A4-0206/95

Resolution on the Commission communication to the European Parliament and the Council on 'Economic Growth and the Environment: Some Implications for Economic Policy Making'

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication to the European Parliament and the Council on 'Economic Growth and the Environment: Some Implications for Economic Policy Making' (COM(94)0465 - C4-0217/94),

- having regard to Articles 130r, 130s and 130t of the EC Treaty and, in particular, the principles laid down therein: sustainable development, the precautionary principle, preventive action, the combating of pollution at source and the polluter-pays principle,

- having regard to the Fifth Environmental Action Programme,

- having regard to the undertakings given by the Community with regard to the implementation of Agenda 21,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection and the opinions of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy and the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment (A4-0206/95),

A. whereas continuing economic growth in its current form will not lead to an increase in prosperity, but rather to the exhaustion of the resources which make continued human life possible,

B. whereas, if the developing countries were to achieve the same level of prosperity as the developed nations, using raw materials at the same level of intensity and employing the latest technology, life on earth would cease to be a viable proposition,

C. whereas, therefore, a drastic reduction in the per capita use of non- renewable raw materials is an ecological necessity, which cannot be achieved without a substantial increase in raw materials productivity; whereas research must be carried out into completely new environmentally-friendly, resource-saving procedures and techniques, so that the volume of raw materials required in each case can be reduced across the board, not least by increasing the useful life of products,

D. whereas the European Union, by signing a large number of international agreements (such as the Climate Agreement, the Biodiversity Agreement, the Montreal Protocol, Agenda 21, etc.), has given far-reaching undertakings,

E. whereas the current economic structure perpetuates an unfair distribution of wealth between regions and generations,

F. whereas a whole range of measures will be needed in order to make the transition to a sustainable economy; whereas these measures must be taken at the most effective level (world, European, national or regional), in accordance with the subsidiarity principle,

G. whereas the incorporation of environmental factors into micro-, meso- and macro-economic policy will lead to new price relations and changes in the economic structure; whereas measures should be implemented to ensure that these transitions take place smoothly from the point of view of social justice,

H. whereas, through its technical skills, the current generation has unprecedented control over the riches of creation and, in accordance with the concept of stewardship, clear responsibility for the protection of nature,

1. Congratulates the Commission on its communication, which forms the basis of this resolution and which develops the ideas set out in Chapter 10 of the Commission White Paper on 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment';

2. Regrets, however, that the Commission communication largely ignores a number of important aspects of the model being advocated, i.e. sustainable economic development; thus it has not costed external factors, and ignores employment, relations with the developing countries and international trade;

3. Takes the view that in its communication the Commission still underestimates the urgent nature of environmental problems, referring as it does to the need for economic growth and environmental protection to go hand in hand in the long term, whereas the very concept of sustainability implies and requires that measures should be taken in the short term;

4. Takes the view that the statement that 'in the long run, economic growth and environmental protection must go hand in hand; instead of being mutually exclusive, one is actually not possible without the other' cannot be couched in such absolute terms, because efforts to achieve sustainability may well require a drop in the level of material consumption in the prosperous part of the world in order to make worldwide economic development ecologically viable;

Sustainable economic model

5. Greatly appreciates the fact that the Commission gives full consideration to the macroeconomic aspects of a different economic development model;

6. Applauds the Commission for acknowledging the changes needed in the economic structure in order to achieve the transition to a sustainable economy, but calls on the Commission, at the same time, not to ignore problems which may arise in relations with the developing countries and in the sphere of trade and the environment;

7. Calls on the Commission to draw up a European policy agenda designed to bring about a sustainable economic structure by the year 2020; stresses, in this connection, that the longer such measures are delayed, the more radical they will have to be in order to achieve the same objectives; points out that, if taken in time, the measures needed in order to achieve the transition to a sustainable economy constitute only a fraction of GDP (2- 3%);

8. Supports, in this connection, the Commission's activities in the sphere of green accounting, satellite accounts and environmental indicators, which are vital to the objective of achieving sustainable economic development;

9. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for a set of instruments, accompanied by a timetable, by means of which a sustainable economy can be achieved;

10. Calls on the Commission, further, to extend the terminology used in Chapter 10 of the White Paper on 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment' with regard to the new development model for the Community to incorporate the concepts of the 'carrying capacity of environmental space' and 'environmental goods';

11. Stresses that a policy mix of legislation, market-based instruments, information and measures to encourage environmental technology is still needed as the most effective approach to tackling the existing environmental problems;

Economic and fiscal instruments

12. Points out that one of the basic rules of economics is that optimum use should be made of scarce production factors, and stresses that a shift from the taxation of labour to the taxation of scarce raw materials represents an extremely effective means of ensuring that economic growth and environmental protection go hand in hand;

13. Calls on the Commission, in accordance with the White Paper on 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment: The Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century', to put forward proposals for a sustainable model which strikes a healthy balance between growth, competitiveness and employment, which is environmentally sound and which offers better quality of life (employment possibilities, for example, in the areas of water purification, the cleaning-up of contaminated areas or monitoring of the observance of quality standards);

14. Shares the Commission's view that regulatory taxation is a very effective policy instrument if producers and consumers are to be encouraged to make more efficient use of scarce raw materials;

15. Regrets deeply that the Council has so far failed to adopt practical measures along the lines of those referred to above, such as the introduction of a European CO2 tax applicable throughout the Member States;

16. Calls on the Commission to draw up as soon as possible practical models for the introduction of an energy tax; this will have a beneficial impact on growth and employment and reduce environmental pollution in that, on the one hand, the imposition of an energy tax will be offset by a targeted reduction in ancillary wage costs, and, on the other, the tax revenue will be earmarked to finance energy-efficient technologies and energy-saving measures (e.g. thermal insulation of buildings);

17. Calls on the Commission, further, to draw up an energy tax model which provides for the taxation of primary energy use at the beginning of the energy use cycle, thereby creating an incentive to reduce the heavy energy losses suffered in the process of transforming primary energy sources into secondary energy sources (e.g. coal into electricity);

18. Calls on the Commission to draw up a report on the use by the Member States of market-based instruments; these instruments should not simply be listed, but also assessed, and attention should be paid to the hidden subsidies granted to certain economic activities through the failure to incorporate external costs in the price of certain products, these being merely passed on to society;

19. Notes that the communication places emphasis on regulatory taxes and urges the Commission to test the applicability at European level of other market- based instruments, such as subsidy arrangements, or, more specifically, the discontinuation of hidden subsidies (the non-taxation of kerosene), systems of fines, tradable emission rights and targeted taxes, and then to put forward practical proposals for their implementation;

20. Stresses that the main objective of such instruments is to encourage the economic sectors concerned to switch to more sustainable production and consumption practices;

Environmental technology

21. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to encourage the transfer of environmental and energy technologies to the developing countries;

22. Calls on the Commission to seek international cooperation on minimum standards in respect of environmental protection, working hours and social conditions so that joint action is taken in response to global environmental problems and unfair competitive advantages are eliminated;

23. Calls on the Commission to take environmental factors more clearly into account in its employment policy and, in particular, to promote the competitive advantage which the environmental technology sector offers;

24. Looks to the Commission to implement a policy designed to make technologies which reduce environmental pollution, such as re-use, recycling, integrated chain management and environmental protection as a business practice, economically more attractive; asks the Commission to propose a European-wide tax on waste intended for incineration or landfill as one of the highest priorities;

25. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.