EU is ‘not doing enough to encourage eco-industries’

That is the accusation from the Environmental Industries Commission, a London-based lobbying federation of companies whose products involve technology to reduce environmental impact, in a letter to the EU enterprise commissioner Günter Verheugen.

EIC says impact assessments made by the Commission’s enterprise directorate often exaggerated the cost of environmental protection policies while ignoring the economic benefits for green industries. It says the lack of a unit within the enterprise directorate and the decision to overlook eco-industries in DG Enterprise’s ‘new coherent industrial policy’ published last year shows “it has not woken up to the sector”.

T&E policy officer Aat Peterse said: “The EIC’s findings add weight to a concern we have: namely that the Commission is becoming too concerned with the affordability of cars. This is not their job. They should be looking at setting parameters for pollution and encouraging eco-innovation. Keeping cars affordable is the concern of the car industry, not the enterprise directorate.”

A spokesperson for Verheugen said Europe’s eco-industries “would always find a friendly ear” within DG enterprise.

This news story is taken from the May 2006 edition of T&E Bulletin.