Europe moves to reduce pollutants

The Council of the European Union reached political agreement on the 25 June 2009 with a view to the subsequent adoption of a common position concerning the recast of the directive on integrated pollution prevention and control.

The IPPC Directive seeks to prevent and control, in a coordinated way, pollution of the air, water and soil resulting from emissions from industrial installations. It regulates emissions of a wide range of pollutants, including sulphur and nitrogen compounds, dust particles, asbestos and heavy metals.

The directive is aimed at improving local air, water and soil quality, not at mitigating the global warming effects of some of these substances. Emissions of carbon dioxide are not covered by IPPC.

Council of the European Union: Press Release: PRES/09/190: Environment Council, Luxembourg, 25 June 2009 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/envir/108752.pdf

European Parliament: Legislative Observatory: Industrial emissions. Integrated pollution prevention and control. Recast http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?id=557865

European Commission: Press Release: IP/09/1041: Environment Council: Commission welcomes political agreement on industrial emissions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1041&format=DOC&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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