Europe has decided to launch the construction of gigafactories to produce batteries at high volumes to reindustrialize our continent and enhance our strategic autonomy. Yet, these projects focus on lithium batteries and to a great extent neglect the emerging technology of sodium batteries.
Download — Parecer do CESE: Enhancing EU strategic autonomy and developing a greener and bluer economy: the potential of the sodium battery manufacturing sector
The European Union’s ambitious climate targets have significantly impacted resource and energy-intensive industries (REIIs), which are crucial to the EU economy. These industries face rising costs due to high energy prices, carbon pricing, and regulatory changes. This opinion reflects on the optimal solutions to maintain the competitiveness of EU industry in face if the rising energy prices and the costs required to support the transition towards a low-carbon economy. The EU Youth Test at the EESC was applied to this opinion.
The opinion will provide few but meaningful and concrete recommendations, reflecting the contributions made in the sections' and CCMI own-initiative opinions addressing the Blue Deal from their respective perspectives.
Download — Parecer do CESE: Umbrella Opinion "A call for an EU Blue Deal"
Download — Parecer do CESE: Sustainable water management and climate emergency: circular and other solutions for the EU agri-food system in a future "Blue Deal"
The opinion looks into the needs and measures to ensure more efficient water consumption in the EU by consumers, taking into account the main environmental issues, knowledge gaps and state of play of related technologies.
Download — Parecer do CESE: Water efficient consumption and consumer awareness about their water footprint
The aim of the opinion is to bring the civil society's perspective on the proposed revisions of the Industrial Emissions Directive and of the Regulation on the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in order to achieve the reduction of industrial emissions and to provide environmental information to EU citizens that allows them to make informed participation in environmental decision-making on major industrial activities.
Download — Parecer do CESE: Revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and of the Regulation on the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)
This "Chapeau Communication" gives an overview of the different proposals of the 'Fit for 55' package as well as their linkages and explains the toolbox of policy measures chosen in order to attain an overall balance between fairness, emission reductions and competitiveness.
Download — Parecer do CESE: 'Fit for 55': delivering the EU's 2030 Climate Target on the way to climate neutrality
The European Green Deal announced that to protect Europe’s citizens and ecosystems, the EU needs to move towards a zero pollution ambition, and better prevent and remedy pollution from air, water, soil, and consumer products.
Download — Parecer do CESE: Zero Pollution Action Plan for air, water and soil
The European Union and its Member States must stand united to protect their sovereignty. The EESC firmly believes that if Europe is to maintain its leading role in the world, it needs a strong, competitive industrial base. The EESC recognises the crucial importance of shifting to a carbon-neutral economy and of reversing the current curve of biodiversity collapse. Without a green industrial strategy as a cornerstone of the Green Deal, the EU will never succeed in reaching a carbon-neutral economy within one generation. The new industrial strategy must ensure the right balance between supporting European businesses, respecting our 2050 climate neutrality objective and providing consumers with incentives to shift consumption to sustainable goods and services .
European industrial, energy and climate policy is hampered by contradictory requirements on the price for Greenhouse effect Gas (GHG) emissions: on the one hand, high prices would be necessary to incentivise investment and changes in consumption patterns; on the other, the preservation of the external competitiveness of EU energy-intensive industries, as well as the prevention of “carbon leakage”, would require low prices.
The proposed own-initiative report investigates the technical and legal feasibility of Border Adjustment Measures for the internal price of GHG emissions: importers pay the price, exporters get it refunded, as it already is the case for VAT. The refund of the GHG emission price to exporters could be based on a VAT-like accounting system. The GHG emission price paid by importers could be based on the basic metals and materials content of the product. This system would be in line with WTO rules, and rely upon fully proven methodologies.
Download — Parecer do CESE: The sectoral industrial perspective of reconciling climate and energy policies (own-initiative opinion)
