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ENVIRONMENT

Introduction

In 2009, the definition of the multiple issues still to be settled, that could affect emission trading in the post-Kyoto period, gave rise to a great deal of activity in the area (benchmarking, allocation to process gases, new entrants, etc). To this must be added all the discussions that arose around the Copenhagen Climate Conference, both before and after it. The agreement signed at this Conference did erode the position of the European Union. Furthermore, REACH is generating the difficulties foreseen due the multiple aspects of the Regulations that suffer from a lack of definition. A large number of interventions by UNESID were required, at both national and European level, including the need to establish a specific activity in this field: REACH-STEEL.

Other important aspects were the review of the IPPC Directive (Directive on Industrial Emissions), the review of the BAT documents, and the risk that a potential trade in NOx/SO2 emissions might be established, etc.

In 2009, the European authorities gave great importance to the development of regulations focused on the environmental aspects of products (eco-labelling, green public procurement, energy efficiency, sustainability in construction products), not only of the processes.

Highlights in the waste area were the definition of the End-of-Waste Status and of the By-product concept, which resulted from the implementation of the Framework Directive review; they are particularly important with regard to scrap and slag.

UNESID went ahead with the organisation of EUROSLAG 2010 to be held between the 20th and 22nd October 2010 to promote the use of slag.

In the strictly national context, the implementation of the Law on Environmental Liability led the companies to request UNESID to coordinate the preparation of a standard model, the SID-MIRAT, for reporting environmental risks that would facilitate the harmonised implementation of risk analysis between the Autonomous Communities, and to define the associated financial guarantees.