Arbejdsrapport fra Miljøstyrelsen, 15/2004 – EU's Environmental Technologies Action Plan – 4 Stakeholders and their roles

This chapter gives a description of the ETAP relevant stakeholders and their respective roles in the genesis and implementation of ETAP. In particular, the roles of DG Environment, DG Research, and the EIB are discussed.

The idea of ETAP seems to come from many different angles – within the Commission by both Wallström and Busquin; outside the Commission by for example the Swedes, also by the eco-industries associations, and some would argue that the Clinton-Gore development of an overarching strategy for eco-industries (the Sunrise Industry of the time) was an early inspiration. ETAP has been long in the making, and there have been particular drivers at different times, working both directly and indirectly. This will also be the case for ETAP implementation. Importantly ETAP will be a 'banner' under which many actions will be launched by different parties – again some formally linked to the ETAP and others sailing under the theme title.

4.1 The Commission

The Commission has already begun to implement the Action Plan, which has been supported by conclusions of both the Environment Council and the European Council. The Commission will review the implementation of ETAP and report on it for the first time in 2005, including at the 2005 Spring Summit.

ETAP objectives are being integrated into future calls for proposals under the 6th Framework-Programme for Research and Development (6FP), pilot technology platforms (see section 4.2 for details) are being launched (hydrogen and fuel cells, photovoltaics), networks of testing centres are part of the very recent (16 June 2004) and next 6FP calls, a communication on the integration of environmental aspects into standardisation has been adopted, work on the handbook on greener public procurement is on-going after the final adoption of relevant EU Directives.

In addition, stakeholders' consultation meetings on the implementation of ETAP will be organised by the Commission: a debate was already held during Green Week (2-4 June 2004) and another stakeholders' event is foreseen in September. The setting up of the European Panel on Environmental Technologies (EPET) will probably be discussed at this event.

4.1.1 The DGs involved in ETAP

DG Environment is responsible for the main part of the PAs, and DG Research for three of the PAs. However, a number of other DGs are heavily involved, eg DG Internal Market on PA 18 (harmful subsidies) and DG Competition on PA 16 (State aid). DG Enterprise and DG Transport and Energy are other very involved DGs. DG Agriculture is not really involved due to the way ETAP was designed.

Within DG Environment one could envisage some scepticism that the ETAP take all the 'spotlight' away from core environmental issues. However, it seems not to be seen this way, more as a complementary mechanism that can link into IPP, add additional interest in eco-labels and EMAS, and be supported by initiatives to clarify state aids, reforms of harmful subsidies, and the use of other economic-environmental instruments to encourage appropriate innovations – such as through taxes and charges and emissions trading. It is however, not unlikely that some parts of DG Environment will be less supportive in the future, if ETAP 'swallows' most of the available funds in the environmental field being a key priority.

DG Research is also seen as a key actor. The 'priority actions' (PA) 1-3 are DG Research's responsibility and have been launched already. Within the Framework Programmes, the POPA-DACT Clean Technologies Pathways is the main ETAP related project under the 3rd call of the 6FP, additional ones are and will be supported under other calls; significant coverage of ETAP related projects is also expected in the 7th Framework-Programme for Research and Development – either under directly related areas or under others such as industry, and energy. In the preparation of the 7FP, the identification of major environment projects can contribute to its success and DG Environment has been asked to identify potential in the existing programmes.

To give an indication of the importance currently given to environmental technologies, DG Research, within the 6th Framework programme, tried to realise all major opportunities for including technologies in the calls. There is more on testing networks and water quality, and more in the fourth call. Support for clean technologies is not just included in the environmental strands of the framework programme, but other strands also relate to clean technologies. For examples the industry technologies area includes a big line on waste and recycling. There are opportunities in the energy domain also – while this is not a new programme, new and more actions can be expected here. Furthermore, in other programmes – eg nanotechnologies, waste recycling, industrial technologies - there are also more funds that can potentially be used to support clean technologies.

The prioritisation of the work with environmental technology within the Commission will to some extend build on the capability of the new Commissioners responsible for environment and research to build strong alliances with other Commissioners and to closely link the work to the Lisbon agenda. There will be a new Commission in place from 1 November 2004 consisting of a College of 25 Commissioners. One can imagine different ways of working in the future due to the large number of Commissioners eg a more decentralised model where the Commissioners split the work into 'clusters' and 'working groups'.

4.2 The European Investment Bank (EIB)

The European Investment Bank (EIB) ^[13] is the European Union's financing institution, which has the task to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member Countries. To this end, it raises on the markets substantial volumes of funds, which it directs on favourable terms towards financing capital projects according with the objectives of the EU. Outside the EU, the EIB implements the financial components of agreements concluded under European development aid and cooperation policies. The EIB is a 'not-for-profit institution' ^[14], which means that the Bank passes on the benefits to its clients in the form loans at fine rates. Interest rates are based on EIB's borrowing cost and a small margin to cover administrative expenses and other costs.

The EIB is obliged to ensure that all projects it finances comply with EU environmental policies and standards [15]. Besides the obligation to make sure that the projects do not have a negative impact on the environment, the EIB also supports investments that directly protects and improves the environment.

The EIB do not envisage new instruments for the implementation of ETAP. The objectives of the EIB are, as mentioned, the EU policy objectives like economic development goals, regional goals, environmental goals, etc. ETAP is seen to be one of the instruments in this frame. However, the EIB does envisage more focus on environmental technologies. The bank's mandate in this respect is both the environmental mandate, but arise as much from the Innovation 2010 Initiative.

The EIB tends to focus on commercially and technically well-developed project. The small scale of projects and immaturity of technologies can limit EIB loans, however, the EIB is exploring ways to support financial intermediaries equipped with sufficient resources to evaluate and manage small scale schemes in the energy sector.

Innovation and R&D

The financing of innovation is stated to be a key priority for the EIB. In line with the conclusions of the Stockholm (March 2001) and Barcelona (March 2002) European Councils, the EIB's Board of Governors in June 2003 approved the Innovation 2010 Initiative.

The Innovation 2010 Initiative is to take forward the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council, aimed at fostering the development of a knowledge and innovation-based European economy.

It provides a framework for EIB Group action until the end of the decade and establishes an new indicative lending envelope of EUR 20 billion for the period June 2003 to December 2006. The EIB Group will then conduct a mid-term review to fine-tune the initiative's priorities and instruments up to the end of 2010.

The Ecofin Council in November 2003 also adopted a report to the European Council, which calls upon the EIB to focus its action in sectors such as Trans-European networks, innovation, research and development and securitisation.

Global Loans

EIB's clients are public and private sector bodies and enterprises. As a rule, EIB normally only lends up to half of the capital required for a project and usually finances larger scale projects directly. It supports small investments, eg between EUR 40 000 to EUR 25 million, and the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) indirectly through its global loans.

Global loans are credit lines, which the EIB makes available to financial intermediaries for financing small and medium-scale projects. This type of loan enables the EIB to contribute indirectly to the long-term financing of projects which, because of their size, are not eligible for direct EIB funding. The volume of such lending varies from country to country. In total, both within and outside the EU, EIB has dealings with nearly 400 banks and financial institutions ^[16], which are or have been its partners in deploying this type of instrument.

4.3 Member States and the Presidency/ies

Among the most important tasks of the EU Presidency is to preside over the work of the Council and to chair the European Council meetings, where the overall guidance for the work of the EU and its strategy are discussed and laid down.

As the Presidency is only six months and it takes over a large number of matters from the previous presidency as well as is guided in its priorities by the proposals put forward by the Commission, there is a limit to how much the Presidency can place on the agenda.

However, the timing of the ETAP is positive in terms of the Dutch Presidency clear goal of pushing the technology and innovation agenda forward. The informal Council meeting of the Dutch Presidency will be used to discuss 'Environment as Economic Opportunity'. To prepare for this the Dutch presidency has launched a series of regional workshops across Europe (note from Presentations). They are also expected to have a workshop in September on innovation and the use of economic instruments.

In the first half of 2005 Luxembourg will take up the Presidency and then the UK Presidency will take over at the end of 2005 (then Austria and Finland). The UK has also been pushing the ETAP case, having already had a joint workshop with Sweden in London. Sweden has also launched a series of seminars – Views on Research and Innovation: European Challenges and Swedish R&D (see Box 3.1).

The 22 June 2004 workshop, titled, 'Swedish Prosperity and Technology at the Crossroads' presented some conclusions and insights on the Swedish Technology Foresight ^[17] Programme. A further workshop – 'Link between Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship', will take place at the end of 2004, beginning of 2005. The former is organised by VINNOVA, the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems, and the latter by The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

The main points from the June presentations, questions and answers and corridor discussions include:

Most EU Member States have foresight commissions/programmes – some programmes are continuously ongoing (Eg the UK's Technology Foresight Programme ^[18] that started in 1994 and Germany's Delphi and Futur, the German Research Dialogue ^[19]), others are repeated every few years (eg Sweden).
Prioritisation of which area to focus national attention on is both of paramount importance and difficult. The Swedes were clear that 'we cannot be the best at everything'. Choice of where to allocate resources is therefore key. This clearly applies to all Member States.
Technology platforms have been around since 2001, and there are now around 20. The ETAP related platforms are simply building on the broader platform concept already launched.
There is some scepticism as to which level of ambition is realistic for the panels. A platform as a talking shop is clearly possible; a panel as a real co-ordinating mechanism is seen as difficult but in cases possible; and a panel as a major venue for making commitments and allocating resources was regarded by some as very unlikely. This depends on a number of things, including who is allocated to the panel by the Commission (as they ultimately decide/invite), how representative the stakeholders are, and what the working relationships are between the stakeholders of industry concerned, and the linkage to national mirror groups.

However, all countries can usefully play a range of roles in making the ETAP move in a positive right direction:

4.4 Industry

Industry is clearly a key, if not the key, stakeholder involved in the development and uptake of Environmental technologies. As regards ETAP, the main associations promoting industry position do not appear to have taken a strong position yet. However, the main association on eco-industries - the European Committee of Environmental Technology Suppliers Associations - EUCETSA – is already active in the debate. EUCETSA represents more than 800 European companies. Its mission is to provide a strong and effective voice with Brussels for the EU's environmental technology industry.

According to EUCETSA ^[20], the key driver for the environmental technology industry is the investment required by environmental legislation, supplemented increasingly by other policy measures such as fiscal instruments. Legislation leads to (early) introduction of high environmental standards, and creates a strong home market from which to export to the growing international markets.

Note that EUCETSA represents a core niche of industry, and for ETAP to really progress, major involvement by the major players is also required. For example, as regards the ambitions for hydrogen and fuel cells manifest in the platform, without big industry involvement, the promise of the move to a hydrogen economy will not be realised.

Footnotes

[14] The EIB is a public bank whose role is to finance projects that promote EU policy objectives. In the field of environment, EU policy is outlined in the Treaty and detailed in secondary legislation as well as various policy documents. ETAP would fall under this last category.

[15] This includes requiring that all projects likely to have a significant effect on the environment is to be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment according to the EIA Directive.

[16] In Denmark, the EIB intermediaries are KommuneKredit and Nykredit, which both handle EIB loans for public authorities, and the latter also handles loans for SMEs.

[17] 'Foresight' has been defined as 'the systematic attempt to look into the longer-term future of science, technology, the economy and society, with the aim of identifying the areas of strategic research and the emerging of generic technologies likely to yield the greatest economic and social benefits' Ben Martin (1995) Foresight in Science and Technology in: Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Vol. 7. (1995), No. 2, p. 139-168

4 Stakeholders and their roles – ETAP genesis and implementation