European Parliament resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on Stimulating Technologies for Sustainable Development: An Environmental Technologies Action Plan for the European Union (2004/2131(INI))
Date: 2005-07-05
Institutions: Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety, European Parliament
Subjects: EU environmental policy, action programme, applied research, clean technology, innovation, research and development, sustainable development

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24.
Deplores the still high cost of cross-border retail payments in euro, although Regulation (EC)
No 2560/2001 on cross-border payments in euro (1) has brought about real reductions in the charges for
standardised cross-border transfers of euro, and supports the creation of a Single European Payments Area;
asks the Commission to come up with proposals for comprehensive legislation in this field and to take this
opportunity to harmonise electronic payment systems in the EU in order to reduce the costs which are
usually borne by consumers and SMEs; points out that the system's effectiveness relies on the confidence
of consumers, which depends on recognition of their rights;

25. Welcomes the fact that the ECB is working on a second generation of banknotes; believes that
because of its scale the euro is particularly vulnerable to counterfeiting and urges the ECB to be very alert
and to take current experience into account when designing the new generation of banknotes; considers it
essential that Europol and the Member States' police forces treat this issue as a priority;

Believes that interinstitutional dialogue on the euro can be improved through the Interinstitutional
26.
Group on Information; calls on the Commission to continue sending to the European Parliament the
quarterly written update of the Prince programme;

Reiterates the willingness it expressed in its resolution of 12 May 2005 on the implementation of the
27.
European Union's information and communication strategy (2) to deepen interinstitutional cooperation in
this area by organising a major debate each year on the basis of a report submitted by the Commission —
a debate in which the committees with full or partial responsibility for the matter would be involved and in
which the Council would also take part;

28.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

(1) OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 13.
(2) Texts Adopted of that date, P6_TA(2005)0183.

P6_TA(2005)0271

EU ecotechnologies action plan

European Parliament resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and
the European Parliament on Stimulating Technologies for Sustainable Development: An Environ-
mental Technologies Action Plan for the European Union (2004/2131(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parlia-
ment on Stimulating Technologies for Sustainable Development: An Environmental Technologies
Action Plan for the European Union (COM(2004)0038),

— having regard to Articles 6 and 174 of the EC Treaty, the Cardiff process (Cardiff European Council
Conclusions, 15-16 June 1998) and the Strategy for Sustainable Development (Gothenburg European
Council Conclusions, 15-16 June 2001),

— having regard to the Lisbon Strategy (Barcelona European Council Conclusions 15-16 March 2002),

— having regard to the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Johannesburg Plan of Imple-

mentation (2002),

— having regard to the conclusions on Clean, Clever, Competitive: The opportunities of eco-efficient

innovations within the Lisbon process (Environment Council conclusions 14 October 2004),

— having regard to the sixth Community Environment Action Programme (1),

(1) Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the sixth

Community Environment Action Programme (OJ L 242, 10.9.2002, p. 1).

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— having regard to the fifth (1) and sixth (2) framework programmes of the European Community for

research, technological development and demonstration activities,

— having regard to its resolution of 21 April 2004 on the communication from the Commission to the
Council and the European Parliament on Integrated Product Policy — Building on Environmental Life-
Cycle Thinking (3),

— having regard to Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 restructuring the Community

framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (4),

— having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parlia-

ment on the share of renewable energy in the EU (COM(2004)0366),

— having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parlia-
ment entitled ‘Building our common Future — Policy challenges and Budgetary means of the Enlarged
Union 2007-2013’ (COM(2004)0101),

— having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament
and the European Economic and Social Committee on Integration of Environmental Aspects into
European Standardisation (COM(2004)0130),

— having regard to the Commission working document — A handbook on environmental public pro-

curement (SEC(2004)1050),

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and

the opinion of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (A6-0141/2005),

A. whereas sustainable development — development that meets the needs of the present without com-

promising those of future generations — is a clear objective of the European Union,

B.

C.

whereas, according to the conclusions of the Göteborg European Council, sustainable development is
based on three pillars, namely environmental protection, economic development and social cohesion,

whereas sustainable development cannot be achieved without the development of new environmental
technology and innovations,

D. whereas in order to ensure sustainable development, the Lisbon strategy — to make the European
Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustain-
able economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion — needs goals for
economic, social and environmental policy which are mutually consistent as well as capable of deliver-
ing enhanced economic growth,

E.

F.

whereas it is of vital importance in this context to reinforce and exploit the positive synergies between
environmental protection and competitiveness and to decouple economic growth from environmental
degradation; and whereas environmental technologies (all technologies whose use is significantly less
harmful
impact than relevant alternatives) are an important
means of achieving this,

in terms of its overall environmental

whereas only sufficient demand for environmental technologies will speed up the process of getting
innovations to the market (from research, product development, production, launch to market intro-
duction),

(1) Decision No 182/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 December 1998 (OJ L 26, 1.2.1999,

p. 1.

(2) Decision No 1513/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 concerning the sixth
framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration
activities, contributing to the creation of the European Research Area and to innovation (2002 to 2006) (OJ L 232,
29.8.2002, p. 1).

(3) OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 725.
(4) OJ L 283, 31.10.2003, p. 51. Directive as last amended by Directive 2004/75/EC (OJ L 157, 30.4.2004, p. 100).

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G. whereas the European Union must have an environmental policy which is ambitious enough to create
demand for environmental
targets, agreed
environmental indicators for measuring the environmental burden, internalisation of environmental
(external) costs and rewards to leaders rather than the laggards,

technologies, with clear and ambitious environmental

H. whereas the role of customer demand for environmental technologies is important; whereas, however,
society at large must assume a major responsibility for creating the appropriate frameworks for the
speedy development of such technologies,

I.

J.

K.

L.

whereas the Commission's Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) does not include suitable
mechanisms for the diffusion of knowledge, technology transfers, innovation and development;

whereas financial support is of importance not only for research and development, but also for devel-
oping a product for the market, and whereas efforts to find solutions with regard to risk capital must
therefore be increased,

whereas policies within the European Union must be coherent and work towards the same goals;
whereas technological solutions for promoting sustainability therefore have to be reflected in the pre-
paration of the budget and in the design of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research; whereas
the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund have to be used in ways that support the development of
environmental technologies,

whereas sustainable development requires global solutions and the European Union therefore has to
ensure that there is consistency between internal policies and external policies, not only in the context
of bilateral co-operation and export credits but also in relation to developments with regard to the
United Nations, the WTO, the OECD and the World Bank,

Boosting demand for environmental technologies

1. Welcomes the Communication as a useful basis for discussion and development of more concrete
proposals on how to boost environmental technologies, but would like to see more emphasis on the devel-
opment of the demand for such technologies; calls for the replacement of the fragmented approach, as
regards environmental policy and sustainable development in general and as regards ETAP specifically,
with a more systems-based approach to environmental policy, based on life-cycle thinking in line with the
Integrated Product Policy (IPP) framework, where great importance is attached to innovation and the devel-
opment of environmentally benign technologies, and,
lastly, emphasises the importance of coordination
between the EU and Member States;

2.
Considers it important to enhance the environmental dimension in the EU's strategy for competitive-
ness; observes that, when reviewing the Lisbon Strategy, the state of the environment and improving
employment should be regarded as an opportunity to attain the objective of creating the most competitive
knowledge-based economy; considers the development and introduction of environmental technologies to
be of decisive importance in this connection;

3.
Points to the employment and growth potential of the environmental technologies sector, where a
multitude of new business opportunities and, consequently, new jobs can be created — notably within
small and medium-sized entreprisises (SMEs) — which could make a crucial contribution to attaining the
Lisbon objectives;

Points out that if the EU wishes to meet the objectives of the Lisbon strategy it needs to work more

4.
closely with SMEs, and regrets the failure to ensure suitable inclusion of SMEs in ETAP;

5.
Calls on the Commission to identify the factors which impose the greatest burden on the environment
today and subsequently consider, sector by sector, what technological innovation is needed to address those
problems; suggests that this work should include the following considerations:

(a) What are the problems to be addressed?

(b) What obstacles exist to overcoming the defined problems?

(c) What is the goal of the Union with respect to the problems?

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(d) How was the prioritisation of actions/goals done?

(e) Which are the performance targets related to each of the areas?

(f) What are the various policy options for reducing the obstacles and in relation to which technologies

could the various policy options best be used?

(g) What are the advantages and disadvantages of these options and which policies should be imple-

mented?

(h) What funding is put in place for each of the defined actions?

(i) Which mandatory actions will be taken and by which deadlines?

6.
Recognises the role of environmental policies as a driver of innovation in market economies where
innovation is sparked by exacting requirements; recalls that strict environmental norms have led to EU
leadership in many growth sectors and stresses that the EU should endeavour to remain a leader on the
market for new technologies and conceptual innovations; therefore also calls on the Commission to further
develop methods and scenarios for anticipating developments in the field of environmental technologies;

7.
Stresses that the aim of the EU's environmental legislation is continuously to improve the state of the
environment and to attain the highest possible level of environmental protection; considers that legislation
should be based on the best available technology and, as well as being ambitious, must be sustained and
predictable, so as to generate the requisite market-based demand for new environmental technologies in
production and enterprises; notes that the Eco-Design Directive is one illustration of how a framework can
be created for significant improvements in product design and environmental performance;

Calls on the Commission to set an ambitious target with regard to the EU's share of the global market
8.
for environmental technologies; considers that within ten years the EU should attain a market share of at
least 50 %; points out that the market for environmental goods and services is growing rapidly and that EU
companies should continue to play an important role on this market and profit from first-mover advantage;

9. Welcomes the idea of agreeing ambitious performance targets for all kinds of production, services and
product development, especially in the priority areas identified in the Sixth Environment Action Programme;
points out that such targets will help European industry to increase its competitiveness and create more
jobs, and at the same time result in a lesser burden on the environment; calls on the Commission to provide
shortly a first list of performance targets based on the life-cycle approach to be implemented through
mandatory minimum requirements, or voluntary agreements when they achieve the policy objectives more
quickly or at lesser expense than mandatory requirements;

10.
Regrets that the Communication does not include a first list of well-defined performance targets in
key environment areas; calls on the Commission to include ambitious performance targets in proposals for
new legislation and proposals to amend existing legislation; takes the view that the objectives should be
based on the best available technology and should be regularly updated in the light of technical progress so
as to provide powerful encouragement for constant innovation in industry;

11.
Calls on the Commission to instruct Member States to establish roadmaps for meeting the require-
ments defined in ETAP, which must include deadlines that correspond to the deadlines defined in ETAP and
links to the performance targets, so that all major targets are linked and measured at both Member State
and EU level and have fixed deadlines;

Calls on the Commission to assist industry in the on-going IPP process and rethink traditional busi-
12.
ness models in an effort to facilitate the development of more integrated and systems-based practices, giving
specific attention to the opportunities offered by the clustering of different production activities, so as to
enable residue materials from one production process to become the input of other production processes,
for example the use of municipal waste to achieve energy savings, whereby economic as well as environ-
mental benefits can be attained;

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13.
Points out that resource efficiency and material efficiency will reduce costs for industry and house-
holds, free resources for other investment and make the EU economy less dependent on scarce resources
and highly volatile resource markets; therefore urges the Commission to propose legislation to minimise the
use of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources;

Underlines that the introduction of environmental technologies must be combined with increased

14.
resource efficiency and a shift in consumer attitudes in order for the EU to achieve sustainable growth;

15.
Calls on the Commission to help develop methods and environmental indicators for measuring the
burden on the environment of different products, services and processes, so as to enable all actors to make
informed decisions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to launch a campaign based on such
environmental performance information throughout the EU to encourage consumers to demand environ-
mentally benign technologies;

16.
Notes that the process of internalising external (environmental) costs is very slow and points to the
fact that finding solutions to this problem at Community level (taxes, tax breaks, subsidies, tradeable per-
mits, user and polluter charges, etc.) would greatly improve the demand for environmental technologies;

17. Welcomes Council Directive 2003/96/EC restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of
energy products and electricity, which is a small step in the right direction, but emphasises the need to do
more in this area; urges the Commission, the Council and the Member States to be progressive when
proposing and adopting new initiatives to enhance energy efficiency on the demand side, to reinforce the
sector of renewable energy and promote the spread of co-generation and energy-efficient use of biomass,
also with regard to transport, housing and construction;

18.
Calls on the Commission to set an ambitious target with regard to the role of public procurement,
the goal being to establish as a general rule that all public procurement should include environmental
criteria and that Member States should develop standardised guidelines for the most important products
and services by 2007 as well as provide training to public procurers on these guidelines; underlines that a
validation mechanism for environmental technologies would be a key instrument in boosting the use of
Green Public Procurement (GPP);

19. Welcomes the work done by the Commission with regard to creating a handbook on environmental
public procurement and is looking forward to an assessment of its impact in order to see if more binding
rules would be useful; approves the recommendations in the Wim Kok report that national and local auth-
orities should draw up action plans for environmentally sound public procurement;

Creating a fair and competitive market for environmental technologies

20.
Stresses the importance of recognising and removing the barriers which slow down the wider use of
environmental technologies; therefore calls on the European Environment Agency to analyse to what extent
Community rules act as a brake on the use and spread of environmental technologies and requests the
Commission to subsequently draw up a concrete action programme to eliminate the barriers identified,
including a timetable; urges the Commission in this context to draft a report on the best practices which
have increased the use of environmental technologies outside the EU, for example in Japan;

Calls on the Commission to give the utmost priority to creating ‘the right market conditions’ for
21.
environmental technologies, primarily through decisions at Community level, e.g. by implementing the
polluter pays principle, thereby making sure that companies that offer clean technologies are rewarded;

22.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to speed up measures to reduce environmentally
damaging subsidies and ultimately eliminate them altogether; notes that the size of these subsidies is con-
siderable; and calls on the European Environment Agency to draw up a list of subsidies which directly or
indirectly promote polluting production and consumption, thereby creating unfair competition for cleaner
technologies;

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23.
Notes that the development of environmental technologies, notably in the energy sector, has been
hampered by important state aids for fossil fuels and nuclear power in the Community; strongly believes in
the principle that external costs should be included in the price of energy from different sources and
that this principle should be a basis for the revision of the EU state aid guidelines due in late 2005; also
notes that eco-taxes are an important tool to get energy prices right;

24.
Considers that, in order to ensure that the internal market operates smoothly, it is best to take action
at Community level, and calls on the Commission to propose ambitious initiatives to ensure that the
environmental costs of energy consumption are passed on in charges if the open coordination method is
found not to produce adequate results;

Is concerned about the under-use of already available environmental technology solutions; welcomes
25.
initiatives to reinforce instruments to finance energy efficiency and material efficiency investments and calls
for public investment support in general to be made conditional on selecting environmentally-friendly pro-
duction methods; further urges the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Recon-
struction and Development (EBRD) to increase the funding of projects involving eco-innovation and tech-
nology, notably by SMEs;

Meeting the demand for environmental technology

26.
Stresses the importance of providing research with sufficient means and recalls the agreement
reached in Barcelona in 2002 to increase spending on research and development in the European Union
in order to approach 3 % of gross domestic product by 2010; welcomes initiatives to increase funding and
coordinate efforts in this field,

Stresses that the Seventh Framework Programme for Research must provide funding for environmen-
27.
tal technologies; calls on the Commission,
in the proposals for the next Framework Programme for
Research, to draw up a strategic research agenda per economic sector in consultation with all parties con-
cerned (producers, environmental organisations, universities, research institutes and consumers);

Points to the need to promote and support QSAR (quantitative structure activity relationship) models

28.
so as to provide substitutes for certain types of research involving animal tests and experiments;

Believes that, to promote sustainable development, it is also necessary to encourage research into,
29.
and innovation in, technologies focused on prevention and the restoration of natural, cultural and historical
resources;

30. Welcomes the promotion of environmental technology platforms; insists, however, that such plat-
forms should be open, as regards participation and access to information, to all stakeholders on equal terms;
emphasises that the success of these platforms depends on cooperation and co-financing from industry;
observes that technology platforms are needed not only in existing strong industrial sectors but also else-
where; considers it extremely important that these platforms should interact with national research and
technology programmes;

31.
Calls on the Commission to support technology-specific measures to bridge the gap between research
activities, demonstration projects and market entry as well as to put more emphasis on market formation
and diffusion programmes and the choice of instruments to be used to form markets for environmental
technologies;

Underlines the importance of using eco-efficient ICT as a tool to reduce the environmental burden

32.
(dematerialisation), and urges the Member States to facilitate and promote this thinking;

Encourages different proposals for disseminating existing technologies, such as an EU catalogue of

33.
existing directories or databases on environmental technologies, technology platforms etc;

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34.
Regrets the Commission's failure to involve the European Patent Office in this initiative, and calls for
mandatory disclosure of the results of research into environmental technology financed from public funds;

Coherent policies on an internal as well as an external level

35.
Calls on the Commission to make an assessment of internal and external spill-over effects of policies
within the European Union from the point of view of sustainable development in order to avoid objectives
of the European Union being undermined; notes that ETAP must be coordinated with existing initiatives and
underlines the importance of implementing already agreed instruments such as the Cardiff Process through
deadlines as suggested in the Kok Report;

36.
Stresses the importance of using the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund in a manner that is
consistent with the aim of sustainable development and in particular encourages investment in environ-
mental technologies; encourages the use of these funds for integrating environmental technologies when
capital stock is replaced at the end of its normal life;

37.
Underlines the importance of including eco-innovations in all future Community funding instruments
and considers it vital that the funding of environmental technologies should be a central element in the
Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) which is being drafted;

38.
Emphasises that sustainable development requires global solutions and welcomes all initiatives to
disseminate and promote environmental technologies in developing countries; considers that exports of
outdated and polluting technology to third countries must be discouraged; stresses that the European
Union should take a leading role in technology transfer and urges the Member States to encourage the
public sector, the private sector and international financial institutions to disseminate and promote environ-
mental technologies and to give priority to environmental technologies in their lending while denying
financial support to outdated and polluting technologies; welcomes the recently adopted OECD recommen-
dation on Common Approaches on Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits;

39.
Encourages the Commission to introduce environmental concerns in international trade negotiations
and stresses the importance of allowing environmental aspects to be considered when applying international
trade rules;

Notes that scarce resources are often the origin of regional conflicts in the developing world; is of
40.
the opinion that transfers of EU environmental technologies could also serve as a conflict prevention tool;

Points to the need to promote technologies to prevent natural disasters or actions likely to cause the

41.
destruction or deterioration of resources or entail risks to the public;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the EIB, the EBRD

42.
and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

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