Resource Efficiency Roadmap must come with money from EU Budget

Brussels – The Resource Efficiency Roadmap published today by the European Commission envisages all kinds of right recommendations for Europe to become a renewable based, resource efficient economy but the actual value of this document depends largely on the EU budget.

"We were pleased to see in this text so many positive signals from the Commission, all under the framework goal of moving towards an economy based on reuse and recycling, with residual waste close to zero," says Marijan Galovic, waste campaigner at CEE Bankwatch Network. "This roadmap does set us in the right direction."

"But what we are waiting to see now is whether the spending priorities for the next one trillion euro EU budget (2014-2020), to be announced in October, are really in line with the Resource Efficiency Roadmap," Galovic added. "If the Commission actually puts money next to the goals set out in the Resource Efficiency Roadmap, then this will be a strong proof of political will for greening our economy. Otherwise, the goals in the Roadmap run the risk of not being implemented in useful time for meeting the Europe 2020 climate objectives and, fundamentally, for staying away from runaway climate change."

According to Bankwatch, a fundamental weakness of the Roadmap is its overarching pro-market orientation, seen in the prominent role given to investment banks and innovative financial instruments in resource efficiency measures. One example is the core role envisaged by the Commission for public-private partnerships (PPPs) and to the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the financing of resource efficiency measures. The history of PPPs shows they are unlikely to be a useful instrument for ecosystem and natural resource conservation [1]. Previous Bankwatch research into PPP projects in central and eastern Europe [2] has shown these to be associated with high costs, low risk transfer to the private sector, difficulties in contract enforcement, and lack of transparency. Additionally, the NGO doubts the ability of the EIB, a bank specialized in large, mainly infrastructural projects of over 25 million euros, to be an appropriate promoter of ecosystem services.

For more information, contact:

Marijan Galovic
Waste campaigner, CEE Bankwatch Network
marijan AT zelena-akcija.hr
+38598849982

Anelia Stefanova
Campaign coordinator, CEE Bankwatch Network
anelias AT bankwatch.org
+ 393338092492

Notes for the editor:

1. Read more about the UK experience with PPPs:

2.Read the Bankwatch study Nevermind the balance sheet. The dangers posed by public-private partnerships in central and castern Europe: