Activities of Karl-Heinz FLORENZ related to 2011/2068(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a resource-efficient Europe PDF (292 KB) DOC (190 KB)
Amendments (30)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5
Citation 5
– having regard to the Environment Council conclusions on the Commission’s Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe adopted on 19 December 2011 (18786/11) and the, the Competitiveness Council conclusions of 29 September 2011 on a competitive European economy, and the Environment Council conclusions of 20 December 2010 on sustainable materials management and sustainable production and consumption: key contribution to a resource-efficient Europe,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
Citation 7 a (new)
– having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Making raw materials available for Europe’s future well-being – Proposal for a European innovation partnership on raw materials’ (COM(2012)0082),
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas switching the economy onto a resource-efficient path which respects planetary boundaries willcan bring increased competitiveness and new sources of growth and jobs through cost savings from improved efficiency, the commercialisation of innovations and better management of resources over their whole life cycle;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas recycling amounts to more than the collection of recyclable waste and whereas it is therefore essential for every step along the value chain to be encompassed within future measures;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas a future holistic resource policy should no longer merely distinguish between ‘renewable’ and ‘non-renewable’ resources, but should also extend to ‘sustainable’ materials;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls for the creation of Joint Task Forces for the three key areas of food, housing and mobility: these should consist of experts from the Commission, Member States, industry and civil society and develop European Resource Efficiency Action Plans with clearindicative benchmarks within one yearas quickly as possible;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Member States to transpose the existing legislation on waste as a matter of urgency in order to establish the necessary conditions for a functioning market;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission and Member States to stimulateremove any obstacles to the operation of the secondary materials market and to foster the demand for recycled materials, or the availability of, recycled materials and by- products, for example by developing stringent end-of- waste criteria andfor other priority waste streams or by offering economic incentives, such as reduced VAT rates for secondary materials, by 2013 in sectors in which the market is failing to function or measures to promote the use of innovative collection and sorting technologies; calls also therefore for the creation of a ‘Schengen area’ for waste in order to move waste for recycling more freely within the single market between the Member States; considers it essential, however, to press more determinedly than hitherto for observance of the principles deriving from existing legislation, for instance the Waste Shipment Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006), and for high standards comparable throughout the EU;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Urges the Commission to boost research and technological innovation to speed up the transition to a green economy; underlines that the ‘Innovation Union’ is one of the engines for a resource-efficient Europe; calls on the Commission to set up an online ‘best practice’ data bank in the resource efficiency field, which should be accessible without difficulty to citizens and businesses as a whole and help to disseminate potential solutions and new ideas and translate them into reality;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Commission and Member States to act as quickly as possible – publishing the grounds for their decision- making – to develop and use clear, robust, and measurable indicators for economic activity that take account of climate change, biodiversity and resource efficiency by the end of 2012, as well as of the globalised economy and possible business cycle fluctuations;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission, after carrying out comprehensive impact assessments, to extend the scope of the eco-design directive to non- energy-related products and to come forward with additional eco- design requirements on the performance of products, including recycled content, durability, recyclability, and reusability, in order to improve their environmental impact and promote recycling markets; points out that the impact assessments must focus in particular on the effects on competitiveness and that the possibility of overlapping with other regulations must, in addition, be ruled out;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Endorses the Flagship Initiative on a Resource Efficient Europe and the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe and its 2050 vision, including its milestones; calls on the Commission to bring forward swiftly all legislative and other initiatives necessary to achieve the milestones and to ensure that all EU policies are coherently aligned to them;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the urgency of taking action now to support innovation and investment in new techniques and business models and to create the incentives that will bring long- term benefits for the economy; emphasises the key role of the private sector in delivering green economic growth, but notes that small and medium-sized enterprises are, from that point of view, in a special position;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the urgency of taking action now to support innovation and investment in new techniques and business models, such as a leasing society, and to create the incentives that will bring both short- and long- term benefits for the economy; emphasises the key role of the private sector in delivering green economic growth;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Urges Member States to ensure full implementation of the EU waste acquis, including minimum targets, through their national waste prevention and management strategies and to identify those cases in which feedback might pose problems, with a view to remedying them as quickly as possible;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take more effective action to combat illegal shipments of waste to non-EU countries and, in particular, to strengthen the appropriate monitoring systems; suggests that a ‘European external waste policy’ be established with a view to spreading the best European waste treatment standards beyond the confines of the EU;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to streamline the waste acquis and to introduce a progressive landfill ban, accompanied by appropriate transition measures; is of the opinion that a landfill tax – as has already been introduced by some Member States – could also help to achieve the above ends;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Points out that existing landfills could serve as raw material depots (urban mining), but that there is little in the way of research findings on that subject;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Highlights the importance of research, development and innovation for speeding up the transformation to a resource- efficient Europe; notes that greater innovation is particularly needed in environmentally friendly material extraction, chemistry, farming, recycling, re-use potential, and the substitution of environmental impacting material, technologies and design for less material and energy use; points out that granting tax credits (deductions from tax payable) would also benefit research, development, and innovation activities;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Considers that EU support serves to point the way and should therefore be used as a matter of priority for projects relating to higher rungs of the waste hierarchy;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Urges Member States to shift towards environmental taxation in public revenues accounting for an EU average of more than 10% by 2020, in line with the best performing Member States; emphasises that this will allow for cuts; emphasises that cuts must at the same time be made in other taxes such as on labour, so as to increase competitiveness and create a level playing field;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Urges the Commission and Member States, as quickly as possible, to draw up a clear definition, based on objective criteria, of ‘environmentally harmful subsidies’ and to present concrete plans for phasing out all environmentally harmful subsidies before 2020;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission and Member States to give more active support in future to scientific research to assess the economic value of ecosystems or ecosystem services and, integrate these values addition, to consider how far such values could be integrated into reporting and accounting systems by 2015;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Endorses the Commission's commitment in the Roadmap to developing market-based instruments to enable negative externalities to be included in market prices thereby reflecting the true cost of using resources and their environmental impacts;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Highlights the importance of sustainable agriculture, dietary changes to reduce animal protein intake and diminishing imported land use and diminishing imported land use; points out that consumers should be informed in detail about the importance of a healthy balanced diet based on high-quality seasonal and regional foods;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Reiterates the importance of a set of coherent, measurable and clear sectoral targets, including an overall target, in order to implement the vision and the milestonetargets of the Roadmap; calls onpoints, however, to the Ccommission to bring forward a concrete proposal for such targets for the EU by 2013 at the latest and to ensure that all EU policies are consistent with the targets set; considers that the milestones included in the Roadmap should be considered as targets until more detailedplexity of the subject and the consequent imperative need for such steps to be scientifically examined; calls on the Commission, working together with the scientific community, to devise and introduce indicators as quickly as possible in order to provide a basis for a future concrete proposal for such targets for the EU; considers it necessary in addition to ensure that all EU policies are consistent with the targets are set; calls on Member States to include corresponding targets in their own resource efficiency strategies;
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Urges the Commission to adopt robust and easily understandable indicators, which should be based on integrated accounting tools and explicitly laid down to apply in all parts of Europe, in order to monitor progress towards the targets;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Supports the proposal by the Commission to devise and, as soon as possible, to establish a lead indicator complemented byrising a set of indicators on land, water, materials and carbon; underlines that these must be based on a footprint approach that takes the full life cycle impacts into accountintegrated indicators derived from scientific knowledge must be based on a footprint approach that takes impacts into account over the full life cycle and along the entire value chain;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Underlines that specific resource efficiency indicators are crucial in all areas of policy and calls on the Commission to integrate resource efficiency indicators into all its impact assessments; also considers that a ‘fitness check’ along the lines set out in Commission communication COM(2010)0614 should be a mandatory part of every impact assessment;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Considers that the 7th EAP should be aimed at achieving the vision and milestones of the Roadmap towards a resource-efficient Europe;