the safe storage of surplus mercury from the European chlor-alkali industry, once a ban on exports of the highly toxic metal from the European Union takes effect (2011). The legislation requires that mercury that is no longer used, be stored in a way preventing its release.

The last European Council under French presidency, chaired by  the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, was held in Brussels on December 11th and 12th. A historic agreement was reached on climate protection and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The Council also reached an agreement on the European economic recovery plan, the Lisbon Treaty and the European Security and Defence Policy.

he European transport, telecommunications and energy ministers meeting, held in Brussels on December, 8 th under the presidency of Dominique Bussereau, the French Minister of State for Transport, was devoted to air, land and maritime transport. In this meeting EU transport ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the development of safe, sustainable transport focusing in a major part on maritime sector.

The Commission has proposed legislation to ensure that harmful petrol vapour which escapes during the refuelling of cars at service stations is captured and recycled. Petrol pumps in many service stations across the EU will need to be fitted with equipment that can recover 85% or more of this vapour.

Ahead of the European Council of the 11 and 12 December, MEPs debated the three key topics, namely, the climate change and energy package, the response to the economic crisis and progress on the Lisbon Strategy. Most group speakers agreed the need for a deal on the climate change package and supported the Commission's proposals on the economic crisis. Besides, some of the smaller groups asked for the Lisbon Treaty to be forgotten given the No vote in Ireland last June.

The European Commission presented on December, 3rd a discussion paper on the management of bio-waste in the European Union. Bio-waste, which involves biodegradable garden, kitchen and food waste, accounts for around one third of municipal waste and has major potential impacts on the environment. When disposed of in landfill sites, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide and a major contributor to climate change.

The European Commission and EU Member States aim to shift international negotiations on a new global climate treaty into higher gear and will be pressing for progress on a range of issues at the UN climate change conference in Poznań, Poland from 1-12 December. The Poznań conference represents an important staging-post in the international negotiations which were launched in Bali last December and are due to lead to the conclusion of the new agreement at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen.

The Commission adopted on November, 25th a roadmap on maritime spatial planning, a new tool to address the challenges emerging from the growth in competing uses of the sea. The roadmap will facilitate the development of spatial planning for both marine and coastal spaces, as well as help coastal areas to prepare for climate change impacts such as rising sea levels, floods, altered marine ecosystems and investments in coastal protection.

The new Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on waste management has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, on November, 24th. This Directive will repeal and replace certain other Directives about waste handling in the Community.

The European Union published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, on November 6th, 2008, Call for Proposals SUB 02/2008, dedicating a total budget of up to 5 million Euro to support the development of sustainable mobility policy for urban agglomerations.

The European Commission has adopted its 2009 Legislative and Work Programme, which announces the main initiatives it intends to present next year. In 2009, the Commission will follow up on the initiatives launched in recent weeks to address the financial crisis and to set out a European framework to address the economic downturn. At the same time, the Commission will use the final year of its mandate to complete the work already under way.

The "Var 2008" exercise is an on the ground test of the provision of help and efficiency of collaboration between the NRBC modules of nine European countries in the event of NRBC terrorist attacks.