The 2010 EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) is one of the cornerstones of pollution control in the EU establishing a regulatory regime covering industrial activities that may cause pollution (to air, water and waste). The European Commission is proposing to amend the directive, which may cause legal divergence between the EU and UK. However, it is important to consider how industry is regulated in practice beyond the legal texts and compare this in the UK and in different EU member states.
This new report explores challenges related to the future management of waste batteries from electric vehicles, focusing on the approaches taken by the European Union and the Republic of Korea.
Pick just about any measure of climate policy, and the EU leads the US. It has a higher share of renewable energy in electricity generation, better energy efficiency, and per capita emissions less than half those of the US. But on cutting emissions from transport, Europe could soon find itself playing catch-up.
Let us dream of a new storyboard for Europe, one in which energy would become a vector of change that prepares and empowers the Union in the face of pressing global challenges.
Leading up to IEEP's Think 2030 conference, experts express their views on Europe's most pressing sustainability issues in the Think 2030 blog series, Pathways to 2030. The fourth edition features Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group, an alliance of major European businesses and civil society organisations.
Molho argues the EU needs a stable pipeline of investable green infrastructure projects to deliver its environmental commitments in a way that is timely, affordable and creates new economic opportunities. For this to materialise, he argues the next Commission will need to put in place a robust plan of action that sends clear market signals, supports innovation and drives the demand for low carbon goods and services.
The European Parliament’s first reading opinion on the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive, moves some steps forward in the debate on sustainable use of biomass for energy in Europe. However, the devil is in the (considerable) detail set out in the adopted text.
