Ricardo supports European Commission’s environmental legislation proposals

Ricardo’s experts have played a pivotal role providing evidence and analysis underpinning proposed revisions to several pieces of environmental legislation announced by the European Commission.

The proposed changes, which are part of the Commission’s commitments under the European Green Deal, as well as several other initiatives, are in line with Ricardo’s ambition to help create a world where everyone can live sustainably.

Revision to the Industrial Emissions Directive (and Regulation on a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry)

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) controls the environmental impacts of the largest industrial installations across the EU. Last year, Ricardo’s specialists worked with the Commission to provide the research to support these proposals, continuing the work undertaken in 2020 to evaluate the IED. In particular, the Ricardo team helped support the Commission with the impact assessment for the revision of the IED.

Tim Scarbrough, Business Area Manager for Environmental Policy at Ricardo said: “The revisions to the IED address not only the zero-pollution agenda, but also touch on many other strands of the EU policy acquis, including sustainable chemicals, the circular economy, waste and sustainable products, nature and biodiversity, climate and energy, and innovation. Our work, in collaboration with partners, assessed the economic, environmental and social impacts in detail of 43 policy measures, starting from a longer list of more than 100 measures. It was made all the more robust by the economic analysis underpinning the assessment which adhered to the Better Regulation Guidelines.”

Revision to the ozone depleting substances and the fluorinated gases regulation

Proposals have also been launched for revisions to the regulation controlling ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and the regulation limiting fluorinated gases (F-gases). Ricardo’s environmental policy and economics team has played a key role in the development of the evidence base underpinning these revisions through studies supporting the Commission’s impact assessments in both cases.

David Birchby, Associate Director economist, said: “The specific proposals for these amendments to the two regulations will help to achieve additional emissions savings through restricting specific uses and products, and will increase alignment with the Montreal Protocol, as well as work towards more effective prevention of illegal activities. Across both studies, we were proud to collaborate with partners Öko-Recherche and Öko-Institut to develop robust modelling, analysis and assessment, closely following the Better Regulation Guidelines, to assist effective decision making in these complex policy areas.”

Sujith Kollamthodi, Director of Ricardo’s Policy, Strategy & Economics Practice said: “This raft of proposals under the Green Deal continues to push forward the important agendas in Europe of decarbonisation, addressing air quality and the transition to the circular economy. It cements Ricardo’s role as a leader in providing policy support to the European Commission in this important debate, continuing on where our support for the Fit for 55 proposals in summer 2021 left off.”

For further details on the IED, click here

For further details on the fluorinated gases and ODS, click here