26 Amendments of Jan HUITEMA related to 2021/2006(INI)
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Regrets the lack of a comprehensive EU monitoring framework for methane emissions; calls on the Commission, therefore, to improve the measurement, reporting and verification of methane emissions in the agricultural sector; encourages the Commission and Member States to support and apply available mitigation technologies and practices that have the potential to deliver emission reductions decoupled from production;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Highlights that anthropogenic emissions make up 59% of all methane emissions; notes that agriculture accounts for 53% of the anthropogenic emissions, while 26% originates from waste and 19% from energy;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Welcomes the Commission’s communication on an EU strategy to reduce methane emissions as a milestone in the governance of non-CO2 greenhouse gases in the Union; Points out that methane emissions from agricultural production are part of a closed cycle that does not increase global stock of methane in the atmosphere as opposed to methane emissions from fossil fuels; therefore, consider that these two should not be accounted for in the same way;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights that research and investment in mitigation measures and technologies is of paramount importance; considers that there is great potential in adapting diet of and developing feed additives for ruminant and bovine species, which could reduce methane emissions without having negative effects on the livestock sector; Welcomes the plans of the Commission to revise the Feed Additives Regulation to streamline the current costly and unflexible authorisation process;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas innovative and advanced technologies that can detect methane leaks in real time, including the type, size and direction of the plume, and that allow for immediate reaction and prevent large amounts of methane to be released in the air, already exist and can be immediately deployed;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Welcomes the study on the status of new genomic techniques (NGT) from the European Commission and strongly supports the findings that NGTs have the potential to contribute to a more sustainable food system; highlights also that the study brings forward opportunities and benefits for the livestock sector: calls for the adapting the legal framework for these biotechnologies to the latest scientific and technological progress, and consider that targeted research within the Horizon Europe programme and the ERI-funds is needed in the this regard;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes that the UNEP´s Global Methane Assessment (2021) monetized global benefits for all market and non- market impacts to be approximately $ 4 300 per tonne of methane reduced and that approximately 1 430 annual premature deaths could be prevented per tonne reduced; believes, therefore, that an impact assessment accompanying the legislative proposal should consider costs of the actions proposed as well as costs of inaction or delayed action;
Amendment 108 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that value-added utilisation of agricultural residues and other by-products is an important driver of the circular economy and bio-economy; calls for the acceleration of European biogas production from agriculture waste, as an important tool for reducing methane emissions; and increase circularity in the agricultural sector; stresses the role of permanent grassland for carbon sequestration and points out that the rate of grassland in Europe is tightly linked to livestock numbers;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls for better coordination and improved infrastructure between farmers and renewable energy producers in order to enable the uptake of locally connected production of biogas; furthermore highlights the importance of returning high quality natural fertilizer, which is the by-product of biogas production, to the farms again;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Notes that measures to reduce methane emissions are not always beneficial for other aspects of sustainability; Calls on the Commission to take into account all aspects of sustainability when proposing best practises and promoting mitigation technologies;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underscores the need to revise EU climate and environmental legislation in a coherent manner; takes the view that the binding emissions reduction targets for Member States in the Effort Sharing Regulation5 should remain the main legislative tool to reduce methane emissions as part of overall greenhouse gas reductions, while the Industrial Emissions Directive6 and other legislation cshould serve as a complementary tool; taking into account the need to avoid unnecessary overlaps between the legislations; calls on the Commission to assess the consistency of the National Emission Reduction Commitments Directive with meeting the EU´s air quality objectives as well as the Union's 2030 climate goals and its objective of climate neutrality in 2050 at the latest, as enshrined in the European Climate Law, and to revise it accordingly as soon as possible; _________________ 5Regulation (EU) 2018/842 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 contributing to climate action to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement and amending Regulation (EU) No 525/2013. OJ L 156, 19.6.2018, p. 26. 6 Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control). OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, p. 17.
Amendment 127 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Finds that renewable energy obtained through agricultural residues have significant potential and should be explored with further research, Investment and a supportive policy framework;
Amendment 129 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Notes that the development of the circular economy and bio-economy will create more jobs in the primary production and stresses that the bio economy requires new skills, new knowledge and new disciplines be developed and/or integrated further in training and education in this sector in order to tackle bio economy-related societal changes, promote competitiveness, growth and job creation, meet the needs of the sector and ensure that skills and jobs are better matched;
Amendment 135 #
4. Stresses the importance of developing an inventory of best practices and available technologies to promote the wider uptake of innovative mitigating actions across the EU and all relevant sectors;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that farm level certification schemes for climate effective farming, including common measurement and verification data for methane reductions, will be an important tool for monitoring and incentivising methane reductions at farm level; calls on the Commission to submit a report on measures to support climate-efficient farming and food production by means of third party certification schemes by 30 September 2023;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the upcoming legislative proposal on compulsory MRV and LDAR for all energy-related methane emissions; believes in this context that specific attention should be paid to principles of accuracy, regularity and independence; believes, furthermore, that leak detection should be followed by a sound recordkeeping and a requirement to repair potential leaks within a clear time frame;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Supports the establishment of an independently audited and globally applicable certification system that would provide a credible assessment of the methane emissions performance of all natural gas production around the world; believes that the certification should be audited and verified by an independent third party and based on uniform approach for measurement based on detailed information at facility, asset and country level; believes that the performance assessment could be used for an establishment of a grading system to serve to inform buyers and regulators in an objective way;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to support the establishment of an independent international methane emissions observatory, in partnership with the United Nations Environmental Programme, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the International Energy Agency, tasked with collecting, reconciling, verifying and publishing anthropogenic methane emissions data at a global level; believes that independent, comparable, verifiable and transparent emissions data are key to gain knowledge about the size of the emission problem and to combat under- estimation of the size and amount of leaks;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the Commission’s initiatives on the utilisation and mitigation of methane from coal mines; expresses its strong support for mandatory MRV for coal mine methane emissions, including the requirement for companies that own closed sites or Member States (for abandoned mines where no existing owner is liable) to adopt the same MRV and LDAR measures as for operating sites; stresses that measures and activities to improve available datasets should follow the planned revision of E-PRTR;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that technologies and practices to limit methane emissions from agriculture are developing at a fast pace; calls on the Commission to ensure that proven effective and cost-efficient innovations are quickly implemented in the EU and integrated into EU agriculture policiethat have the potential to deliver emission reductions decoupled from production are quickly implemented in the EU and integrated into EU agriculture policies; stresses that farmers should receive financial incentives to adopt mitigation practices within the Horizon Europe programme and the ERI- funds;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines the key role that the EU should play in supporting research, innovation and development, as well as in scaling up new technologies to help address methane emissions from livestock agriculture, while protecting animal health and welfare; points especially to the need for multigenerational studies on feed additives and a revision of the Feed Additives Regulation to streamline the current costly and inflexible authorisation process;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls for better coordination and improved infrastructure between farmers and renewable energy producers in order to enable the uptake of locally connected production of biogas; furthermore highlights the importance of returning high quality natural fertilizer, which is the by-product of biogas production, to the farms again;
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Notes that extensive livestock production might result in lower methane emissions on farm level, but increases the emissions per unit of product produced; Calls on the Commission and Member States to take into account the effects of mitigation strategies on global methane emissions;
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Amendment 332 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Calls on the Commission, in accordance with the EU Climate Law, to explore the development of a regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals on the basis of robust and transparent carbon accounting that takes into account the differences between the greenhouse gases, and to verify the authenticity of carbon removals and reward farmers for their mitigation efforts;
Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Recalls that the IED has successively contributed to reducing pollution from industrial activities; underlines that landfill disposal, at the bottom of the waste hierarchy, is the most polluting way to manage waste both in terms of GHG emissions and other pollutants to air, soil and water; highlights however that landfill disposal is not covered by any Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Documents (BREF); calls on the Commission to produce a BREF document for landfilling, which will include, among others, provisions on methane;