The Circular Plastic Alliance, a group of 300 organisations including some of the worst plastic polluters, has been given unprecedented treatment in the development of new standards for 'plastics recycling and recycled plastics'.
The Platform on Sustainable Finance, an official advisory group to the European Commission supporting the development of the EU list of sustainable activities, says labelling gas and nuclear as sustainable is not consistent with EU Taxonomy Regulation. The group calls for the creation of an ‘amber zone’ including activities below a ‘do no significant harm’ threshold. As a member of the Platform, ECOS fully supports these recommendations
• Yesterday's proposal fails to fully address environmental impacts from buildings, warn ECOS and the EEB. • New rules will not be enough to decarbonise the buildings sector at the rate required to reach 2050 climate objectives • The EPBD should contribute to the success of the Renovation Wave, but is missing thresolds on whole life carbon emissions. Embodied impacts from building materials and renovation solutions have been overlooked.
- Some new (and renovated) buildings in the EU will need to be equipped with charging points, or have the infrastructure in place to easily install one. - However, requirements for existing buildings in the revised EPBD are too weak, leaving most Europeans without the 'right to plug' or reassurance that they will be able to charge their new electric cars at home and their workplaces.
- Gases which bring about greenhouse emission savings of at least 70% will be certified as ‘low carbon’ - The bar is too low and will result in some unsustainable gas production routes being considered as ‘low carbon’ - The European Commission introduces a cap for hydrogen blends of up to 5% in cross-border gas transmission networks. This opens the door to continued fossil gas use and fossil gas dependency.
The first half of the EU ‘taxonomy’ has officially been approved and will enter into force in January. A second delegated act will be discussed by EU member states in the coming days. It could potentially allow investments in gas infrastructure to be included in the list.
ECOS and Rethink Plastic alliance campaigners send a letter to European Commission and consultancy firm Eunomia asking for limits in ‘artificial’ mass balance accounting method used to count recycled plastic content in beverage bottles.
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