Governments set to cut pollution targets

Date: 16/09/1999

By Gareth Harding

AMBITIOUS proposals to slash emissions of the four gases which cause smog and acid rain look set to be watered down by EU governments after member states signed up to less stringent targets at an international conference earlier this month.

The European Commission, which published its controversial proposals in June, has reacted angrily to the move and called on governments to come up with more challenging plans before the protocol is formally signed next month.

Accusing national capitals of reneging on their environmental goals, one official asked: "Is it justified for the EU to sign an international agreement which fails to meet the targets agreed at the Union level?"

Under the Commission's proposals, member states would have to cut EU-wide emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) by 78%, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 60%, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) by 55% and ammonia by 21% by 2010.

But in a deal brokered by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) this month, Union countries have agreed to national emissions ceilings for the four key pollutants which are considerably less ambitious than those mooted by the EU executive.

Environmental groups fear that governments are putting down a marker ahead of talks on the Commission's proposals this autumn, and their suspicions appear to be borne out by the reaction from national experts last week.

In their first real debate on the draft rules, most member states argued that the suggested national emissions ceilings were too severe and would leave industry with an exorbitant clean-up bill.

"I do not think anybody is going to be offering up more ambitious targets than those agreed in Geneva," said one official after the meeting.

This will be music to the ears of industry, which has long argued that the €65-billion annual price-tag for complying with existing and proposed measures would be crippling for many firms.

"What they have agreed in Geneva is way more ambitious than the Americans. It is hard to see what the rationale is," said Ian Dobson of the European employers federation UNICE.

However, green groups argue that member states will fail to meet the EU's own targets for reducing acid rain and ground-level ozone if they do not sign up to more demanding national emissions ceilings than those agreed by more than 30 countries at UNECE talks in Geneva.

The Commission hopes that pressure from MEPs will help convince environment ministers to support the tougher targets it sees as essential when they next meet on 11-12 October.

The European Parliament shares legislative powers over the proposal with national governments and is unlikely to agree to laxer standards than those proposed by the EU executive.

Ambitious proposals to slash emissions of the four gases which cause smog and acid rain look set to be watered down by EU governments after Member States signed up to less stringent targets at an international conference, September 1999.

http://www.unece.org/press/99env8e.htm http://www.unece.org/press/99env8e.htm

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