Activities of Benedek JÁVOR related to 2014/2208(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Resource efficiency: moving towards a circular economy (debate)
Amendments (20)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that Europe is a net importer of natural resources and that resource prices have increased by 147% in the first decade of the 21st century 1 a making Europe’s economy particularly vulnerable. Believes that, in order to tackle global challenges and the EU’s resource dependency, it is essential that energy and resource efficiency form the basis of European industrial renewal so that the EU can maintain its competitiveness in the future, recreate manufacturing capacity and generate jobs for highly skilled workers; __________________ 1a According to McKinsey Global Institute ‘Resource Revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food, and water needs’, November 2011, p.30, (http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/energy _resources_materials/resource_revolution ), energy prices increased by 190%, food by 135% and materials by 135%.
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that better design,improving resource use through better design requirements, and a waste legislation that ensures moving up the waste hierarchy and thus fosters waste prevention, reuse and recycling, could bring substantial net savings for EU businesses, estimated at EUR 600 billion, or 8 % of annual turnover, while also reducing total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2-4 %1 ; emphasises that increasing resource productivity by 30 % by 2030 could boost GDP by nearly 1 % and create 2 million additional jobs; __________________ 1 Commission communication of 2 July 2014 entitled ‘Towards a circular economy: a zero waste programme for Europe’ (COM(2014)0398).
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls that resource efficiency is a priority objective of the 7th Environmental Action Programme which emphasises the need to stimulate production and consumer demand for environmentally sustainable products and services through policies which promote their availability, affordability, functionality and attractiveness;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Recalls to the recommendations of the European Resource Efficiency Platform, highlighting that resource efficiency requires a dynamic fiscal and regulatory framework that gives appropriate signals to producers and consumers to supply and demand products with better environmental performance throughout their life cycle. Calls for an improved policy framework that includes adopting and implementing smart regulation, standards and codes of conduct that: aim at internalisation of externalities, at implementing a cascading use of resources, focuses on streams of key materials and tackles resource intensive products, rewards front-runners and accelerates the transition towards a resource efficient and renewable-based sustainable economy;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points to the Commission’s analysis which shows that adopting new waste targets would create 180 000 jobs, make Europe more competitive and reduce demand for costly scarce resources2 ; strongly regrets the withdrawal of the legislative proposal on waste3 , and calls for a more ambitious legislative proposal, addressing not only municipalhousehold but also industrial and commercial waste streams, to be put forward by 2015 as part of a more ambitious circular economy package (CEP), as announced by Vice-President Timmermans in Parliament’s plenary part- session of December 20144 ; __________________calls for the new CEP to address specific waste streams including agricultural waste, waste from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) and construction waste and to provide, like the original package, for resource efficiency indicators for land, water, materials and carbon; __________________ 2a European Environment Agency report ‘Earnings, jobs and innovation’ page 7 http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/ear nings-jobs-and-innovation-the 2 Commission staff working document of 2 July 2014 containing an executive summary of the impact assessment accompanying the proposal for a directive amending the waste directives (COM(2014)0397) (SWD(2014)0208). 3 Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2008/98/EC on waste, 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, 1991/31/EC on the landfill of waste, 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, and 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (COM(2014)0397). 4 Verbatim plenary debate of 16 December 2014 on the Commission work programme 2015.
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Believes that burning or recovering energy from waste goes contrary to the principles of the circular economy and presents risks to health and the environment; in addition, points to the fact that recycling and repair infrastructure requires less capital investments and creates more jobs per tonne of material2 a than investing into landfill and waste-to-energy infrastructure; calls on Commission and Member States to refrain from promoting and investing into waste-to energy infrastructure to avoid wasting of valuable materials, creation of lock-in effects and over-capacity situations;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for the CEP to establish, in line with the recommendations of the European Resource Efficiency Platform5 , a comprehensive policy framework which significantly increases Europe’s resource independence, includes concrete policy objectives and better integrates and streamlines existing policy tools such as fully implementing and extending the EcoDesign and EcoLabelling Directives to various product types and to the resource-efficiency dimension; insists that tools and measures must ensure real opportunities for, and active participation of, SMEs in the circular economy; __________________ 5 European Resource Efficiency Platform (EREP) Manifesto and Policy Recommendations, March 2014:http://ec.europa.eu/environment/reso urce_efficiency/documents/erep_manifesto _and_policy_recommendations_31-03- 2014.pdf
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Call on the CEP to provide for specific support measure for SMEs such as awareness raising, technical assistance, access to finance, information and skills. Supports the implementation of the SMEs Green Action Plan, and welcomes the establishment of a European Resource Efficiency Excellence Centre to advise and assist SMEs seeking to improve their resource efficiency performance;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the regulatory framework for Extended Producer’s Responsibility and increasing transparency in the implementation of the EPR schemes; stresses the need to improve design requirements for packaging in order to reduce materials use and improve recycling;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the CEP to introduce a sustainable materials management policy at EU level, taking a life-cycle approach and aiming for eco-efficient, durable and environmentally responsible use of materials, including during the extraction, design, production, consumption, and waste management phases; stresses the potential of urban mining to reduce EUs dependence on imports of raw material and the need to incentivise the secondary raw materials market; calls on the Member States to significantly reinforce export controls on shipment of waste, and on the Commission to close the any loopholes in the Waste Shipment Regulation;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Highlights the need to have targets for reuse and for preparation for reuse in the new CEP, in order to maximise the potential of reuse and repair policies for, enabling quality job creation, resource savings and the development of the social economy and social enterprises; calls for further incentives and other support for reuse, the consolidation of reuse, and repair infrastructures and networks; stresses the need for ensuring better product design standards to makes consumer products more durable, easy to disassemble, upgradable, repairable and recyclable, as well as a ensuring access to the waste stream by approved reuse centres; asks the Commission to mandate the European Standardisation Organisations to actively work with SMEs representatives, consumers and civil society organisations towards this aim; calls on the Commission to propose legislation which ensures that spare parts at affordable costs are available for at least 10 years after the last product has been placed on the market;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Asks the Commission to take action with regards to the growing problem caused by planned obsolescence of consumer products by extending the minimum legal guarantees for consumer products; call on the Commission to require manufacturers, within the relevant directives (Waste, Eco-design, WEEE, Batteries, Consumer Rights), to make available relevant and reliable information (such as life-time, end-of life treatment, recyclability, disassembly, environmental impacts) to re-use operators, procurers and consumers in order to enable informed purchasing, upgrades and repairs, reuse and recycling; call for the establishment of a EU-wide register containing this information that would be made available to the public;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls for Member States to incentivise re-use, repair and demand of durable products through demand-side instruments such as introducing a policy of zero VAT on repair and sale of second hand products and the reinforcement of green public procurement criteria for purchasing more resource-efficient, less wasteful and more recyclable products;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Points to the direct economic impact on businesses and consumers of food waste, owing to the costs of waste disposal and the economic losses caused by throwing away saleable or edible food; recalls that one euro spent on fighting food waste could prevent 250 kg of food, worth EUR 500, from being wasted; urges the Commission to address the issue of food waste within the CEP; calls for the Commission to introduce compulsory door-to-door collection for food and organic waste;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses the importance of creating industrial synergies for recycling and of helping companies to discover how their energy, waste and by-products can serve as resources for others; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote approaches such as those taken in the UKsome Member States as part of the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses the role of environmental tax reform (switching taxation away from labour and towards pollution and resources) in providing the right signals for investment in resource efficiency, and calls for progress in this area to be pursued by the Member States as part of the European Semester process;Points to the fact that labour taxes account for 53% against 6% on environmental taxation; stresses the role of environmental tax reform (for instance lower taxes on repair service activities and higher taxes on resource-intensive, non- recyclable and single use products) in providing the right signals for investment in resource efficiency, and calls for progress in this area to be pursued by the Member States as part of the European Semester process;1 a calls on the EU and the Member States to phase out environmentally harmful subsidies and to introduce appropriate fees on resource inefficient activities such as landfilling and incineration of recoverable and recyclable materials; __________________ 1a Green Budget Europe, 2015, Country- Specific Recommendations in Support of the European Semester Process, page 6 http://www.foes.de/pdf/2015-02- 25_CSR%20Recommendations_FINAL.p df
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Commission to continue within the CEP to measure and aim at reducing Europe's Raw Material Consumption (RMC) and to develop land, water, material and carbon footprint indicators, and indicators on eco-system services; demands the Commission to use and give relevance to these indicators in the policy-making process, including in the impact assessments, and to introduce them in the European Semester process;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the European Investment Bank to ensure that the Investment Plan for Europe is underpinned by resource and energy efficiency objectives, provides support for eco-innovative SMEs in particular, and strengthens advisory services on resource efficiency; calls for funding ofor the EU Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) and, Horizon 2020, and European Structural and Investment Funds to be more focused on developing eco-innovative solutions and improving product design and process performance. and resource efficient solutions, new business models (such as leasing or product-service systems), and improving product design and process performance. Believes that non-technological, organisational, systems and social innovation as well as public sector innovation must be given as much attention as technology driven solutions;
Amendment 102 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Call on the Commission and Member States to actively support the work of the International Resource Panel within the UNEP, investigating world critical resource issues and developing practical solutions for policy making, industry and society.
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that financial incentives as well as the legislative framework facilitate the spread of the innovative non-for profit sharing economy and community-based models. Initiatives like repair cafés, borrowing shops, peer-to-peer lending, leasing models, tool and cloth libraries realise common ownership that substantially reduces the individual’s ecological impact, while fosters communal values and the social-psychological transition necessary for a true circular economy.