“An important driver for eco-innovation” as new EU rules aim to cut emissions.

The European Union has approved a new industrial emissions directive that limits the emissions of air, water and soil pollutants. The EU council voted in a bid to manage the impact of industrial emissions on the environment and the health of EU citizens. The EU estimates the financial savings will be between €7 – 28 billion.

The new directive will enforce emissions limits on pollutants such as sulfur and nitrogen compounds, dust particles, heavy metals and asbestos, among others. The European Union’s environmental commissioner Janez Potocnik said in a statement that approving the directive is “a milestone in industrial pollution control in the EU. It will help ensure the level of protection from industrial pollution that EU citizens deserve. It will substantially strengthen the current legal framework, further reducing air and other environmental pollutions and become an important driver for eco-innovation.”

The directive will affect a variety of sectors from metal production plants, chemical producers and waste incinerators to poultry and pig farmers. Some 52 000 plants are expected to be affected.

The new rules will bolster the EU’s best available techniques (BAT) standard. Under current legislation, existing industrial plants have to use the cleanest technology that is available to them by 2016. The only exceptions are plants due to close in the next 13 years, or those that will have limited operating hours from 2016. Under the new directive, all new industrial facilities will have to comply with the BAT standard by 2012.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the industrial emissions directive is not directly focused on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, instead targeting pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide. The European Council says that the new ruling will have a positive impact on the efficiency of the affected industries and will therefore naturally help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a related move, the European Union announced plans to sell 300 million CO₂ allowances from its reserve. The EU hopes that by doing so it can support the development and use of clean energy, by investing the revenue from sales into aid projects for carbon capture and storage and further renewable energy projects.

The European Commission said in a statement, “While details, including the starting date of the sales, are not fixed yet, it is expected that all (300 million permits) will be sold before the start of the third trading period of the EU emissions-trading system in January 2013. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has to start sales within a month of the allowances being made available in a registry account. When further decisions on the sales channel(s) to be used and other details have been taken, and before the sales start, the EIB will publish further information. This will also cover the number of allowances to be sold in 2011 and 2012.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/09112010/%E2%80%9Can_important_driver_for_eco-innovation%E2%80%9D_as_new_eu_rules_aim_to_cut_emissions/