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  Best environmental management practice for the public administration sector
  

  This report describes best environmental management practices for public administrations. Best environmental management practices are those techniques, measures and actions that can be implemented by public administrations to minimise their direct and indirect impact on the environment. They wer...

  This report describes best environmental management practices for public administrations. Best environmental management practices are those techniques, measures and actions that can be implemented by public administrations to minimise their direct and indirect impact on the environment. They were identified together with sectoral experts on the basis of practices actually implemented by environmental frontrunners. The report outlines best practices applicable to all types of public administrations, such as making office buildings more environmentally sustainable, minimising the impacts of meetings and events organised, promoting sustainable commuting and business travel, or adopting green public procurement. Additionally, the report focuses on local authorities, which are the public administrations in highest number within the EU and also where there is the largest potential for replicability of best practices. It identifies best practices that ecompass their policy/regulatory/planning role as well as their role in providing key services to residents in the fields of sustainable energy and climate change, mobility, local ambient air quality, land use, water supply and municipal waste water treatment, noise pollution, green urban areas, green public procurement and environmental education and dissemination of information to citizen and businesses. Alongside best environmental management practices, the report also identifies suitable sector specific environmental performance indicators that can be used to measure and track performance in the areas addressed by each best practice, and, when possible, benchmarks of excellence, corresponding to the level of performance achieved by frontrunners. This report can be used by public administrations as a source of information to identify relevant actions they can implement to improve their environmental performance. This report was also the basis for the development of the EMAS (EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) Sectoral Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice for the public administration sector (according to Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009).

  • Published: 2019-05-15
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Schönberger, H ; Dri, M ; Antonopoulos, I. S ; Canfora, P ; Gaudillat, P
  • Subject: climate change policy, ecology, energy efficiency, environmental impact, environmental policy, public administration, regulation (EU), report, sustainable development
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  Farmers’ views on EU agri-environmental policies
  Contributing to the Common Agricultural Policy impact assessment with evidence from focus groups

  Behavioural sciences are increasingly informing policy-making, including agricultural policies. Their unique contribution to policy lies in the first-hand evidence they provide regarding how people think and behave. For the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be a success, it is ne...

  Behavioural sciences are increasingly informing policy-making, including agricultural policies. Their unique contribution to policy lies in the first-hand evidence they provide regarding how people think and behave. For the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be a success, it is necessary to understand farmers' decision-making and viewpoints beyond the assumptions made by neoclassical economics, because farmers' motivations are not only driven by profit maximisation. The background documents on the economic and environmental challenges facing agriculture and rural areas – which accompany the Communication on the Future of Food and Farming – include reviews of the behavioural sciences literature. In this context, a qualitative study was conducted to better understand farmers' experience with the three CAP instruments designed to motivate them to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices: cross compliance, green direct payments (i.e., "greening") and voluntary agri-environmental and climate measures. A particular focus was farmers' views and understanding of the logic behind these mandatory, conditional and voluntary schemes. Given the qualitative nature of data collection, the objective was to present narratives, discourses and perceptions expressed by farmers who participated in the exercise. The present report was published as an annex to the Impact Assessment accompanying the Proposals for a Regulation establishing rules on support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the Common agricultural policy.

  • Published: 2019-04-04
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Dessart, François J
  • Subject: common agricultural policy, ecology, EU environmental policy, farmer, research report
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  Eco-innovation
  Good for the environment, good for business

  Europe’s future competitiveness will be based on innovative excellence and sustainability. Eco-innovation is where these two priorities meet: eco-innovation is innovation that results in significant progress towards environmental sustainability, by reducing the impact of production on the enviro...

  Europe’s future competitiveness will be based on innovative excellence and sustainability. Eco-innovation is where these two priorities meet: eco-innovation is innovation that results in significant progress towards environmental sustainability, by reducing the impact of production on the environment, increasing environmental resilience, and using resources within natural boundaries. Eco-innovation is about processes, products and services that generate both environmental benefits and long-term business value and security. While short-term thinking might result in the over-exploitation of resources in pursuit of short-term profits, long-term, eco-innovative thinking will be the basis for new business models that can generate value from activities that tackle major environmental problems, such as climate change, resource scarcity and dwindling biodiversity.

  • Published: 2019-04-02
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Environment (European Commission)
  • Subject: business policy, competitiveness, corporate social responsibility, ecology, environmental protection, innovation, research project
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  Invasive alien species of EU concern
  

  This brochure presents at a glance the currently listed invasive alien species of Union concern, offering brief, non-technical and informal summaries of their origin, their present distribution in the EU, how they threaten our native biodiversity, and how the applicable restrictions and obligati...

  This brochure presents at a glance the currently listed invasive alien species of Union concern, offering brief, non-technical and informal summaries of their origin, their present distribution in the EU, how they threaten our native biodiversity, and how the applicable restrictions and obligations will help mitigate their negative impacts. You can read more on the scientific evidence and risk assessments on the Commission’s official webpage dedicated to invasive alien species.

  • Published: 2019-03-11
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Environment (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Sundseth, Kerstin
  • Subject: biodiversity, conservation of resources, ecology, ecosystem, environmental protection, EU environmental policy, European Union, invasive species, protected species, protection of animal life, protection of plant life, regulation (EU)
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  Study to support the review of waste related issues in annexes IV and V of regulation (EC) 850/2004
  Final report

  To reduce POP emissions into the environment Annexes IV and V of Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) establish the obligation to generally destroy or irreversibly transform the POP content of waste above a certain threshold limit (‘LPCL’). In exceptional cases was...

  To reduce POP emissions into the environment Annexes IV and V of Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) establish the obligation to generally destroy or irreversibly transform the POP content of waste above a certain threshold limit (‘LPCL’). In exceptional cases waste containing POPs above the limits may be otherwise managed with specified operations for specified waste types if destruction or irreversible transformation do not represent the environmentally preferable option and the concentration of the POPs is below a maximum threshold value (‘MPCL’). In this study information from competent authorities, scientific institutions, literature and other experts was collected, analysed and summarised. Further, mass flows for newly listed and candidate POPs were established and, finally, recommendations for the environmentally sound management of waste containing POPs were elaborated. Suggestions for limit values (LPCL and MPCL) were derived using the methodology developed by BiPRO GmbH in 2005, which assesses the economic, environmental, health, waste management, legal and recycling implications. Additionally, the identification of action needed to fully implement the listing of the new POPs and the potential listing of the candidate POPs in the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 and other relevant EU legislation was identified and an overview demonstrating the need for action within relevant legislation was illustrated.

  • Published: 2019-03-11
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Environment (European Commission) ; Ramboll
  • Personal Author(s): Schöpel, Miriam ; Milunov, Milos ; Kühnl, Margit ; Zotz, Ferdinand ; Broneder, Carina ; Potrykus, Alexander ; Weissenbacher, Jakob ; de Brujine, Emiel
  • Subject: EC Regulation, ecology, organic pollution, report, waste, waste management, waste recycling
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  Coastal and transitional waters North East Atlantic geographic intercalibration group
  Saltmarshes ecological assessment methods

  The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the national classifications of good ecological status to be harmonised through an intercalibration exercise. In this exercise, significant differences in status classification among Member States are harmonized by comparing and, if necessary...

  The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the national classifications of good ecological status to be harmonised through an intercalibration exercise. In this exercise, significant differences in status classification among Member States are harmonized by comparing and, if necessary, adjusting the good status boundaries of the national assessment methods. Intercalibration is performed for rivers, lakes, coastal and transitional waters, focusing on selected types of water bodies (intercalibration types), anthropogenic pressures and Biological Quality Elements. Intercalibration exercises are carried out in Geographical Intercalibration Groups - larger geographical units including Member States with similar water body types - and followed the procedure described in the WFD Common Implementation Strategy Guidance document on the intercalibration process (European Commission, 2011). The Technical report on the Water Framework Directive intercalibration describes in detail how the intercalibration exercise has been carried out for the water categories and biological quality elements. The Technical report is organized in volumes according to the water category (rivers, lakes, coastal and transitional waters), Biological Quality Element and Geographical Intercalibration group. This volume addresses the intercalibration of the Coastal and Transitional Waters-North East Atlantic GIG saltmarshes ecological assessment methods.

  • Published: 2019-02-26
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Neto, JM ; Salas Herrero, F ; Caçador, Isabel
  • Subject: Atlantic Ocean, coastal pollution, coastal protection, directive (EU), ecology, environmental research, EU waters, marine environment, oceanography, research report, watercourse
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  Bio-based products
  From idea to market “15 EU success stories”

  The bio-based sector is amongst the most thriving sectors in the European bioeconomy. Industry players in this sector use biological resources (including residues and waste) to make innovative greener value added products. This nascent sector is somehow still small compared to more traditional o...

  The bio-based sector is amongst the most thriving sectors in the European bioeconomy. Industry players in this sector use biological resources (including residues and waste) to make innovative greener value added products. This nascent sector is somehow still small compared to more traditional ones but it is undergoing rapid developments. Developing and commercialising innovative bio-based products – would they be new product types or aim to replace fossil-based equivalents - demand pursued Research & Innovation efforts and is influenced by a certain number of critical factors such as access to finance, market developments (including oil prices), feedstock availability or the regulatory framework (including climate action). To progress from the initial concept to a commercial product is thus a journey with many steps and challenges. The aim of this study report is to analyse this journey – which was successful – for 15 EU innovative bio-based products. These 15 success stories deliver on at least one of three following success criteria: profitability, market entry or mobilisation of critical external finance. The 15 success stories span over nine EU Member States, and cover a wide range of products and technologies, most of which have been on the market for only a few years. Two-fifths of these products were developed by large companies, an equal amount by SMEs, and one fifth by micro-enterprises. In two-thirds of the companies, bio-based activities are at the core of their business. Each success story is presented within the report in a factsheet, which provides detailed information about it as well as insights on its drivers of success and on how it responded to risks it faced.

  • Published: 2019-02-25
  • Corporate Author(s): Bio-Based World News ; COWI ; Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission) ; Ecologic Institute
  • Subject: biomass, ecology, environmental impact, environmental industry, industrial policy, innovation, market, multinational force, plastics, product life, report, sustainable development
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  Revision of the EU green public procurement criteria for street lighting and traffic signals
  Technical report and criteria proposal

  Latest edition.

  The EU GPP criteria for road lighting and traffic signals aim to address the key environmental impacts associated with the design, installation and operation of these systems. For road lighting, the criteria are broadly split into three parts: energy consumption, light pollution and durability a...

  The EU GPP criteria for road lighting and traffic signals aim to address the key environmental impacts associated with the design, installation and operation of these systems. For road lighting, the criteria are broadly split into three parts: energy consumption, light pollution and durability aspects. From an LCA perspective, the main environmental impact was found to be related to energy consumption during the use phase. This impact can be reduced in a number of ways, by using luminaire and light source combinations with a high luminous efficacy, by dimming during periods of low road use and by selection of the lowest necessary light class for roads to prevent unnecessary over-lighting in the first place. Light pollution is another environmental impact of particular relevance to road lighting and traffic signals which is not well addressed by LCA methodologies. In order to reduce the potential for light pollution, EU GPP criteria are proposed based on upward and horizontal light output ratios. Furthermore, limits on Correlated Colour Temperature and blue light output are proposed in order to address concerns about annoyance and ecological light pollution respectively. The durability of light sources and fittings is not only important to environmental impacts but also to life cycle cost. Consequently, the EU GPP criteria set requirements for minimum warranties, ingress protection, control gear failure rates and reparability - in order to ensure that lighting equipment in winning tenders is of sufficient quality and able to deliver a prolonged service life. The implementation of these criteria should also help procurers understand better about aspects that should be considered in road lighting system design (e.g. maximum lighting level, dimming capability), the actual products they are procuring (requirements on provision of instructions and labelling), to keep accurate information about their infrastructure (requirement on asset labelling) and to monitor lighting system performance (requirements on metering and AECI). Overall, a good understanding of road lighting and traffic signal systems and the use of suitable technical specifications in Invitations to Tender should help ensure that the twin benefits of lower environmental impacts and lower life cycle costs for public authorities can be obtained.

  • Published: 2019-01-28
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission) ; Vito
  • Personal Author(s): Van Tichelen, Paul ; Rodríguez Quintero, Rocío ; Geerken, Theo ; Donatello, Shane ; Wolf, Oliver ; Gama Caldas, Miguel ; Van Hoof, Véronique
  • Subject: eco-label, ecology, energy saving, environmental impact, environmental law, environmental protection, green public procurement, length of journey, lighting, public contract, report, traffic regulations, traffic signs
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  Best practice for establishing nutrient concentrations to support good ecological status
  

  1. Elevated concentrations of inorganic nutrients are a major factor contributing to the failure of many water bodies to achieve good ecological status, and Member States need to determine levels appropriate to their own territories. 2. This guide describes statistical methods for determining ap...

  1. Elevated concentrations of inorganic nutrients are a major factor contributing to the failure of many water bodies to achieve good ecological status, and Member States need to determine levels appropriate to their own territories. 2. This guide describes statistical methods for determining appropriate concentrations to support ecological status. These statistical methods should be set in a broader framework that also encompasses chemical, ecological and regulatory aspects relevant to the type of water body under consideration. 3. Three approaches to setting boundary concentrations are included. These are: - regression analysis, using a continuous relationship between an ecological quality ratio and nutrient concentration; - categorical analysis, using the distribution of nutrient concentration within biological classes; - minimisation of the mismatch of classifications for biology and nutrients. 4. The choice of method depends upon a number of factors, including the length of the gradient that available data sets cover and the statistical strength of the relationship between the explanatory and response variables. In some cases Member States may be better able to achieve the statistical prerequisites for methods by working with neighbours that share similar water-body types. 5. Microsoft Excel and a ‘toolkit’ written using the “R” statistical software package“R” are provided to make calculation of boundary concentrations more straightforward. 6. Options for situations where none of these methods are appropriate are also described. 7. Finally, some practical issues associated with the use of these boundary concentrations for regulation are discussed.

  • Published: 2019-01-17
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Salas, Fuensanta ; Solheim, Anne Lyche ; Free, Gary ; Phillips, Geoff ; Poikane, Sandra ; Kelly, Martyn ; Várbíró, Gábor ; Teixeira, Heliana ; Leujak, Wera ; Pitt, Jo-Anne
  • Subject: biology, ecological balance, ecology, environmental research, environmental standard, eutrophication, geochemistry, inorganic chemical product, marine ecosystem, marine pollution, Mediterranean Sea, nitrogen, phosphate, report
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  Supporting information to the characterisation factors of recommended EF Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods
  Version 2, from ILCD to EF 3.0

  Latest edition.

  In 2013, the Environmental Footprint methodology has been established with a specific Recommendation (2013/179/EU), within the framework of the “Single Market for Green Products” communication (COM/2013/0196). The International Life Cycle Data system, developed since 2007, released in 2010 and c...

  In 2013, the Environmental Footprint methodology has been established with a specific Recommendation (2013/179/EU), within the framework of the “Single Market for Green Products” communication (COM/2013/0196). The International Life Cycle Data system, developed since 2007, released in 2010 and continuously maintained by JRC, has been adopted in the EF framework. ILCD format and nomenclature were adopted as requirements for EF. Given the different needs and goals of the EF, in this release of the Reference Package (EF 3.0) some methods for the Life Cycle Impact Assessment have been changed compared to ILCD (and therefore the elementary flows have been adapted accordingly, and to some extent, the format has been expanded), some changes also occurred in comparison to the EF 2.0 release (may 2018). The the LCIA methods are developed within the database as ILCD-formatted xml files to allow electronic import into LCA software; The LCIA methods are implemented as separate data sets which contain all the descriptive metadata documentation and the characterisation factors assigned to different elementary flows (that are also xml files within the DB). This document provide a view on the changes occurred within the methods for the mid-point impact assessment (the EF is considering for now only impacts at the level of potential changes, not at the potential damage level, which was captured in ILCD scheme for the methods at the end-point level). The changes and adaptations occurred within the ILCD scheme, that led to the creation of the current EF set of methods and a new package, based on ILCD format, containing new files for LCIA methods, can be summarized as follows: - 3 methods are completely new, or updated according to the newest releases of the old methods adopted in ILCD/EF. 1 method has been deeply reviewed. 9 sub-methods (i.e. partial sets of CFs for specific group of substances, have been released for 3 impact categories). - The elementary flow list has been fixed and expanded according to the needs of the new methods - Within the new methods some flows have been spatially differentiated (in ILCD format the location attribute is resolved at the method level, not at the elementary flow level) - For several flows that were not characterized (both in newly added methods and in the pre-existing ones that were not modified), a CF has been adopted, where a direct proxy for a specific substance/compartment was available. - Specific exceptions, integrations or corrections have been implemented in different methods. All these aspects are detailed within the document. Furthermore, additional files have been released, containing an exhaustive view of all the changes occurred in the transition phase between the ILCD and the EF 3.0 see http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/LCDN/developerEF.xhtml/ for details.

  • Published: 2019-01-07
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Diaconu, Edward ; De Laurentiis, Valeria ; Sala, Serenella ; Fazio, Simone ; Biganzioli, Fabrizio ; Zampori, Luca
  • Subject: consumption, directive (EU), durable goods, ecology, environmental impact, environmental law, environmental policy, environmental research, EU policy, health risk, management of resources, product life, regulation (EU), report, research report, standard, sustainable development