EMAS III:
A mature instrument
for new challenges
Soledad BLANCO
Director, Directorate Industry
DG Environment
A need for strategic orientation
EMAS
Was adopted almost 20 years ago
• Is considered as the most
comprehensive EMS
• Inspired many other EMS
• At organisation level reduces
environmental impact and brings many
benefits (economic, relationship with
stakeholders, etc.)
but
• EMAS has only moderate success with
5000 organisations participating in the
scheme
• Several member states seem not to
believe in EMAS as an effective policy
instrument and do not support it
Change in environmental conditions?
Origin – early 1990s
•
Industrial pollution was considered as the
main environmental problem
•
EMAS seen as complementary to
command-and-control approach
•
EMAS could reduce the risk and the need
for need for environmental enforcement
Today
•
Climate change and resource scarcity more dominant challenges
•
All economic actors have environmental impact through their consumption
of energy and resources
•
Exit from the economic crisis
– The need to find win-win solutions that ensure environmental
protection and competitiveness
– Reduced capacity of governments to enforce or stimulate
environmental protection and improvement
How serious is the resource problem?
• Scientific knowledge (e.g. UNEP Resource Panel) confirms that the
current trend of natural resource use is unsustainable
• Climate change – one dimension of unsustainable resource use
40
Biomass
GDP
40
20
20
10
0
0
1995
2000
2005
30
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
60
GDP [10^12 intl. Dollars]
Ores and industrial
minerals
Fossil energy carriers
1940
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
• The unsustainable use of resources
is a major source of environmental
problems in Europe and globally
80
50
Construction minerals
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
• Resource scarcity has impact on
resource prices and accessibility
- threat to competitiveness and
growth of EU economy
100
1900
1905
1910
• Europe consumes more resources
than its fair share
Material extration [billion tons]
• Main drivers: population growth and growing wealth and
consumption
Our policy objective: Decoupling
We need to decouple:
• Resource use from economic growth, i.e.
increase of resource productivity
• Environmental impacts from resource use,
decrease environmental intensity
of resource use
How much decoupling is needed?
• Absolute decoupling in Europe
leading to increase in resource productivity
by factor 2-5 between now and 2050
(the space between yellow and green line)
• Tough constraint scenario (green line)
is consistent with IPPC scenario of keeping
climate change within 2 degrees
Emerging EU Resource Efficiency policy
Resource Efficiency prominent in EU strategic documents:
European Union’s EU 2020 economic development strategy
• Sustainable growth is one of the three pillars
• Resource Efficiency – a flagship initiative
DG Environment’s Roadmap to Resource Efficiency
Other DGs’ policies
• Industrial policy
• Innovation policy
Optimisation
• Trade policy
Innovation
• Agricultural policy
Structural
change
• Structural Funds
Policy instruments aimed at optimisation
of resource use, innovation and
structural changes
Role of EMAS in resource efficiency
• There are not many instruments suitable to assist individual
companies to increase resource productivity
• Environmental and resource management systems will be an
important element in the policy mix
• EMAS is a generic system
– it is suitable also for
energy and resource
management
(many EMAS companies
use EMAS for resource
efficiency)
EMAS scheme needs to:
• focus on performance
improvement
• increase the uptake
Revised EMAS – ready for the job
New elements of EMAS III:
• Assistance to organisations by MS
• Easier life for SMEs
• Corporate and Global EMAS
• Key performance indicators
• Sectoral reference documents
Increase
attractiveness
Focus on
performance
What should be done?
•Find out more about possible
synergies between EMAS and
resource/energy efficiency
•Reach potential partners and
convince them about the possible
synergy
•Promote EMAS as an
energy/resource efficiency tool
•Ensure that EMAS verifiers are
eligible for energy and resource
management systems
certification
EC Study to be launched in
autumn
DG ENV to speak to ENER&ENTR
MS ministries of environment to
speak to ministries of energy and
economy
EC Conference Nov 2010
EMAS Award ceremony 2010
EMAS helpdesk
EMAS website
Coordination
between accreditation
bodies
Implementation challenges
Emphasis on resource efficiency should not undermine achievements
of EMAS as an environmental management system
Resource efficiency does not shift the scope of application, it
expands it
Many implementation challenges remain and will need to be
addressed:
• Corporate and Global EMAS
• Better promotion
• Assistance by MS to EMAS organisation
• Facilitation of participation of SMEs
• Taking EMAS into account in legislation
• Better regulation and regulatory relief for EMAS organisations
• Use of EMAS in public procurement
• Harmonisation of procedures by Competent Bodies and
Accreditation/Licensing Bodies
EMAS team in DG Environment is
• excited about new opportunities
• prepared to address challenges
• looking forward to cooperation with Member States on
the implementation of EMAS III