The European Commission adopted a regulation approving the use of a tool enabling fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions to be calculated according to a simplified method. The tool was developed by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) and is intended for use by small aircraft operators for greenhouse gas emissions monitoring and reporting purposes under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Under Directive 2003/87/EC as amended by Directive 2009/29/EC (article 9), the European Commission adopted a decision determining, for the first time, the total number of allowances (cap) for the EU- 27, as a whole, for the year 2013 in the EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme. The cap is set at 1 927 billion allowances (ie 1 927 billion teq CO₂). The Decision will shortly be published in the EU Official Journal.

See CITEPA's quarterly report Synthèses Document'Air n° 172 p.72.

 

The European Parliament, meeting in plenary, approved the agreement reached on 16 June 2010 between its representatives and those of the EU Council on the compromise text of the proposal for a directive on industrial emissions (recast of the IPPC Directive). The Council still has to formally approve the agreement.

See news item dated 16 June 2010 in this section.

New Zealand launched a national greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, covering transport fuels, electricity and industry.

The revised Annex VI (regulations for the prevention of air pollution from ships) of the International Convention for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships (known as MARPOL 73/78) entered into force.
See CITEPA's quarterly report Synthèses Document'Air n° 175 p.109.

Belgium takes over the EU Presidency until 31 December 2010. The Belgian Presidency comes at a time when this Member State is in the midst of political transition, with negotiations underway to form a new government.
The Belgian Presidency's website : http://www.eutrio.be/fr

7^th meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, in Rome. The three main issues on the agenda were financing climate protection measures; measuring, reporting and verification (MRV); and mitigation.

The lower house of the French Parliament (National Assembly) formally adopted the National Environmental Policy Implementing Bill (known as Grenelle 2). This final vote follows that of the upper house (Senate) on 29 June 2010.
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 136 p.2.

At the close of their 4^th summit in Toronto ( Canada), Finance Ministers of the G20 group of countries released a declaration comprising 49 paragraphs, one of which dealt with the issue of climate change.

Summit of the eight largest industrial countries (G8 Group) in Muskoka, Canada. In a declaration comprising 43 paragraphs, the G8 Heads of State and Government devoted four to climate change. They largely repeated what they declared last year at their meeting in L'Aquila.
See CITEPA's quarterly report Synthèses Document'Air n° 172 p.135.

Policy debate organised on the initiative of the EU Energy Commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, with all the European Commissioners on the issue of the introduction of a carbon tax. This debate is part of the work on the revision of the EnergyTaxation Directive 2003/96/EC, a priority for Mr. Semeta.
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 135 p.6.

Commission Decision 2010/345/EU of 8 June 2010 was published in the EU Official Journal. It amends Decision 2007/589/EC in order to add guidelines for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from CO₂ capture, transport and geological storage.
See CITEPA's quarterly report Synthèses Document'Air n° 172 p.82 (annexe I). See also CITEPA's previous quarterly report Etudes documentaires n° 164 p.I.199.

The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) published a study on CO₂ emissions generated by the economy in France, including emissions from imports and exports of goods.

Directive 2010/31/EU of 19 May on the energy performance of buildings was published in the EU Official Journal (recast of Directive 2002/91/EC).
See CITEPA's quarterly report Synthèses Document'Air n° 170 p.103.

Directive 2010/30/EU of 19 May on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the energy consumption by energy-related products was published in the EU Official Journal.
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 125 p.3.

The European Council only devoted one paragraph to climate change in their conclusions, the issue having being overshadowed by the economic and financial crisis. EU Heads of State and Government took note of the Commission's analysis of possible options to move beyond a 20% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2020, and declared they would come back to the issue at their autumn meeting.

Under the interinstitutional trialogue procedure, the EU Council, the European Parliament (EP) and the Commission reached an agreement on the proposal for a directive on industrial emissions (recast of Directive 2008/1/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control, IPPC). The new directive still has to be formally adopted by the Council and the EP.
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 136 pp.1 and 3.

At the EU Environment Council, Environment Ministers from the 27 Member States adopted conclusions on the communication published by the Commission on 26 May 2010 concerning an analysis of options for moving to a -30% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 2020. The Ministers also discussed a progress report on the proposed regulation setting CO₂ emission standards for vans.
See news item dated 26 May 2010 in this section and CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 134 p.4.

The European Commission published two communications under the Renewable Fuels Directive (2009/28/EC) :

• practical implementation of the EU biofuels sustainability scheme and counting rules for biofuels,
• voluntary schemes and default values in the the EU biofuels sustainability scheme.

First session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) to prepare a global, legally binding instrument on mercury, in Stockholm ( Sweden).
See CITEPA's monthly newsletter C'est dans l'Air n° 123 p.4.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) released the 2008 figures for greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-27, as part of the Annual EU greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2008 and inventory report 2010, submitted to the UNFCCC. The report shows that emissions declined in 2008 for the fourth consecutive year : -2% compared to 2007 and -11,3% compared to 1990 (N.B. EU-15 : -6,9% in 2008 against reference year levels under the Kyoto Protocol).