25/11/09
One of the key objectives of the EU is to integrate environmental sustainability with economic growth and welfare. But the consequences of climate change and the growing demand for energy and resources challenge this objective.
Current levels of consumption and production have benefited many Europeans, but too often, at the expense of the environment.
Any human action, any product has an impact on the environment somewhere across its life cycle, whether during its manufacture, its use or its disposal.
The product areas identified as having the greatest impact on the environment are food and drink, transport, energy-using products in buildings, construction and clothing.
Consumers have a significant role to play in choosing more sustainable products.
Yet many of the avoidable impacts that arise from these choices are already 'designed-in' long before they reach the consumer.
Therefore designers, manufacturers, retailers and marketing professionals bear a responsibility to create and promote goods and services with significantly reduced environmental impact.
Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) is about reducing our environmental impacts while maintaining or improving economic output and standards of living.
Sustainable consumption and production maximises business' potential to transform environmental challenges into economic opportunities and provides a better deal for consumers.
The challenge is to improve the overall environmental performance of products throughout their life-cycle, to boost the demand for better products and production technologies and to help consumers in making informed choices.
Since 2008, the European Commission’s Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan (SCP/SIP) has been implemented.
It aims at improving the environmental performance of products and at increasing the demand for more sustainable goods and production technologies.
It also seeks to encourage EU industry to take advantage of opportunities to innovate.
The SCP/SIP proposals complement and provide measures on EU and national policies which already foster resource efficient, eco-friendly products and raise consumer awareness.
These policies are an integral part of the wider EU's renewed Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) which reinforces the EU's long-standing commitment to meet the challenges of sustainable development and builds on initiatives and instruments at EU and international levels such as the United Nations' Marrakech Process.
The United Nations' Marrakech Process is a global process to support the elaboration of a 10-Year Framework of Programs (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production, as called for by the Plan of Action of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The aims are to assist countries in their efforts to green their economies, to help corporations develop greener business models and to encourage consumers adopt more sustainable lifestyles.
The Integrated Product Policy (IPP) seeks to minimise the environmental degradation by looking at all phases of a product's life-cycle and taking action where it is most effective.
The life-cycle of a product is often long and complicated.
It covers all areas from the extraction of natural resources, through their design, manufacture, assembly, marketing, distribution, sale and use to their eventual disposal as waste.
This is very good news for the plastics industry: when dealing with hard facts, the environmental benefits of plastics clearly appear whereas on an emotional level, these materials suffer from numerous prejudices.
The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a voluntary initiative designed to improve companies’ environmental performance.
Its aim is to recognise and reward those organisations that go beyond minimum legal compliance and continuously improve their environmental performance.
In addition, it is a requirement of the scheme that participating organisations regularly produce a voluntary public environmental information statement that reports on their environmental performance.
For plastics, this is already a daily practice: as chemical companies, the whole plastics industry adheres to the international Responsible Care charter.
And, even before the ELV (End of Life Vehicles) Directive, plastics from old vehicles were recycled on a voluntary basis by the plastics industry.
Similarly, Vinyl 2010 is a voluntary commitment for the sustainable development of the PVC part of the European plastics industry.
Labeling is the simplest and most direct way of communicating information on a product's environmental credentials to consumers.
The European Ecolabel is a voluntary scheme, established in 1992 to encourage businesses to market products and services that are kinder to the environment.
Products and services awarded the Ecolabel carry the flower logo, allowing consumers to identify them easily: cleaning products, appliances, paper products, textile, home and garden products, lubricants and also services such as tourist accommodation...
While the logo may be simple, the environmental criteria behind it are tough.
The Eco-design of Energy Using Products Framework Directive (EuP) is also designed to encourage sustainable innovation by changing the product design process.
The Directive does not introduce directly binding requirements for specific products, but defines conditions and criteria for setting standards, through subsequent implementation measures and requirements regarding environmentally relevant product characteristics that allows them to be improved quickly and efficiently.
Small and medium-sized enterprises traditionally find it harder to comply with environmental legislation than their larger counterparts. In general, the smaller the company, the more difficult it is.
Although there is a cost implication in compliance, companies that do take action can benefit from lower energy bills and greater efficiency in their operations.
The European Commission has proposed an Environmental Compliance Assistance Programme to make it easier for SMEs to comply with their obligations and improve their environmental performances: minimising the administrative burden, helping SMEs integrate environmental concerns into their businesses, supporting regional and national networks, building-up local know-how and improving communication.
The EU Commissioner for Enterprises and Industries, vice-president Günter Verheugen, concluded that the SCP and SIP Action Plans are part of the “birth of a new chapter” in the EU’s industrial policy.
This is necessary to “overcome old thinking” with respect to the perceived contradiction between modern technologies and environmental protection.
But is it sufficient?
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