Activities of Gianluca BUONANNO related to 2014/2208(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Resource efficiency: moving towards a circular economy (A8-0215/2015 - Sirpa Pietikäinen) IT
Amendments (11)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 e (new)
Paragraph -1 e (new)
-1e. Notes that the sustainable development mainstream is based on the deeply held conviction that, with the right technological innovations, economic growth and environmental protection can complement, rather than conflict, with each other; however, this vision ignores, misrepresents or underestimates the biophysical limits to production and human consumption set by system dynamics and thermodynamics; urges the Commission, therefore, not to make the same mistakes;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 d (new)
Paragraph -1 d (new)
-1d. Points out that the concept of circular economy, like similar concepts (such as ‘cradle-to-cradle’, industrial ecology and natural capitalism), suggests, through innovation, the industrial-scale development of strategies designed to achieve absolute decoupling between the physical growth of throughput and the non-physical (financial) growth of GDP (so-called green growth or ‘sustainable growth’); observes, nonetheless, that according to historical data only relative decoupling has taken place;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1c. Draws attention to the fact that absolute decoupling, assuming that it can be achieved, can only be done on a global scale, since improvement in only one part of the world corresponds to a relocation of production and associated environmental impacts elsewhere; urges the Commission, therefore, not to take any further unilateral action which, in terms of industrialisation, employment and the environment, may result in a negative balance;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1b. Notes that a constant process of increasing efficiency in the use of resources, through innovation, has been ongoing since the beginning of the modern age at the very least, but that such relative decoupling has not prevented the overall growth in the production and consumption of raw materials from being neutralised; highlights the risk that a sharp increase in relative decoupling might, on the contrary, in accordance with the Jevons paradox, lead to more intensive exploitation of raw materials, made cheaper by an accelerated movement of capital caused by a reduction in the unit cost of production owing to the more efficient technologies;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Points out that the ability attributed to the circular economy to close material cycles into production systems is overestimated, especially when it comes to toxic matter, or dissipative or complex materials; warns, accordingly, that the promise to achieve an absolute reduction of the environmental impact of production and consumption systems cannot be kept in a growth-based economy and that, therefore, it runs counter to the principles relating to the social market economy enshrined in Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU);
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. 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 thatbasing European industrial renewal on energy and resource efficiency is an essential contribution to enable the EU canto maintain its competitiveness in the future, recreate manufacturing capacity and generate jobs for highly skilled workerswith real salaries that are commensurate with labour productivity;
Amendment 34 #
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 municipal 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; __________________ 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, 19919/31/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 44 #
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 includes concreterealistic policy objectives and better integrates and streamlines existing policy tools; 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_e fficiency/documents/erep_manifesto _and_ policy_recommendations_31-03- 2014.pdf
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the CEP to introduce a sustainable materials management policy at EU levelguidelines for the sustainable management of materials in the Member States, taking a life-cycle approach and aiming for eco-efficient and environmentally responsible use of materials, including during the extraction, design, production, consumption, and waste management phases;
Amendment 75 #
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 UK as part of the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9