MEMBER ZONE
By Fead-team
June 24, 2024 3min Read

NEWSLETTER N° 177 – 24 JUNE 2024

Last week, the Environment Council convened to discuss key environmental policies. 
At FEAD, we were busy participating to webinars, conferences and exhibitions.


8th Environmental Action Programme (8EAP): On 17 June, Member States adopted the conclusions on the mid-term evaluation of the 8EAP, which runs until 2030. 

RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting: FEAD has submitted two new proposals to be discussing during the September Joint Meeting in Geneva. The first proposal aims at extending the scope of the current rule for estimated quantities to the carriage in tanks, other than vacuum operated tanks and the second proposal aims to clarify the carriage of empty, uncleaned packagings.

Waste Framework Directive (WFD): During the Environment Council on 17 June, the Environment Ministers unanimously adopted its general approach on the WFD. 

Greenhouse gas emissions targets: According to the NGO Transport & Environment, 12 Member States fall short of meeting the national targets imposed by the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) for 2030.

Soil Monitoring Law (SML): On 17 June, the Council reached a general approach on the SML. 

Green Claims Directive: On 17 June, the EU Council adopted the general approach prepared by the Belgian Presidency on the Green Claims Directive.

Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG): On June 20 the European Union approved new set of sanctions against Russia this time targeting LNG. 

Nature Restoration Law: On 17 June, the Council formally adopted the nature restoration law. 

Emissions Trading System (ETS): The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the permanent emissions storage through carbon capture and utilisation. 

ECJ interpretation waste incineration under the 2018 EU ETS Directive: On 6 June 2024, the European Court of Justice interpreted in case C‑166/23, that the EU ETS Directive, as amended in 2018, ‘must be interpreted as meaning that all units for the incineration of hazardous or municipal waste are excluded from the scope of application of that directive, including those which are integrated within an installation falling within that scope and which do not have the incineration of that waste as their sole purpose, provided that they are used for the incineration of other waste only marginally’. 

EU Competitiveness: In a column for Le Grand Continent published on 14 June, the former President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, delivers the main points of his upcoming report on European competitiveness. 

Water Framework Directive: On 20 June, the Council adopted its negotiating mandate on the directive which will amend the water framework directive, the groundwater directive and the directive on environmental quality standards. 

UNEP report on Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs): On 17 June, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report on POPs. 

European Environment Agency report on plastics: On 18 June, the European Environment Agency published a report on ‘the role of plastics in Europe’s circular economy’.

Green Deal: On 17 June, more than 400 economic actors published an open letter in which they called on European institutions to ‘confirm that the Green Deal will be a top priority’ for the next mandate.’ 

European Commission clean tech facility: On 21 June, the European Commission launched the Innovation Centre for Industrial Transformation and Emissions (INCITE). 

European Parliament – Political groups: On 19 June, Manfred Weber was re-elected as chairman of the EPP, while François-Xavier Bellamy became the vice presidency of the EPP.
On the same day, the Greens/EFA elected Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout as co-presidents of their group. 

European Commission: On 17 June, during an informal meeting of EU leaders, the President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, announced that Slovakia’s candidate for the next European Commissioner is the current EU Commission Executive Vice-President, Maroš Šefčovič.

Upcoming Hungarian Presidency priorities and programme: The upcoming Hungarian Presidency (from 1 July to 31 December) published its priorities and programme

FEAD News: On 19 June, our Secretary General participated to Plastics Europe’s webinar on the theme of ‘Let’s talk plastics!’. On 20 June, our Secretary General, Paolo Campanella, gave a presentation at a conference hosted by RISPO and Solagro, in collaboration with SYPREA in Paris. At the same time, our Environmental and Technical Officer, Rafael Basciano, attended the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam.
The Dutch Waste Management Association (DWMA), FEAD’s member from the Netherlands, published its Annual Review 2023 on 14 June 2024.