EU environmental policies and legislation protect natural habitats, keep air and water clean, ensure proper waste disposal, improve knowledge about toxic chemicals and help businesses move toward a sustainable economy.
The following is a list of EU Environment and Climate Change related legislation documents and weblinks that are currently available on Lean Business Ireland.
This directive amends Directive 2003/87/EC, which set up the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS), by factoring in carbon dioxide emissions caused by aviation activity. As a result, all flights to, from and within all EU countries and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are covered under the EU ETS.
KEY POINTS
The internalisation of external costs forms part of a package of initiatives aimed at making transport more sustainable. It consists of including external transport costs (pollution, noise, congestion, etc.) in the price paid by the user, so as to encourage them to change their behaviour.
This proposal for a directive provides for the restructuring of European Union (EU) countries’ passenger car related taxation systems with a view to improving the functioning of the internal market. It aims to remove the tax obstacles to permanently transferring passenger cars from one EU country to another. By restructuring the basis on which passenger cars are taxed, the proposed directive also aims to promote environmental sustainability in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.
It sets out a strategy to reduce the fuel consumption of HDVs and their CO2 emissions in the most cost-efficient way. It indicates possible regulatory developments so the industry can invest and plan its future accordingly.
KEY POINTS
The communication identifies various ways to meet its twin objectives:
—using state-of-the-art technology to make engines and vehicles more environmentally efficient and developing alternative fuels infrastructure (where vehicles can recharge or refuel);
—tackling the current knowledge gap on HDV CO2 emissions by accurately measuring and reporting these emissions. This can be done with the support of a computer simulation tool, ‘VECTO’, currently under development, to measure HDV CO2 emissions. It will facilitate greater transparency in the market and comparability between different vehicles to stimulate competition between manufacturers and awareness among consumers;
—considering medium-term policy options such as mandatory CO2 emissions for newly registered HDVs, modern infrastructure supporting alternative fuels, smarter pricing of infrastructure usage (pricing infrastructure use on ‘polluter-pays’ (those who pollute while using the infrastructure pay) and ‘user-pays’ (those who use the infrastructure pay) principles), effective and coherent use of vehicle taxation by EU countries and other market-based mechanisms.
The communication points out that European HDV manufacturers are world leaders, with over 40 % of the global market. By reducing fuel consumption costs, both transport operators and their customers will benefit. More technologically advanced vehicles will improve the sector’s competitiveness.
The reform of the European air traffic control system aims to meet the challenge of large increases in air traffic expected in the coming years. It also aims to increase security, reduce costs, delays and the impact of air traffic on the environment.
This Directive aims at promoting and stimulating the development of a market for clean and energy-efficient vehicles. With regard to procurement for public transport, the Directive requires public authorities and some other operators to take into account the impact of these vehicles during their operational lifetime in terms of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and other pollutant emissions.
Technical harmonisation relating to emissions from air-conditioning systems in motor vehicles supplements the measures taken by the European Union (EU) on the reduction of fluorinated greenhouse gases.
This proposal for a directive provides for the restructuring of European Union (EU) countries’ passenger car related taxation systems with a view to improving the functioning of the internal market. It aims to remove the tax obstacles to permanently transferring passenger cars from one EU country to another. By restructuring the basis on which passenger cars are taxed, the proposed directive also aims to promote environmental sustainability in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.
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