RESOLUTION A3-0343/92

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 130r of the EEC Treaty,

- having regard to the EC Treaty as amended by the Treaty on European Union, in particular Article 130 and Article 2, which describes one of the Community's fundamental tasks as promoting 'sustainable and non-inflationary growth respecting the environment',

- having regard to the public hearing organized by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy on 29 October 1991,

- having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Beumer on providing an environmental dimenstion to Community industrial policy with a view to promoting lasting economic development (B3-0442/92),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the opinion of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A3-0343/92),

A. having regard to the Commission's fifth environmental action programme and the prominence it gives to industry, which is one of the five target sectors (COM(92) 0023),

B. having regard to the encouragement given by the fifth programme to environmental protection schemes based on self-regulation, and particularly to fiscal instruments and to voluntary agreements between enterprises and public authorities,

C. whereas, in spite of the action taken up to now by the Commission and the Member States, the quality of the natural environment within the Twelve is continuing to deteriorate, as is shown by 'the State of the Environment 1992', and whereas the European Community's action in this area must be stepped up,

D. whereas in the short term the environmental and social costs of pollution and of the exploitation of natural resources must be incorporated into economic calculations, with a view to redirecting the economy towards an ecologically sound form of development,

E. whereas, in the medium and long term, the only realistic environmental policy to adopt in the industrial sector will be one of prevention, although the need to cure existing problems will persist in many areas,

F. whereas enterprises are now required to redefine their role to take account of their additional social, economic and ecological responsibilities,

Compatibility between economic growth and environmental protection

1. Notes that compatibility between economic growth and environmental protection is feasible only if production reduces its energy and raw materials content at a rate faster than its rate of growth;

2. Draws attention to the competitive advantage which the Community could gain over its main competitors from an up-to-date environmental protection policy, because

(a) cost reductions would result from the introduction of clean technologies which used energy and raw materials more economically during the production process,

(b) better quality products could be put on the market,

(c) of the potential for development of the Community's environmental industry as a result of increased demand not only from the European market but also from competing markets which would in the long term be obliged to adapt to the most stringent standards,

Redirecting the economy towards ecologically sound development

3. Points out, nonetheless, that the incorporation of environmental protection and preventive action into industrial policy, which generally aims to produce more from fewer raw materials and less energy, is only one step on the way to redirecting present-day economic activity towards a more ecologically sound form of development, which will affect in particular the objective of quantitative growth of production, as in absolute terms there is a limit to the improvements which can be made in the efficiency of the production process, to the opportunities for recycling and recovery and to the environment's natural capacity for regeneration;

Integration of the environment in economic indicators

4. Recognizes the importance of integrating environmental variables into national accounting systems in order to give economic operators sufficient signs of encouragement to take the measures needed to preserve the environment;

5. Points out that considerable efforts have been made, notably by the OECD and the United Nations, to correct the calculation of GDP to take account of damage to the environment caused by economic activity and the depletion of non-renewable natural resources, to construct 'satellite' accounts and/or to define specific environmental indicators;

6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to review their methods of macroeconomic and econometric calculation to take account of the results of this work;

7. Calls in particular on the Commission to incorporate these concepts into its annual report on the economic situation and to adapt its assessment of the economic implications of the single market and the Maastricht Treaty to take account also of their positive or negative environmental impact;

Instruments for implementing environmental policy

8. Welcomes the fifth environmental action programme's determination to promote a constructive dialogue between public authorities, enterprises, consumers and environmental protection organizations;

9. Emphasizes the vital importance of the principles of prevention, 'polluter pays', subsidiarity, economic efficiency and shared responsibility which underlie the Commission's action on the environment as defined by the fifth programme;

10. Considers that the principle of subsidiarity should, in this respect, be interpreted in the sense of complementarity between the measures taken at Community, national, regional and local level to achieve the greatest possible efficiency in the context of an ecologically sound form of development;

11. Also considers that other criteria should be taken into account when any environmental policy is defined, such as the redistributive effect of the proposed measures in geographical and social terms, and in terms of the economic sectors concerned, the external environmental costs, the speed and effectiveness of the measures, flexibility to take account of marginal changes in environmental conditions and the administrative costs for the budgetary and fiscal authority;

12. Is nonetheless concerned whether the Commission and the Council currently have the capacity to implement the measures needed to achieve the fifth programme by the specified deadline, i.e. by the year 2000, therefore calls for the technical, human and financial resources needed for drawing up proposals to be put in place and calls on the Council to demonstrate its political determination to adopt a forward-looking stance in this regard;

13. Points out, moreover, that regulatory action by the EC is important, in particular in order to set minimum levels of environmental protection, and calls on the Commission to increase its efforts with regard to monitoring the implementation of directives in the Member States;

14. Unreservedly supports the objective of transparency of prices which the Commission advocates and points out that, for systems of competition favouring products compatible with an ecological form of development to work effectively, they must take account of the ecological and social costs generated by the products throughout their life cycle;

15. Also underlines the need for a progressive price structure for water and energy so that industrial users are charged according to consumption; points out that VAT and excise duties play an important role as taxes on consumption and calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that the essential consistency between the Community's policies on taxation and the environment is maintained;

16. Calls on the European Community to help industry to develop a public policy and educational programmes and activities with the objective of raising awareness of the environment and environmental protection;

17. Suggests to industry that staff training of this kind is important not only as a means of enabling staff to respond to the future demands of an industry which has made environmental considerations part of its policy, but also as a way to avoid being put at a disadvantage by their lack of the necessary skills in the event of future changes in their companies;

18. Stresses the need for joint efforts by the Commission, the national and regional authorities, industry and consumer organizations to inform consumers and encourage purchasing habits that favour products which are least costly throughout their life cycle (production, use, recycling, recovery and disposal) and last longest rather than those with a lower initial purchase price;

19. Supports measures for self-regulation by enterprises, particularly the development of voluntary agreements between enterprises and public authorities, which can be more effective than statutory regulation and allow action to be taken more promptly; warns nevertheless against the danger that such agreements may in certain cases present an opportunity for enterprises to circumvent statutory constraints and consequently calls for penalties to be laid down should contracts not be respected;

20. Supports the Commission's intention to widen the scope of the directive on assessment of the environmental impact of some public and private proposals to include economic development plans and programmes in order to ensure optimal management of resources and reduce distortion of competition between regions which could be caused by too great a disparity of environmental requirements;

21. Is gratified that the protection and preservation of the environment is one of the criteria used by the EIB for evaluating and selecting its projects and wishes this concern to spread and gradually be adopted by the whole financial and banking sector;

Application of the concept of overall quality

22. Points out that, according to a survey of 500 European companies carried out in 1990, the increase in profits resulting from overall quality research was estimated at some 35% of added value and that additional gains could result from taking environmental considerations into account in the management of overall quality in parallel with the incorporation of social and environmental costs in the price of products;

23. Also points out, while regretting that it is impossible to monitor their implementation effectively, the existence of codes of good environmental practice which define various principles to be respected by enterprises such as the Charter of Companies for Sustainable Development adopted by the International Chamber of Commerce and the Responsible Care Programme adopted by the chemical industry associations;

24. Calls on the industry's professional organizations to ensure that these codes of good practice are disseminated among their members, particularly SMEs, to organize the necessary technical assistance to help them put their principles into practice, and to monitor their observance;

25. Urges also that professional organizations play a greater role in centralizing up-to-date information on clean technologies and disseminating it to their members;

26. Points out that the concept of overall quality implies both constant product improvement and ongoing staff training;

27. Points out that instruments are already available in this area, such as the ICPIC (International Cleaner Production Information Clearinghouse) data base set up by the UNEP and their use should be extended;

28. Deplores the lack of transparency in its performance and practices with regard to environmental management which industry maintains towards the authorities, consumers and the general public and calls on the Commission to set up an administrative structure to provide access to the data which enterprises hold on their emissions of pollutants, the results of environmental audits and eco-assessments of their products, without prejudice to industrial secrecy with regard to processing methods;

Application of the 'polluter pays' principle

29. Recognizes the difficulty of apportioning responsibility for pollution precisely between enterprises, traders and consumers and notes that in the end the extra costs of applying the 'polluter-pays' principle are nearly always passed on to the consumer;

30. Points out that consumers must be properly informed of the environmental implications of their purchasing habits and have alternative options at accessible prices;

31. Notes, nonetheless, that even if the extra costs are borne by the consumer in the end, to be as effective as possible the 'polluter-pays' principle must be applied at the level of economic operators who are mainly responsible for the behaviour causing the pollution, taking into account their capacity to alter such behaviour;

32. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to incorporate in their legislation the concept of direct and indirect civil liability for damage to the environment and proposes that the possibility be investigated of setting up a fund at Member State level, to cover liability for damage which cannot be attributed to a specific entity, particularly if it occurred a long time ago;

The environment in the organization of international trade

33. Notes that the organization of world trade primarily on the basis of the GATT regulations, which are founded on the abolition of barriers to the free circulation of goods, can lead to ecological and social dumping at the expense of the poorest countries;

34. Notes, however, that trade liberalization can raise the risk of environmental dumping or subsidies in the form of relaxed environmental standards, particularly in those industries in which environmental compliance costs are a high percentage of total costs, and that environmental dumping or subsidization through relaxed standards of enforcement is particularly worrying when the activity has environmental effects that extend beyond the borders of the nation into the world at large;

35. Points out, however, that in many instances companies complying with more stringent environmental regulations gain a competitive advantage over other companies through the development of new technologies;

36. Points out further that many other government regulations and actions outside the environmental field, such as corporate tax rates and labour standards, are also increasingly guiding the investment decisions of businesses and, hence, trading patterns between nations, as trade barriers are reduced;

37. Acknowledges the problems posed to the international trading system by unilateral trade sanctions imposed for environmental reasons and that trade sanctions are sometimes an ineffective means of encouraging environmental protection or enforcement in comparison with technical and financial assistance;

38. Calls on the Commission to use its best efforts in urging the GATT contracting parties to make the evolution of trade rules supportive of environmental protection and sustainable development, including a consideration of whether broad multilateral environmental agreements providing for trade sanctions can be accepted within the framework of the trading system, a top priority in the agenda of the next GATT negotiating round;

39. Also calls on the Commission to conclude the Uruguay Round negotiations in a manner that is not prejudicial to current environmental protection or the evolution of trade rules supportive of environmental protection and sustainable development;

The relationship between environmental protection and international law

40. Notes the reluctance or inability of governments to press claims against other governments based on the violation of international obligations regarding the environment;

41. Calls on the Commission to conclude international agreements in the field of environmental protection that increase the role of non-governmental organizations, increase the use of independent investigatory and dispute settlement mechanisms, increase the use of objective monitoring mechanisms rather than relying on 'self-monitoring' by individual countries, and increase the use of flexible standard-setting procedures which do not rely on the unanimous consent of all parties to an agreement;

42. Also calls on the Commission to consider the creation of structural adjustment and worker retraining programmes in connection with those environmental agreements that cause significant dislocation in select industries;

Incorporation of environmental considerations into company strategies

43. Calls for environmental management to be seen by industry as a priority and as the key to sustainable development, in such a way as to prevent or check the irreversible deterioration of the environment;

44. Calls on industry, in designing, developing and using installations and services, and carrying out its activities, to give due consideration to the efficient use of energy and raw materials, the sustainable use of natural resources, the greatest possible reduction of damage to the environment and waste generation, and safe and responsible disposal of the remaining waste;

45. Calls on industry, before introducing a new project or activity, terminating an operation or leaving a site, to assess the environmental impact of its action, and to carry out similar impact assessments when putting a product onto the market or into service, or withdrawing a product from the market or from service (treatment of waste);

46. Calls on the Community to encourage and help SMUs to take account of environmental considerations in the management of their operations;

47. Calls on the European Community to encourage the construction and development of industrial estates given over to sustainable activities;

48. Wishes the Community's Member States to include the subject of the environment in all higher education and university courses in areas relating to management training, as well as in general and technical courses;

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49. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the parliaments of the Member States.